The New Zealand bowls team bounced back to its best form yesterday and has made four finals at the Asia Pacific championships in Adelaide.
New Zealand will play in the men's and women's pairs finals today and the men's and women's fours finals tomorrow.
The big disappointment of the day came in the triples when the Black Jacks men's team lost to Fiji 15-9 and the women lost to the Philippines 12-10.
Both lost the chance of playing for the gold medals today. But they will come home with bronze medals.
World Bowls champions Val Smith and Jo Edwards regained their 2008 form to beat the Australian pair of Natasha Van Eldik and Karen Murphy 21-9 in the semifinal.
This was a significant win because the Australians were rated highly and had played better bowls than New Zealand earlier in the tournament.
The Black Jacks were never headed, winning the first seven ends to take an insurmountable 13-0 lead.
The New Zealand pair were tuned up and ready for the game after winning a hard-fought quarterfinal against Petal Jones and skip Carman Anderson (Norfolk Island) 18-13.
Smith led accurately and Edwards played the telling upshots as New Zealand gained an early advantage and led 12-2 after six ends.
Norfolk Island managed to claw back a little to get to within five shots after 12 ends, but it was too little, too late with each team scoring five shots over the remaining five ends.
The men's pair of Danny Delany and Richard Girvan reached the final after a nail-biting 15-13 semifinals win over Tim Mason and skip Ryan Bester (Canada).
Tied at 12-all after 16 ends, the Canadians dropped a three on the penultimate end.
In the quarterfinals the New Zealand pair beat the Philippines pair of Emmanuel Portacio and Leo Carreon 31-18.
New Zealand played a power game and showed why it will be a gold medal prospect in the final against Australia.
Delany and Girvan opened with a four and when the Philippines came within a shot they opened up again.
New Zealand scored a two, seven, four and three over the next four ends to take a 17-shot lead, a position from which the Philippines was never able to recover.
A blazing quarterfinals win, 28-7, by the Philippines triples team over Norfolk Island gave it the confidence to rattle the cage of the previously unbeaten Black Jacks in the semifinals.
The Philippines beat the New Zealand team of Leanne Curry, Genevieve Baildon and Jan Khan 12-10 in a nail-biter.
New Zealand jumped out to an early seven-shot lead but failed to maintain the scoreboard pressure and never recovered from dropping a five in the eighth end, only scoring two more shots for the rest of the match.
Fiji beat Hong Kong 15-10 in the men's triples quarterfinals and then went on to beat the previously unbeaten New Zealand team of Tony Grantham, Shaun Scott and Ali Forsyth 15-9.
New Zealand failed to score after holding a 9-3 lead after seven ends, with the Pacific Islanders scoring 12 straight shots to set up a gold medal clash against Australia.
Asia Pacific champs: NZ finalists
• Today: Men's pair v Australia; women's pair v Philippines.
• Tomorrow: Men's four v Australia; women's four v Australia.
