The 2024 New Zealand Indoor Bowls representative team ‘Mat Blacks’ to play Australia in the 25th Henselite Trophy biennial indoor bowls Trans-Tasman Test Match to be held at the Pukekohe Cosmopolitan Club, 78 Nelson Street, Pukekohe from Thursday 9th May to Saturday 11th May 2024.
The new caps are Shelley Jacombs, Hutt Valley, Kylie Gould, Canterbury, Jessie Moffat, North Wellington, Annelies Baker, Waikato, Alanna Moffitt, South Otago, Marcus Trlin, Hutt Valley, Nathan Trowell, Auckland.
Jacombs will skip the Women’s Fours and Triples, Gould is the second in the Women’s Triples and third in the Women’s Fours, Jessie Moffat is the lead in the Women’s Triples and Mixed Fours, Baker is the lead in the Women’s Fours and 6-bowl Mixed Pairs, Moffitt is the lead in the Mixed 8-bowl Pairs and second in the Mixed Fours while for the men, Trlin is the lead in the Men’s 8-bowl Pairs and third in the Mixed Fours, Trowell is lead in the Men’s Fours and Triples.
Jacombs, Gould and Trlin have all been reserves in the past, while Cameron (Counties) has moved to the Ladies Reserve.
Leading players, Teri Blackbourn and Joy Archer, Waikato, and Dale Rayner, North Wellington were not available for selection.
Players who missed selection are Suzanne Mackie and Gary Low, Southland, and Paul Wright, Auckland.
Those to retain their places from 2020 are Sheree Holmes, Upper Hutt, Denise Clarkson, Hutt Valley, Simon Thomas and Michael Lawson, Ashburton, Daniel French, Otago, Paul Smith, Tauranga, and Shaun Blackbourn, Waikato. Simon Thomas will captain the side.
For every player selected to represent their country this is the highest honour that can be achieved in the sport and for rivalry and intensity of competition it compares to any sporting encounter between the two countries.
New Zealand will be defending the Henselite Trophy which it retained in Ballarat two years ago. New Zealand has won the Henselite Trophy eighteen times including the last four tests in a row while Australia has been successful on just five occasions in 1976, 1979 and 1991 and 2009. In 2007 (New Zealand) and 2011 (Australia) results were drawn with the previous winner retaining the Henselite Trophy.
The International test match is held biennially in alternate countries. 14 players - seven men and seven women - who each play in two events represent each country.
