The cream has risen to the top for the PBA regional finals day competition at the Dunedin Lawn Bowl Stadium on Sunday.
The spotlight will be on Oliver Mason (Forbury Park) and Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (Gore) as they play for the right to contest events in the national finals next month.
Mason will play the World Indoor Pairs qualifier final, partnering Queenstown’s Nick Buttar against Russell Dawe (Kaikorai) and Ray Webster (Stadium).
Bagrie-Howley is in the last four of the World Indoor Singles qualifier, playing Adam McGregor (Wakari) in the semifinal, while McGregor’s Wakari clubmate, Jamie Nicol, comes up against Mason’s twin brother, Elliot, in the semifinal on the other side of the draw.
The four semifinalists make for intriguing contests and what could be a hard-fought final.
Both Oliver Mason and Bagrie-Howley are also involved in the International Singles qualifier semifinals with Bagrie-Howley matched against South Canterbury’s David McNeill, and Mason drawn to play Murray Wilson (St Kilda).
In the Scottish Singles Dunedin regional qualifier final, Jeff Nowell (Methven) will play Bill Hinton (Andersons Bay).
The lure of international competition in world finals awaits these players should they progress through the regional stage then win their respective national titles at the Dunedin Lawn Bowls Stadium next month, though all are aware of the current limitation surrounding international travel.
The recent release of the national PBA rankings has all the players involved on Sunday in the top 30 nationally.
Bagrie-Howley (No 3) and Oliver Mason (No 9) head the list that has players registered with the Dunedin Region of the NZPBA accounting for over 43% of the top 30 players nationally.
- By Wayne Parsons
