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Masters had no atmosphere

(The Citizen - February 24, 2006)

THERE was something missing at the SA Masters – atmosphere. Although Wingate Park had all the right facilities for staging a tournament the size of this year’s, it lacked the atmosphere and vibe that had been in the presence of Edenvale.
This does not detract from the effort put into this year’s event by all concerned but where was the atmosphere created in earlier events by the addition of music and the distribution of information to the many spectators. Given all that it is just simply too big by the inclusion of the seniors event formerly played in Bloemfontein.
The bigness of it all decreed that a club with at least five greens should be used and Wingate Park, if memory serves right, is the only one in the country for this purpose.
This is a great pity, because the presence of the senior players, many of them previous winners of the main event, added much interest.  Many spectators came to see players like Colleen Grondein and Hester Bekker in action at the same time as all the present stars like Lorna Trigwell, Gerry Baker and many others who are now virtually household names in the game.
The standard of play was very high and the organisation competent given all the hiccups the committees had along the way to the final days. However, above all, there was too much for the spectators to see and one could feel the presence of an overabundance of talent too hard to take in all at once.
Colleen Webb and Gerry Baker, not unexpectedly, won the two main titles while Yvonne Steenkamp and Ralph Gandy took the senior titles, but the tournament was dominated by the emergence of some players who are due to make a great impression soon.
Highest on the list is 22-year-old Handre Marais from Bloemfontein who only came into the tournament when former champion, Neil Burkett decided to play in Australia instead. Marais, unheralded and virtually unknown to the media, with only two losses in seven games did well enough to be one of the four bronze medal winners, a feat not many old stalwarts of the Masters have achieved.
His two losses, in the first round to Kevin Campbell 13-21 and then in the last to current international Gippo Vermeulen (14-21) are significant but it was his wins over John Connellan, Brian Dixon (eventual runner-up), Bobby Donnelly, Stoffel Lambrechts and Mike Steyn that will make him be remembered in this tournament.
The other first time player to win bronze was Western Province’s Cheryl Cox who scored four wins out of seven matches beating Sharon Glenn, Louise Larkin, Esme Steyn and Lorna Trigwell.
Trigwell for her part will need to put this tournament behind her as she won only two games and finished bottom in her section. However, hope springs eternal for the world No 2. A bad dress rehearsal (this Masters) could herald a brilliant performance later (Commonwealth Games).
Colleen Webb, the only unbeaten player in the whole tournament, showed again there are few to better her in singles when she outlasted Loraine Victor in the women’s final.
Gerry Baker, freely tipped to sweep all opposition aside found himself in a four-way tie at the end of round robin play and it was only a couple of big wins earlier that saw him get into the final ahead of Chris Forward, Shaun Addinall and Wayne Perry.
Brian (BJ) Dixon showed yet again he is quite worthy of his international position, and gave Baker a great run for his money in the men’s final. Baker himself admitted he thought he was out of it when Dixon led 14-10 but he suddenly upped his game and Dixon, unfortunately, had to bear it as Baker marched to his fourth title joining Kevin Campbell as the two to have won just one short of the late Doug Watson, five in a six-year period.
Regarding the makeup of future tournaments Bowls South Africa’s planners may well have to split the tournament yet again if they wish to move the event around the country, perhaps by using two clubs in close proximity.

Younger players benefit by absence of stars

The Citizen - April 28, 2006

Several districts playing in the annual inter-districts tournament in Johannesburg were denuded by the unavailability of many players, but this has been to the benefit of many others who have the opportunity to further their own causes.
The absence of some players has definitely shown in the form of some teams, more particularly Western Province where they have lost four of their top players to retirement and lack of leave left for bowls has become obvious.
Without Neil Burkett, (in Australia), Eric Johannes (no longer available), Kevin Campbell (reportedly retired) and Shaun Addinall (no more leave) they are much less the team they have been.. However, this is not say that the team put together has not acquitted itself well and the younger players drafted into the side have coped admirably with the task.
Not least of these is 40-year-old Peter Harvey, son of one of South Africa’s greatest bowlers, Tommy Harvey, who passed away at the age of 42 in the prime of his bowls career. Just to watch the son play one sees the father in him and that recognizable push delivery is so evident in the son.
Western Province manager, Bobby Cron said Harvey would soon be skipping one of the WP teams in inter-district tournaments.
It was also fortuitous for Western Province that former international Alan Lofthouse was able to make himself available to skip one of the WP fours after it became obvious Neil Burkett would not be back from Australia in time . His experience at this and international level has been a definite factor in helping the WP younger players..
There is a lot of youth in this tournament not least of all from Bloemfontein where we have Clinton Roets, Wayne Perry – both already internationals – Handre Marais who made such an impressions in gaining a bronze medal in the SA Masters, together with Wayne York and Jarred Oracki. With this talent, the future of the game in Bloemfontein looks very alive and well, if not now, as they lead their section after the sixth of the nine rounds.

Talk of younger players brings us to thoughts about upcoming international events and the national selectors are expected to go for youth when they pick their sides for the African States tournament in August. They are due to announce their sides at the end of the inter-districts this evening (Friday).
When I say going for youth I apply that more to the men than the women for there is a definite lack of younger players of established caliber among the women, a matter that should receive the urgent consideration of national and district executives.

So with youth in mind what do you think – and I expect brickbats – of my side for the African States.
Men: Fours: Brian Dixon, Wayne Perry, Duane Abrahams and Handre Marais. Singles: Nic Rusling.
Women: Fours: Loraine Victor, Cheryl Cox, Colleen Webb and Esme Steyn, although I would like to see Leone Durand, recently returned to the game among those names. For the singles there is only Lorna Trigwell.

Men’s national tournament chair Nicky Parker has been at the inter-provincials as a spectator and tells me all is in readiness for the tournament that begins in Cape Town on May 13 with the pairs competition. Headquarters is at Constantia.

One thing the inter-provincials have brought out is that there are some better bowlers on the national executive. National president Piet Breitenbach skips one of the two North West fours while executive member Tys Pringle has the same job for Limpopo.