Marshall Stoddart (left) won his first South Canterbury singles title, beating runner-up David Curtis to the top spot.
South Canterbury junior singles winner Nigel Mobberley (left) with runner-up Mike Ross. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
Dominating form
Nigel Mobberley was in outstanding form to completely dominate the South Canterbury junior singles played at the Kia Toa Bowling Club.
Mobberley becomes just the second bowler in South Canterbury to win the title three times, joining Merv Davey from Temuka who won this event from 2000 to 2003.
In the final Mobberley played first-year bowler Mike Ross, who showed real class in beating South Canterbury representatives Andrew Bell then Barry Black before coming up against Mobberley.
In the final Mobberley was playing the game of his life taking a 9-nil lead with outstanding lawn bowls but Ross fought back to close the gap 9-6. Mobberley then took control of game to win 21-6.
Results. Quarterfinals: Waimate (Ralph Bullock) 21, Kia Toa (Paul Brohan) 16; West End (Nigel Mobberley) 21, Geraldine (Gavin Jones) 8; Temuka (Mike Ross) 21, Pleasant Point (Andrew Bell) 9. Timaru won by default.
Semifinal: Mobberley 21, Bullock 12; Ross 21, Black 19.
Final: Mobberley 21, Ross 6.
SC singles
Marshall Stoddart saved his best to last and was all class in winning his first South Canterbury singles title played at Kia Toa club.
In the quarterfinals Stoddart played Fairlie’s in-form bowler and South Canterbury representative Mitchell Dunbar.
Dunbar never had the lead throughout the game as Stoddart was on fire with great draw bowling.
Dunbar stayed in the match with some great driving and closed the gap by two shots, trailing 17-15.
Stoddart then smothered the kitty on the last two ends and Dunbar’s drive finally let him down for Stoddart to take the victory.
Stoddart then played Pleasant Point’s Daryl Fowler, who had an outstanding win against Kia Toa legend Leo Leonard in the first round, but Stoddart kept his form with an easy victory.
On the other side, Geraldine’s Dave Curtis was a giant killer in defeating New Zealand squad member Tom Taiaroa 21-20 in a cliffhanger.
He then played Waimate’s Adrian Robins who has won this title four years in a row from 2019 to 2022, but Curtis came out with shining colours, winning a hard-fought battle 21-18.
In the final, Curtis played outstanding draw shots and raced away to a 10-2 lead.
Stoddart then got his game together and played great lawn bowls and raced away with game to win 21-14.
After this outstanding victory, Stoddart was crowned South Canterbury Champion of Champions singles winner and will now represent South Canterbury at the national finals in July in Dunedin.
With this victory, Stoddart has now won seven South Canterbury titles, while Curtis remains on four titles.
Results. Quarterfinals: Waimate (Adrian Robins) 21, Timaru (Tony Marshall) 16; Geraldine (David Curtis) 21, West End (Tom Taiaroa) 20; Temuka (Marshall Stoddart) 21, Fairlie (Mitchell Dunbar) 15; Pleasant Point (Daryl Fowler) 21, Kia Toa (Leo Leonard) 14.
Semifinal: Curtis 21, Robins 18; Stoddart 21, Fowler 14.
Final: Stoddart 21, Curtis 14.
— Richie Kerr
Winners of the South Canterbury mixed fours with the Briggs Trophy are (from left) Derek Cooper, James Blissett, Ann-Maree Blissett and Carolyn Cooper.
Final could have gone either way
Derek Cooper, James Blissett, Carolyn Cooper and Ann-Maree Blissett won the South Canterbury mixed fours elimination event on Saturday.
Roydon Wood, Ray Christensen, Sylvia Taylor and Evelyn Duffield finished runners-up in a very tight final, in which the lead changed several times during the 10 ends.
Wood looked to have secured a break at the seventh end when, one down on the head, pushed a bowl through the head to lie three shots but Cooper responded with a great bowl to rub off an outside bowl to secure shot.
On the penultimate end with scores locked up, Cooper managed a two, when holding shot managed to sit up a bowl to get the vital two shots going into the last end.
Wood was one down playing his last bowl and needed to trail the jack about 300mm, a great effort saw him trail the jack but only for about 150mm giving the win to the Cooper combination by 9 shots to the Wood four’s 8.
A small crowd of spectators were treated to a very close final which could have gone either way.
Cooper’s team will now contest the Eastern Zone finals of this event in Oamaru over the first weekend in July.
In the semifinals Cooper’s team were tested by Allan Gibson, Diane Warwood, Christine and David Shand before running out 10-6 victors.
In the other semi, Neville and Ruth Gould, Debs Ruffell and Hayden Harnett were one behind playing the last end but Neville narrowly missed with his last bowl to remove the Wood shot, to make the final score 7-5 to Wood.
Results. Bye round: Gibson, Warwood, Christine and David Shand 9, David Mealings, Jenelle Lockyer, Mary Mealings and Kelvin Lockyer 4.
Semifinals: D. Cooper 10, A. Gibson 6; R. Wood 7, N. Gould 5.
Final: Cooper 9, Wood 8.
Last week at the Clubs NZ South Island Championships, Ruffell — by winning the pairs championship — secured her first title in these events.
The South Canterbury selectors will be busy this week in selecting the eight women to contest the triangular against Ashburton and Canterbury with both Ashburton and Canterbury selecting formidable teams.
The triangular for the women is to be played on Sunday, April 21 for the Daley Trophy in Christchurch.
The selectors will probably select teams for the Hight trophy at the same time as this is contested on May 5 in Ashburton.
This Saturday there is open triples and the mixed pairs for the Goodman Cup on Sunday with the winners advancing to the Eastern Zone finals for this event.
St Josephs hold their popular club tournament on April 20th.
Interclub commences on Wednesday, April 17.
— David Mealings SC Indoor Bowls publicity officer
