Junior singles week 2 Mon 22 Nov – Sun-28 Nov
There was a lot of action in the Junior Singles league this week, and some outstanding games. Pick of the bunch for mine was the Saturday morning clash between Bev Callingham and Daphne Burrows, which was decided on the 25th end when Bev trailed the jack for three to claim a 21-20 win. I marked that game and it was a high-class contest from start to finish, with both playing extremely well.
There were several other games where one player got off to a good start only to face a strong comeback from their opponent, and many times a lead nearing ten points was no guarantee of safety. The league is now something of a talking point around the club, with plenty of favourable comment on both the enthusiasm for it and the rapidly rising standards on the green.
Which leads neatly to my next point: Entries are now open for the club open singles, which is our premier championship of the year. Given how well everyone is travelling at the moment, and the fact we’re all getting a lot of match-play in when otherwise we’d be limited to Saturday roll-ups, I would like to think that most of our 15 players will put their names up for the championships. I think everyone in our group will be a challenging opponent for anyone, and many are perfectly capable of knocking over more fancied opponents. Not least, it will give us the strongest fields we’ve had in years and this is important for the ongoing growth in club playing strength.
As Auckland moves into the next stage of Covid restrictions, we will find our freedom to play whenever we choose is a bit limited. There are club events on both 4 December (Handicap drawn pairs) and 11/12 December (Singles), which mean the popular Saturday morning slots won’t be available, and commercial events on Friday 3 December, Saturday 11 December (when it collides with the singles rather than us) and Friday 17 December. The commercial events will be given use of A green, and I really don’t like using B green given its wildly different nature, so you may just have to pick your times a little carefully.
We also have Tuesday triples (the ham tournament) on 7 December, followed almost immediately by a round of the 1-5Yr 3Five, which will also feature other clubs. Auckland Bowls has crammed this tournament into two weeks, with play scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday both weeks, or 7, 9, 14 and 16 December. We’ll have to work around that as well.
We’re more than halfway through and there’s already a good list of fixtures made for this week, as I understand it, so we’re tracking well for a big finish on Saturday 18 December, which is also Founders’ Day. That event is two games in the normal roll-up times, so we will be able to play before and afterwards. That’s the day the cross-division games are pencilled in for, and it would be nice if they’re showpiece games on such a day; my initial thought is that we’d have the matches between 4th-th place finishers in the morning and those between the top three in each section after the Founders’ Day games are done.
Cheers
Paul Neazor
Section 1 results
Group 1 | JJ | PH | LA | JH | BC | DB | RF | GM |
Jim Jericevich | — | 21-14 | 21-17 | 13-21 | 21-18 | |||
Peter Haarhaus | 14-21 | — | 11-21 | 10-21 | 18-21 | |||
Lisa Appleyard | 17-21 | — | 21-9 | 13-21 | ||||
Jo Hutchinson | 21-11 | — | 13-21 | 21-10 | 17-21 | |||
Bev Callingham | 21-13 | 21-13 | — | 21-20 | ||||
Daphne Burrows | 18-21 | 21-10 | 9-21 | 20-21 | — | 17-21 | ||
Ross Forrester | 10-21 | 21-17 | — | |||||
Graeme McInnes | 21-18 | 21-13 | 21-17 | — |
Section 1 points table
Group 1 | P | W | L | F | A | Diff |
Jim Jericevich | 4 | 3 | 1 | 76 | 70 | 6 |
Peter Haarhaus | 4 | 4 | 53 | 84 | -31 | |
Lisa Appleyard | 3 | 1 | 2 | 51 | 51 | 0 |
Jo Hutchinson | 4 | 2 | 2 | 72 | 63 | 9 |
Bev Callingham | 3 | 3 | 63 | 46 | 17 | |
Daphne Burrows | 5 | 1 | 4 | 85 | 94 | -9 |
Ross Forrester | 2 | 1 | 1 | 31 | 38 | -7 |
Graeme McInnes | 3 | 3 | 63 | 48 | 15 |
Section 2 results
Group 2 | PN | TK | LP | JB | RF | IP | FM |
Paul Neazor | — | 21-13 | 21-16 | 21-10 | |||
Trevor Kent | — | 21-12 | 21-13 | ||||
Lynley Pritchard | 13-21 | — | 19-21 | 16-21 | 21-17 | 14-21 | |
Jeanine Browne | 16-21 | 12-21 | 21-19 | — | 21-10 | 21-16 | 21-14 |
Richard Fox | 13-21 | 21-16 | 10-21 | — | 12-21 | ||
Ian Paterson | 10-21 | 17-21 | 16-21 | 21-12 | — | ||
Fiona Matheson | 21-14 | 14-21 | — |
Section 2 points table
Group 2 | P | W | L | F | A | Diff |
Paul Neazor | 3 | 3 | 63 | 39 | 24 | |
Trevor Kent | 2 | 2 | 42 | 25 | 17 | |
Lynley Pritchard | 5 | 1 | 4 | 83 | 101 | -18 |
Jeanine Browne | 6 | 4 | 2 | 112 | 101 | 11 |
Richard Fox | 4 | 1 | 3 | 56 | 79 | -23 |
Ian Paterson | 4 | 1 | 3 | 64 | 75 | -11 |
Fiona Matheson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 35 | 35 | 0 |
Games coming up this week
Plenty, on almost every day of the week.

Junior singles week 1
Report submitted by Paul Neazor, 21 Nov
Our new singles league for juniors got away this week, with a fair degree of enthusiasm from the participants and, more to the point, some very good play from all concerned.
Of all the games I saw, the best was between Lynley Pritchard and Jeanine Browne, with Jeanine winning 21-19 after 19 hard-fought ends. Both players had the odd chance to make a break but good pressure bowls tended to limit the damage to one or two. Normally, each end was a stern struggle to get that all-important closest bowl and the margins were often tight. It was a game I thoroughly enjoyed, and the sort of match that augers well for the remainder of the competition.
Because Graeme McInnes, through no fault of his own, couldn’t get an entry in earlier he’s been added to Section 1 and will be in touch with everyone in due course. There will be some good games in that section coming up, so keep an eye out for them.
On that note, could the players let me know when their games are scheduled to take place. There’s growing interest in performances here, not least from the selectors, and if I can advertise the games on the Facebook page all interested parties can be there. It might also help getting a marker, which is something that just makes the game tick along better.
Thanks to everyone for a good first week, which just sharpens the appetite for what is still to come. Results and points tables follow.
Cheers
Paul Neazor
Section 1

Games coming up this week
Peter v Graeme, Wed 1pm
Peter v Jo, Friday 5.30
Please advise other matches as they’re made
Section 2

Games coming up this week
Trevor v Jeanine, Thursday 4.30
Paul v Ian, Thursday 6.00
Paul v Jeanine, Sunday 3pm
Please advise other matches as they’re made
