When Central Otago’s women’s bowls team headed to Auckland for the national inter-centre play-offs they knew they’d be competitive.
But given the status of many of the players they’d be competing against, like Jo Edwards, Val Smith and Selina Goddard, they knew they faced a daunting challenge.
Incredibly, the team returned home as national champions in the NZ National Intercentre Sevens, edging out Wellington by the narrowest of margins, achieving a famous first for the region.
Central Otago had made their mark nationally over the years, but had never captured any of the glamour team titles.
Victory, at the Browns Bay club, wasn’t secured till the final delivery of the final match, the singles contest between Wellington and Thames Valley, which had become agonisingly poised at 24-all.
Wellington’s Lisa White held shot and had the status quo remained the capital city team would have triumphed.
But Thames Valley’s Lesley Nicholl had the final say, producing an inch-perfect delivery that left the Wellingtonians devastated.
It then became a countback situation with Central Otago emerging triumphant by two match points, followed by Wellington and Nelson in third.
Team manager Buck Buchanan says for about 15 minutes after the final contest no one knew exactly what the outcome would be, until tournament controller Brett O’Riley came along and announced, ‘‘you’ve won it’’.
‘‘I always believed we had the quality players to go all the way,’’ Buchanan says, ‘‘but in an event like that you need a share of luck to go with quality bowls.’’
Central Otago had eliminated Southland, Otago and South Canterbury in a regional play-off to get to the national final by which stage the country’s 27 regions had been trimmed to six.
Members of the Central Otago team were Arrowtown’s Debbie Jackson (singles) and Liz Tomlins, Queenstown’s Christine Buchanan, Jane Anderson and Debra Lloyd, Alexandra’s Linley O’Callaghan (pairs) and Omakau’s Pam Walker (fours).
Their coach was Pam’s husband, Bruce Walker, who’s previously competed at the Commonwealth Games.
The only negative for the Central Otago women was that four of them tested positive for Covid upon their return home.
