Gore schoolboy Sheldon Bagrie-Howley could upset the pundits and win the third annual PBA Shanghai bowls tournament in Dunedin on Saturday.
Bagrie-Howley (16) gained free entry to the PBA this season after winning the New Zealand Kittyhawk (under-20) final in Auckland.
He will face much more experienced opponents this weekend such as Alvin Gardiner (Christchurch), former New Zealand World Bowls representative Ken Walker (Fairfield), Ross Stewart (Riverton), Doug Thomas (North East Valley) and Peter Wilson (Kaikorai).
Wilson, who is third on the PBA ranking list, and Walker have both been selected in the New Zealand PBA team to play Australia at Tweed Heads in the transtasman test series from July 23-25.
Walker is ranked sixth with the PBA but gained selection by getting the sponsor's wildcard for reaching the final in the transtasman test last year.
There is a sprinkling of women bowlers in the field, the most notable being Trish Marr (St Clair), Pam Walker (Taieri), Carolyn Crawford (St Clair) and Beth Brown (Taieri). Crawford had an outstanding summer season and was named the Bowls Dunedin Female Bowler of the Year.
The field includes 12 bowlers from outside Dunedin.
Last year's Dunedin tournament was won by Bill Hinton with Regan Larkin runner-up. They both qualified for the national final.
Jamie Hill (Auckland) won the national final with Larkin second and Hinton third.
The Shanghai bowls tournament is a quickfire, shorter version of the game and was invented by former international Ken Walker, who hopes it will become the bowls equivalent of twenty/20 cricket.
Three players are on the mat together in a singles match and six points are available on each end. The closest bowl gets three points, the second bowl two and the third closest bowl one point.
The first player to 31 points wins the game.
It is a time limit game that lasts just 1hr 15min. A Shanghai is when a player scores the maximum of six points on a single end.
A feature of the game is the joker that can be used once in a game by each player. It must be called before the end starts and it doubles the points scored on an end by that player.
"It is a novel, exciting and quick game," Walker said. "There is a place for it in bowls." Because of the success of the original tournament in Dunedin two years ago, Walker turned it into a national event last year.
Full fields will contest tournaments in Pukekohe, Frankton and Hastings at the weekend.
The same field will contest the Scottish International open singles qualifying tournament in Dunedin on Sunday and the Ranking Pairs on Monday.
Similar events will be held in Takapuna, Hamilton and Hastings with the winners going to the national finals weekend in Hamilton in September.
The New Zealand PBA team for the transtasman test series is: Chris Lourie (Waikato), Murray Glassey (Hawkes Bay), Peter Wilson (Dunedin), Raika Gregory (Waikato), Ken Walker (Dunedin).
PBA draw
June 4: Shanghai singles qualifiers in Hamilton and Dunedin; Scottish International singles qualifiers in Takapuna and Hastings
June 5: Henselite Shanghai singles qualifiers in Takapuna and Hastings; Scottish International singles qualifiers in Hamilton and DunedinJune 6: Ranking pairs in Takapuna, Hamilton, Hastings and Dunedin
June 25-26: Welsh International open singles qualifiers in Hamilton, Hastings and Dunedin
July 23-25: Australia v New Zealand PBA Challenge, Tweed Heads.
July 30-31: World Indoor singles qualifiers in Hamilton, Hastings and Dunedin
August 20-21: Ranking singles and Pairs in Hamilton, Hastings and Dunedin
September 3-4: NZ-PBA finals, Hamilton
