A Threepeat beckons for Bronwyn Stevens and Sarah Scott at this weekend’s invitational pairs at the North East Valley club.
The annual tournament attracts many of the country’s top female bowlers.
Stevens and Scott were the first pair to seal back-to-back victories last year, and a third straight win would enhance their growing reputations in the eyes of the national selectors.
Only Blackjack Sandra Keith (Leeston) has achieved the feat of three consecutive titles at the tournament, but her titles (2012, 2013 and 2014) were won with three different leads.
Janet Swallow (Outram) is the only other to win two consecutive titles, but that was also with different leads.
Both Stevens and Scott missed selection for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and that has only added to their desire to don the silver fern.
Scott was arguably one of the players of the tournament at the recent inter-island clash, and was credited for the South winning the crucial fours game that secured the trophy.
While bowling is ingrained in her DNA, the Covid years have hindered her progress after being named in the New Zealand high-performance squad in early 2019, becoming the seventh member of her family to gain national selection.
Her father, Terry, is a past national singles champion and national representative, and uncle Jim was a medallist at the 1982 Commonwealth Games and 1984 world championships.
Her great-uncle, Kevin, played for New Zealand, as did his son, Shaun. Another great-uncle, Bill, and his wife, Noeleen, have also played for New Zealand.
Basing herself at the Broadbeach Club on the Gold Coast, she won the district singles and finished runner-up in the pairs, and will return next month for the Queensland state fours final.
A silver medallist at the 2015 world powerlifting championships, Stevens switched from the physical demands of pumping iron to the mental tactics associated with lawn bowls soon after. Success was immediate and the transition was complete.
As skip, she finished runner-up in the 2018 edition of the Grand Casino-sponsored invitational pairs with Gail Page (Kaikorai), but it has been her pairing with Scott in recent years that has set the benchmark for bowls in the South with a string of inter-club titles.
Stevens was awarded the Millie Khan Memorial Trophy for the region’s best female bowler earlier this year.
Victory this weekend would be another consolation for missing the Commonwealth Games.
"Missing out on selection has only made me hungrier," Stevens said.
"It was good to get to Aussie because World Bowls is there next year. A four-month stint over there just to get on their greens and get some good, hard competition will give me a chance to give it a good crack."
Section play in the invitational pairs starts at 9am tomorrow, with the final expected to start about 1.30pm on Sunday.
