Club News
Wed 20 Jan 2010:Auckland Boys At Burnside
Auckland’s Danny Delany, Mike Kernaghan and Chris Le Lievre will this weekend line up in the prestigious SBS Bank Stewart Buttar Invitation Burnside Pairs in Christchurch.
Newly crowned National men’s pairs champion Delany will skip National singles winner and Black Jacks ace Andrew Todd of Sydney’s crack Cabramatta club.
For Onehunga’s Delany it will be another chance to show the Black Jack selectors Dave Edwards, Terry Scott and Colleen Ferrick what he can bring to the table shortly before the 2010 teams are announced.
The Delany/Todd combination is an official Bowls New Zealand selection and invite, suggesting Delany will be under the microscope in more ways than one.
Todd is the defending champion of the Stewart Buttar Pairs, teaming with Auckland’s Jamie Hill last year to take a big slice of the $10,000 prizemoney on offer.
Mike Kernaghan will revive his recent sporadic playing career as Le Lievre’s skip. The current New Zealand Mixed Pairs champion and former Black Jack singles exponent will pull out a set of woods for the first time in nearly a year for the tournament.
Le Lievre is using this event as a part of his build up for the under 25 Trans Tasman to be held at Birkenhead Bowling Club on February 26th, 27th and 28th. Le Lievre paired with Delany in last year’s Stewart Buttar Pairs.
In fact, two Australian teams are included whom will take part in the Trans Tasman. Queensland’s Sean Baker partners Mat Pieterson, while Tasmania’s Rebecca Quail skips Carla Odgers. The Australians are this week involved in a training camp at Birkenhead.
Baker and Quail will be familiar with the Burnside greens, having been a part of the victorious Australian side that played the Trans Tasman there in 2007.
Other combinations likely to feature include Le Lievre’s New Zealand teammates Andrew Kelly and Mark Watt, former Black Jack’s Sean O’Neill and Paul Girdler and New Zealand Pairs runner up Lance Pascoe with Shannon McIlroy.
48 pairs are split into 8 sections of 6, with only the winners of each section qualifying for the main event. 15 end games of Australian Pairs or 2x2x2x2 are played.
Section play begins on Friday the 22nd at 8.30am with three games followed by a Calcutta at 6.30pm. Play continues on Saturday the 23rd, with the finals scheduled for 1.30pm on Sunday the 25th of February.
Danny Delany (Onehunga, Auckland) & Andrew Todd (Cabramatta, NSW)
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