Fourteen teams were playing for the Hallenstein Trophy in the South Canterbury Indoor Bowls open triples championship on Saturday.

At the completion of four rounds, six teams had qualified. In the first round of post section play, the Mackenzie family of Ken, Taylor and Rowena from Ashburton showed they meant business by winning 16-1 against Jenelle and Kelvin Lockyer and Anne-Marie Blissett.

Matt Blissett with David and Mary Mealings had their work cut out against Alan Reid, Lyn Brown and Neisha Hogg but managed to hang on for a 7-5 win to advance to the semifinals where they were drawn to play against the Mackenzie team. Despite beating the Mackenzies in section play, it was a reversal of form come the semifinal which the Mackenzies won 15-1.

In the other semifinal where these two teams had a draw in section play, Derek and Carolyn Cooper and James Blissett were against Alan Gibson, Carol Dawson and David Shand. However, team Cooper took control after winning the first two ends and went on to win 11-6.

The final made for a good watch. It was 3-3 after four ends and after seven ends Cooper was ahead 7-4 and the team was looking confident until the opposing skip, Ken Mackenzie played a great shot to the end of the mat removing Derek Cooper’s shot bowl to win that end which was the turning point in the game. Team Mackenzie went on to take the next three ends and win the championship 11-7.

This weekend our representative team is playing in division 2 at the National Interprovincial Championships in Christchurch. Having been promoted to this division after winning division 3 last year the same players were named and will be hoping for a good result. The team is: J Whiting, K Anngow, J Lockyer, D Ruffell, D Cooper, A Gibson, C Cooper, A Reid, D Mealings, with S Austin manager.

On Saturday afternoon at the Timaru Centre there will be a drawn pairs event. — Carol Dawson, South Canterbury Indoor Bowls