The New Zealand Professional Bowls Association starts a record season this weekend with nearly 220 members breaking a 12 year record and 7 venues around the country. The PBA has two brand new venues with the covered green at the New Lynn Bowling Club in Auckland and the indoor complex at the Naenae Bowling Club in Wellington which recently hosted the televised Bowls Premier League. This year also sees the welcome return of the Frankton Railway Bowling Club in Hamilton after several seasons off the circuit. Other venues continue strongly in New Plymouth, Hastings, Dunedin and Invercargill.
Naenae Bowling Club : One of two new venues on the circuit
And there are some strong match-ups in the Scottish Open Singles qualifiers to start the season. In Auckland the two leading lights Rob Ashton and Bart Robertson will face each other in the first round with Ashton enjoying a 10-4 career head-to-head advantage. They will be challenged in Auckland this year by the addition of young guns Taylor Horn and Jesse Russell who team up together for the World Indoor Pairs qualifier.
Hamilton has an experienced first round match-up with Bay of Plenty’s Eric Pattillo up against the new Frankton Railway Club Manager Chris Lourie. Fellow Bay of Plenty player Graham Skellern and Auckland’s Julie Kerry will experience both venues playing in Hamilton for the Pairs on Sunday before driving up to Auckland for the Singles on Monday.
The field is a little more open this year in New Plymouth with last year’s Scottish Singles qualifier Stephen Zino not playing this year due to work commitments which could assist NZ’s top ranked woman Rhonda Adams continue to climb the rankings. Despite venues opening to the north and south of them, the Paritutu venue will still be hosting players from Whanganui, Manawatu and Wellington.
Rob Ashton and Bart Robertson will face each other in the first round at the New Lynn Bowling Club
New Zealand number one Murray Glassey faces a stern test in his opening match in the Scottish Singles against Manawatu’s Steve Love. Love has shared 4 matches each against Glassey over their career head-to-head which is a rare feat not to have a negative ledger against the hometown champion. The Hastings venue has done well attracting new members to off-set the departure of the large Wellington contingent that usually travels there.
There will be plenty of talent vying to make their mark on the new Wellington PBA branch including last year’s rookie of the year Ray Martin, NZ PBA team member Bradley Down, 2016 Shanghai champion Adam Turner, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Mark Noble, NZ indoor bowls international Dale Rayner, and a welcome return of former Canterbury and Auckland rep Nick Buttar who has returned from overseas to settle on the Kapiti Coast.
Dunedin continues to boast the largest field having to begin their programme with the Shanghai on Friday evening to get through the weekend’s schedule. A big match-up in the second round of the Scottish singles on Saturday evening will be between NZ PBA team manager Ken Walker and former PBA international Duane White who share three matches each in their head-to-head record. A potentially protracted affair is in the offing on Saturday afternoon between Geoff Wilson and Doug Thomas.
The biggest growth this year has come in Invercargill with a 50% increase in membership making the Waverley Bowling Club venue the second largest in the country. New Zealand number two Craig Merrilees leads the field which includes players from as far as Central Otago.
Play begins at all venues with the iconic Shanghai Singles where three players compete on each rink in a game of 3-2-1 with a holiday for two on the Gold Coast with 5 nights accommodation at the Tweed Ultima up for grabs. Most venues then hold World Indoor Pairs qualifiers with three bowls per player and seven end sets, before finishing with the Scottish International Singles qualifiers fighting for a place in Perth, Scotland in November.
