Sandra Keith (Dunsandel) is on target to complete her set of New Zealand championship bowls titles after her fours team reached the semifinals in New Plymouth yesterday.
It would be a remarkable effort if Keith added the fours title to the singles and pairs titles that are already in her bag. Keith won the singles title last year and the pairs with Serena Matthews last Friday. She is teamed with Matthews in the fours and the other Dunsandel players are Pam Clarke and Karolyn Boon.
They beat the home-town team of Cathy Andrews (Paritutu) 18-7 in the first post-section round and Anne Bateman's Composite four 22-14 in the second round.
The big challenge for Keith will come from Sue Burnand's Composite team of Leanne Curry, Angela Boyd and Mandy Boyd, which won the title in Dunedin two years ago. Mandy Boyd won a silver medal in World Bowls in Adelaide last month. The team beat Yvonne Gibb (Composite) 19-2 in the first round and Helen Grey (Vogeltown) 19-10 in the second round.
The big upset in the men's competition came in the second round when triple World Bowls champion Peter Belliss was beaten by Ray Lovie's Composite four 21-16.
The Composite team skipped by double World Bowls champion Rowan Brassey is still alive after beating Dean Elgar (Composite) 19-7 in the second round. Brassey's team will meet current World Bowls player and defending champion Ali Forsyth in the next round.
Forsyth's team, which includes World Bowls player Matthew Gallop, beat Peter Ramsay (Wilton) 17-8 in the second round.
Dunedin's Ken Walker's Composite team of Mark Watt (North East Valley), Laurie Guy (Victoria) and Kelvin Budge (North East Valley) won their first-round game against Kevin Mischefski (Stratford-Avon) 19-14 but were beaten by Pat Horgan (Palmerston North) 18-17 in a nail-biter in the second round.
Alexandra bowler Pat Houlahan's Composite team of Barrie Andrews (West End, Timaru), Alister Watson (Clyde) and Brent Hickey (Alexandra) was narrowly beaten in the first round of post-section play by Aucklander Vladimir Marsic's Composite team 12-11. Dunedin bowler Rebecca Jelly (North East Valley) was also beaten in the first round by Dale Rayner's Composite four 14-13. She was lead in a Composite team skipped by Tanya Wheeler and also including Kaaren Guilford and Tereska Knap. Rayner beat Denise Samuel (Composite) 21-11 in the second round.
The strong North East Valley team of Stephen O'Driscoll, Jim Scott, Terry Scott and Shaun Scott was unbeaten on the first day of section play but lost all its games on the second day and failed to qualify.
