Report – The Grove Orewa BNH 1-5 Singles 6 & 7 April 2024
Hobsonville’s spectacular rise as a major force in North Harbour bowls, especially at junior levels, was taken a stage further in the centre’s one-to-five singles championships at the weekend. In Sunday’s finals at Takapuna they secured a double in both men’s and women’s events, repeating what the club had also achieved two years ago, and emphasising why Hobsonville has been so prominent, too, in club of the year awards.
In the men’s final Niraj Singh beat Orewa’s Alan McQuoid 21-15 and in the women’s Carol Voshaar beat Takapuna’s Terry Doonan 21-11, both giving impressive performances against strong and gallant opponents. In the quarter-finals Singh ousted Browns Bay’s Adrian Scragg and then in an epic semi-final overcame a big leeway to pip a highly competitive Orewa player, Kerry Greenhalgh, 21-20. To win this tight affair Singh displayed a superb temperament which set him up for a win against centre 1-5 representative McQuoid, who probably went into the final as the favourite. That was because of the players he beat on the way to the final. In qualifying play on Saturday he beat another centre representative, Paul Daniels 21-9, then in the quarter-finals another of Orewa’s many promising 1-5s, another centre representative, Andy Dorrance, 21-16.
Then in the semi-finals he beat Browns Bay’s Gerald Hill, who in the quarter-finals had beaten Hobsonville’s Clinton Smith on an extra end, with Smith, too, another who had eliminated high profile opposition.
To qualify for post-section Smith was his section’s top qualifier, ahead of another of Orewa’s junior representatives, Wayne Harris and then in the eighth-ninth play-off he won a tense, fluctuating contest against Ian Carroll, also from Orewa to underline that club’s considerable depth in junior bowlers. Despite the notable scalps he secured on the way to the final McQuoid also had his near misses and almost came unstuck against Milford’s Essy Nezhad. having to come from a 16-6 deficit to win by just 21-20. In the opening round Daniels, who was beaten so convincingly by McQuoid had been utterly dominant against Nezhad , winning 21-1 in little more than 40 minutes.
Voshaar, in only her second year as a player, was an imposing figure in both her semi-final win over Orewa’s Beryl Truebody, then in the final against Doonan, her consistency being a crucial factor. The 59-year old serves at Hobsonville’s nearby Whenuapai base working in logistics. A former Waikato hockey representative, she has a strong sporting background having also played tennis, badminton and squash. Her opponent in the final, Doonan, is another with a sports pedigree, having been an Auckland and North Harbour golf representatives. Hers was a notable effort as she has mainly played bowls at a social level. But she came through a strenuous qualifying day on Saturday and in the semi-final beat another of Hobsonville’s up-and-comers, the considerably younger Deanne Bronlund.
Overall, there was a high standard of play, with many games closely contested. It was a graphic illustration of the work clubs have put into developing their newer bowlers.