The vastly experienced Marlborough pairing of Maurice Symes and Warren Brown have combined to take out the inaugural Stoke Stakes, sweeping aside a star-studded line-up and pocketing a $10,000 winners’ cheque for their efforts.

Hosted by the celebrated Stoke Bowling Club in Nelson, the inaugural tournament has been an adaptation of the former Stoke Invitational Singles – with club management and organisers opting to freshen the format and provide the opportunity for more players to participate at a top level.

Held as a feature of the Bowls New Zealand Summer of Bowls programme, 32 quality pairings assembled in the upper-south to contest their share of the $20K prize pool up for grabs, in what promised to be a blockbuster showpiece.

And the event most certainly lived up to its billing.

Followed by thousands of viewers online via the Facebook streaming, the Stoke Stakes got underway in dicey conditions on the Friday, with commentator Kevin Hickland troubled with flight delays and unable to arrive until later that evening.

As the weather improved and the Nelson sun arrived, six rounds of section play were completed to find the last eight combinations left standing, comprising New Zealand Blackjack Mike Kernaghan and Peter Thorne, former New South Wales state representative Troy Somerville with Southland’s Lindsay Harliwich, local Nelson duo Richard Collett and Kelvin Scott, Southern raiders Andy McLean and Roger Stevens, Australian-based Shane Pascoe with clubmate Jordan Taylor, Stoke hopefuls Chris Alldred and Paul Baken and Marlborough combinations Maurice Symes with Warren Brown and Andre Smith with Dennis Mills, both of Havelock.

In what proved the major upset of the tournament, recently crowned World Champion of Champion Singles and Stoke local Shannon McIlroy with Australian identity Damien McGee found themselves among the crowd come post-section, with Marlborough representatives Sanjhe Prasad and Craig McDonnell ending all title hopes by a solitary point victory with one further round seemingly not enough to push into the top eight.

The quarter-finals saw Smith and Mills defeat Kernaghan, Taylor and Pascoe account for Somerville, Collett and Scott advance past McLean and Symes and Brown proved victorious opposite Alldred.

Leading up to the final, Pascoe, a former West Coast representative now based at Wiseman Park B.C in Woolongong, Australia, continued to be in exceptional form alongside the 20-year-old talent Taylor, both looking impressive throughout the tournament as they clawed their way back in the semi-final to book their place in the Grand Finale defeating Collett and Scott in a compelling extra-end finish.

Across rinks, Symes and Brown progressed through their semi-final defeating fellow provincial allies Smith and Mills, setting up a mouth-watering prospect opposite the unbeaten Woolongong duo.

In a hard fought contest, points couldn’t separate the teams over 21-ends, forcing the game into yet another extra end thriller, reflecting the top-class exponents on display and providing world-class entertainment right to the last bowl.

In a somewhat unconventional move, all players agreed to play the extra end heading back towards the club house, in a decision that prompted cheers from the spectators and commentators alike despite having previously played the final end in the same direction.

With one bowl to play and a measure for shot, the title was hanging in the balance, though the composed Symes stepped up to the moment tipping his lead’s bowl over once and securing the champion rights in a scintillating conclusion – dealing Pascoe and Taylor their only loss after nine fixtures.

Tournament organiser and co-commentator Brendan Hodgson was delighted with the first-up efforts of the new format, pointing out the event would now be an established annual event for Stoke.

“It really was superb, you couldn’t have scripted a better final and massive thanks goes out to everyone that made the Stoke Stakes a huge success.”

The Stoke Stakes will return next November, though with the Stoke Thunder anticipating the arrival of their home-grown champion McIlroy to the Bowls3Five event, all focus now turns to the remaining weeks ahead as they look to book their place in the play-offs later this month.

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