BNH Dick Bree Centre Triples and Women’s Centre Singles by Lindsay Knight

  • February 11, 2019

Orewa’s Wendy Jensen gave a further indication she has returned to top bowls by impressively winning the North Harbour women’s singles title at Browns Bay at the weekend.

BNH Women’s Centre Singles Champion – Wendy Jensen (Orewa)

 The former Counties and Auckland representative and one-time Black Jack earlier had shown good form at the recent nationals in Auckland and that earned her a recall to the national squad.

BNH Centre Singles Runner-Up – Jan Harrison (Orewa)

She followed that with further accurate draw bowling to overcome a small, but competitive field in the Harbour singles. In the final she had a comfortable win over another Orewa bowler, Jan Harrison. This also gave Wendy her 5th Centre title and Gold Star.

To make the final, however, Jensen did have a couple of tough matches. She topped her section with a hard-fought 21-17 win over yet another Orewa bowler, Jacqui Broderson, then won her semi-final 21-18 over Takapuna’s Connie Mathieson.

Broderson, another to have moved across the Harbour Bridge, is a relatively young bowler but with a strong background in the sport. She marked her recent arrival at Orewa with a win in the club championship over the vastly experienced and accomplished Elaine McClintock.

In her semi-final Harrison had a 21-16 win over Helensville’s Debbie Presland, who had come out on top in an extremely cut-throat qualifying section at Takapuna. This also featured McClintock and other outstanding players in Selina Goddard and Lisa Parlane.

BNH Dick Bree Centre Triples Runners-up – (L-R) Evan Thomas, Brian Wilson, Shane Gibson (Birkenhead)

 Another former Black Jack, Tony Grantham, added yet another centre title to his imposing list when he played at lead in the Scott Cottrell-skipped Brown Bay line-up which won the Dick Bree men’s triples final 16-12 over Birkenhead’s Brian Wilson, Evan Thomas and Shane Gibson.

BNH Dick Bree Centre Triples Champions – (L-R) Scott Cottrell, Tony Grantham, Adam Haywood (Browns Bay)

 At two in the winning combination was Adam Haywood, making up a formidable trio. Browns Bay was untroubled in winning its semi-final 18-4 over the line-up of Northcote’s John Hindmarch, Mike Haggart and Kenny Moran.

 Birkenhead prevented an all-Browns Bay final when it surprised the powerhouse combination containing multiple centre champions in Kerry Chapman, Brett Turner and Lindsay Gilmore in their semi-final.