Otago bowlers ...
South Otago sheep and beef farmer Robert Wilson hopes to continue his magic run in the North Island next month.
Wilson (51) is one of five Otago indoor bowlers who have been named in the South Island team for the seven-game tour that ends with the 35th annual North v South match in Auckland on August 15.
Wilson will skip the men's triples team. The other Otago team members are Kathryn Edgar (Tapanui) in the women's triples, Ann Cottrell (Burnside) in the fours and the two Daniels from Green Island. Daniel Sinclair will play in the men's pairs and Daniel French will skip the fours.
''We won two of our three games last year and this got me back in the team. I'm pretty happy about it,'' Wilson said.
... dominate ...
Wilson knows the South Island has a difficult task because the North Island has won the annual clash 11 years in a row.
Wilson will play a key role. He has won his provincial singles and pairs titles this season and now has 20 South Otago indoor bowls titles. He reached the last 16 in the singles at the New Zealand championships in Timaru.
Wilson won his only national title using big bowls at the men's club championship singles at the Westpac Bowls Stadium in Dunedin last year.
He started playing lawn bowls with his parents at the Clutha Valley club at the age of 9, and started indoor bowls the following year.
Wilson has won 22 South Otago outdoor titles and this will be the sixth time he has represented the South Island in indoor bowls.
He played in the inter-island match three years in a row from 1994 to 1996 and then had 10 years off before coming back again for three years from 2013.
Wilson has shifted to a farm closer to Balclutha over the past 12 months and has switched from the Hillend club to Clutha RSA in indoor bowls and to Finegand in lawn bowls.
''I like bowls because you meet a lot of different people,'' Wilson said.
Winning is good but l'm not upset if I don't win.''
The South Island team will tour the middle and upper North Island on the weeklong trip.
... South Island ...
Kathryn Edgar (nee Chittock), who grew up in Gore and has been playing indoor bowls since 1984, won her first South Otago title in the pairs with husband David in 2013.
She made her South Island debut last year.
''I'm thrilled to get back. It is an honour to play for the South Island. We tour this year so this is the big one,'' Edgar said.
Indoor bowls is an important part of life for the Tapanui sheep farmers.
David Edgar has won eight South Otago titles since starting the sport in 1971. The former national president is on the New Zealand Indoor Bowls executive and has been a national selector since 2004.
He has managed the New Zealand team for the transtasman test series three times - 2007, 2009 and 2015. New Zealand beat Australia 38-28 in the test in Tauranga in May.
... indoor team
Ann Cottrell (68) started competitive indoor bowls at the age of 11 and played until she was 22. She gave the game away for 25 years while she brought up seven children.
Cottrell has been back playing bowls for the past 21 years and has won eight Otago titles.
She first played for the South Island in 2013 when she skipped the women's four and this is her third year in the team.
French (30), a Dunedin painter, started playing with indoor bowls at the age of 14.
He has added the mixed fours and open singles this winter and now has 17 Otago titles. He was named the Otago Bowler of the Year for the fourth time last year.
Sinclair (25), a Dunedin factory worker, was a pupil at Kaikorai Valley College when he first played competitive indoor bowls at the age of 11. He has six Otago titles.
Championship roundup
It was a successful national championships in Timaru for former Otago representative Grant l'Ami (Tauranga), who skipped the winning pair and four.
He has won 12 New Zealand titles: champion of champions singles (1999), open singles (2013), open pairs (2002, 2014-15), open triples (1999, 2012), open fours (1994, 1998, 2002, 2011, 2015).
The masters singles was won by Ray Christensen (South Canterbury), who beat Henry Pratt (Tauranga) 10-8 in the final. Christensen (62), who works for Fonterra, played indoor bowls in Wellington, Canterbury and Otago before moving to Geraldine.
In the quarterfinal, Mike Howard (North Otago) beat Kevin Hurley (Central Otago) 15-6. Pratt beat Howard 11-10 in the semifinal.
Green Island's Daniel French and Daniel Sinclair were beaten by Ashley Diamond and Amber McNally (Waikato) 14-4 in the quarterfinals of the men's pairs.
In the masters pairs semifinals, Ron and Rae Inglis (Lower Moutere) beat Kevin and Gloria Hurley (Bannockburn) 11-7.
Jolly good time
Otago retained the Jolly Shield at the quadrangular representative event in Alexandra last month with 85 points from South Otago on 63, North Otago on 40 and Central Otago on 28.
The trophy honours the memory of former World Bowls and Commonwealth Games lawn bowls fours champion Gordon Jolly, who was the long-serving secretary of the New Zealand Bowling Association.
South Otago retained the JS Grant Trophy and Sportsmanship Trophy when it beat Central and North Otago in head-to-head matches, 27-9, in both events. Otago won the Briscoe Trophy when it beat South Otago 27-9.
Southern bowls
Robert Wilson and Noddy Thompson (Clutha RSA) beat David and Colleen Fenton (Waitepeka) 8-5 in the final of the South Otago open pairs.
Daniel Cook (Hillend) won the junior singles and Eileen and David Grant (Lawrence) the over-60 pairs.
Barry Gray, Aaron Harrison, Ivy Grant and Phyllis Peek (Paretai) beat clubmates Alana Preddy, Biddy Craig, Lindsay McCaughan and Stephen Preddy 10-7 in the final of the mixed fours.
Lindsay McCaughan and Jill Rodgers (Paretai) beat Alana Preddy and Chris Moffitt (Paretai) 7-6 in the final of the mixed pairs.
The regions gather
Zone 6 of the Paterson Trophy competition will be played in Oamaru this weekend. Southland is the defending regional champion and the other competing teams are South Canterbury, North Otago, Otago and South Otago.
The winning six zone teams will compete for the Welch Trophy.
Clear as a bell
Isobel Bell has made a significant contribution to the administration of the indoor and outdoor games.
Her efforts were recognised when she was elected the first female life member of the Roslyn Bowling Club at its annual meeting last month.
Bell, the centenary president of Bowls Dunedin in 2007, joined Roslyn in 1989. She plays indoor bowls for Hillhead and is secretary of the Otago Indoor Bowls Association, a national indoor bowls umpire and president of the Otago Indoor Bowls Umpires Association.
