The Kaikorai combination of Verne Scarf and Peter Wilson caused a major upset when they downed the Scott brothers in the semifinals of the Bowls Dunedin open pairs yesterday.
They overcame the wild weather conditions on the Taieri green to beat Jim and Terry Scott (North East Valley) 18-15 in a closely fought game.
It was an unexpected result because the Scott brothers are both former internationals and have won 51 Bowls Dunedin titles between them.
Wilson, a Dunedin process worker, has developed his game since joining the Professional Bowls Association and is an accurate lead.
Last year he was just one game short of getting an expenses-paid trip to the Welsh Masters when he was beaten by Andrew Kelly (Canterbury) in the final of the direct entry event at Dunedin.
In that event he beat Jim Scott in the semifinal and repeated the dose yesterday.
Scarf was a skilled skip who added the extra shots when needed to keep the pressure on the Scott brothers.
The second and 17th ends proved costly to the North East Valley pair when they dropped a five and a four.
It is hard to come back in an 18 end game when nine shots are lost on two ends.
The Scotts came back from that early mishap to draw level at 13-13 on the 14th end and looked to have the game in their grasp when they scored singles on the next two ends to lead 15-13.
Scarf and Wilson will play another North East Valley pair in the final at the Taieri green tonight at 5.30pm.
The promising Kelvin Budge and New Zealand squad member Mark Watt combined for a comfortable 20-9 win over former indoor bowls international Mark Cowan and Blair Barringer (Fairfield).
The Fairfield pair was expected to put up more of a challenge because Cowan has won 12 Bowls Dunedin titles and Barringer six.
But Budge played the accurate lead bowls and Watt added the extra shots to enable North East Valley to dominate the game.
The game was close after six of the 18 ends when Budge and Watt led 7-3.
North East Valley took three shots on the eighth and tenth ends to lead 15-4 and take the game out of Fairfield's grasp.
