Mercedes Cup – Junior Interclub – Commentary by Lindsay Knight

  • May 6, 2019

  Mairangi Bay’s talented group of junior bowlers capped their string of top performances in recent seasons with a stunning win at the weekend in the Mercedes Cup regional one-to-five year inter-club final.

 Mairangi so dominated the two-day tournament at the Hikurangi club in Northland that it won the cup after just four of the scheduled five rounds.

 After the fourth round, having lost just one of 12 matches, Mairangi had an unassailable lead over the other teams, Balmoral (Auckland), Manurewa (Counties), Kensington (Northland) and Opononi (Far North).

 The Mairangi Bay team was Phil Chisholm (singles), David Payne and Colleen Rice (pairs) and Fata Letoa, Theresa Rogers and Allan Langley (triples).

 All of these players have been prominent in recent Harbour centre junior championships and even have done well in senior championship events, reflecting the excellent coaching they have received from Ian Hardy.

 The win repeated a previous success by Mairangi Bay in the 2004-05 season. Mairangi president Bruce Aley, who was in that junior side, was full of praise for the latest effort.

 “We are very proud of them all,” he said.

 Takapuna has been another Harbour club to have done well in this competition, winning the cup in 2015 after coming a close second in the 2003-04 season.