Let me first report on the progress of Angie Goodfellow following her operation.  It would appear that she is now on the long road to recovery and has started to receive visitors.  For those of you who know her well, her condition can best be summed up by what she has passed back to the players.  "Tell them that I feel bloody wonderful.  Then tell them that I tell lies!"

Now to the Championships

The colourful opening ceremony welcomed the 28 competing countries in perfect conditions.  The crowd enjoyed the traditional Maouri welcome followed by the march on to the finals green by all the teams resplendent in their national colours with their national flags.  A real blaze of colour without a white top or tie in sight.

Play started immediately afterwards and the temperature soared to 40 degrees at various stages during the afternoon.  At one point play had to be stopped on a Burnside green so that the fringe areas could be watered.  The greens in Christchurch are not grass but Cutula/Maniototo, a weed which can only be grown in New Zealand.   When extreme temperatures occur and the water content of the soil is not adequate, the plant immediately goes into stress and, if not remedied at once, will die and the green is lost in 10 minutes.  Tell tale signs of real stress are bowlers' footprints showing on the green and the green taking on a dusky grey appearance.  This normally occurs on the first three yards of the greens and applying water in such conditions does not alter the speed or behaviour of the greens.  All the surfaces of all the greens used were like a billiard table, absolutely smooth with speeds of 16-19 seconds.  Absolutely fantastic and a joy to bowl on although shots had to be a perfect draw or a flat out drive.

How then have the teams performed?  I am sure that the internet has been working overtime since play started and most of you are aware of the results so far in the Men's Pairs and Triples and the Ladies' Singles and Rinks.  One has to remember that we are competing against the best players in the world and the standard is very, very high with no quarter given by anyone.   

Nick Cole and Barry Latham got off to a flying start winning their first two games in grand style only to come up against Malaysia in the next round who were on fire.  Every time we were on the jack they fired us off and never missed.  In their next match, the same was done to them and their coach remarked "Now you know how Nick and Barry felt!"  Every few moments there was the crash of firing woods being delivered with great accuracy.  Nick, and Barry, in their game against New Zealand experienced this accuracy when they were holding shot with a toucher in the ditch and the jack directly above it on the very edge of the green.  New Zealand fired and hit the jack with such force it went through a bush and hedge out of the grounds and was almost declared lost.  In golf - Yes, in bowls - No!

Unfortunately this set the trend for their remaining matches and, although they played well, they finished up only winning 3 games and coming 10th in their group.

In the Men's Triples, Clive English, Keith Jones and Mick Johnson were on a mission and determined to qualify for the play off.  They beat Israel in their first game 27-14 and then went on to draw with Canada 19-19.  Day two was a heavy day where everyone had three matches starting at 8.30 with the last game finishing at 9 pm.  They had a win against Brunei, lost to Fiji and drew with Zimbabwe putting them 4th in their section.  Day three saw good wins against Jersey 20-12 and Argentina 28-6 keeping us 4th in the section with 10 points.  Canada led on 13 points with New Zealand and Ireland joint second on 12 points.

We needed two wins on day four but only managed this against Norfolk Islands 34-2 losing to Thailand 18-19 where they should have won.  This meant we needed two wins on day five playing against the top two countries, New Zealand and Ireland.  What games they were as we beat New Zealand by one shot with the crowds increasing with every end.  Sufficient to say the game against Ireland was nail-biting with 8 dead ends and three ends not played because of time constraints.  We were 3 shots ahead starting the last end and were 5 down in the head with one bowl left.  Mick drew one inch too far and only saved two making a draw and fifth in the section  to Canada who went through on shot difference by 4 shots.   But then what is it they say "That's Bowls!".

In the Ladies' Singles, Pam Cole was taking on the task for Spain where it was hoped that her experience would stand her in good stead.  She played hard in every game and, although only winning one match, it could so easily have been 8 or 9 as match after match went to the wire with the one against South Africa lasting 28 ends 20-21.  The Rinks were always going to be up against it with the loss of Angie Goodfellow as Skip, her skill and enthusiasm with her team always bringing out the best in everyone.  That said, Sheri Fletcher stepped into the skips' position and played very well producing some fine shots over the five days.  Chris Evans, who came to the championships to support the team, was pulled in to play three with Debbie and Carol being the only two players remaining in their original positions.  They finished 9th in their group recording good wins against Samoa 21-12, Cook Islands 27-7, Jersey 17-16, Swaziland 26-17 but losing all the others although in the game against Australia they lead until the 14th end and the Aussie Skip was heard to say "I didn't expect the game to start this way!"

As I said earlier, the standard is very high and to win everyone has to be on the top of their form for every end played.  The lightest lapse of concentration is punished and it is very hard to recover.

Next week sees the second half of the tournament which everyone is eagerly looking forward to, determined that each will do their very best.