BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 43, 21 February 1927, Page 12

BOWLING.

BUSY WEEK IN VIEW. TOURNAMENTS AND TOURS. (By TRUNDLER.) The second Rotorua tournament commences to-day, with 30 teams competing. A.s some of the players took part in the Tauranga tournament ]a«t week, and in the first Rotorua tournament the previous week, it looks as if they are not very much alarmed :it the prospect of the continuous play which was supposed to make the Dominion tournament too strenuous. The Ellerslie all-day tournament announced for Wednesday, March 2. has been abandoned. Astonishment was caused by the cabled news published on Saturday, that the party of New South "Wales bowlers had left Sydney by the Ulimaroa the previous day, for all earlier advices had stated that they were coming by the Marama a week later. On the strength i.f that information, an itinerary has been fixed, but if the whole party arrive to-morrow, and do not wish to return to Sydney any earlier than the original date arranged, their early arrival may possibly solve more difficulties than it will create. It is always difficult to make up a bowling tour for a limited time—even though on this occasion the problem w-as somewhat simplified by the request from Sydney to confine the tour to the North Island —for every centre wants to see the visitors, and their stay in each will necessarily hare to be very short. If there is a week longer, it will be easier to comply with their wishes that the tour must not be too strenuous, and the longer time in this city may give an opportunity for them to be entertained by the Auckland bowlers who toured New South Wales a few years ago. These would naturally be very disappointed if the only people who met their former hosts were -'-3 official representatives of the various übs. The fifth round in the pennant matches will monopolise attention next Saturday, for this competition has reached a very interesting stage. In section A the leading clubs are Epsom, West End, Carlton, Remuera, Ellerslie, and Grey Lynn, in that order, and by a coincidence Carlton meets Epsom and Ellerslie on Saturday, while Remuera meets the other two. It therefore seems likely that the round on Saturday will find the winner of the section, even though there is still another round to play on the following Saturday. In section B the position is equally interesting, for there is to be a meeting of the two leading clubs, Rocky Nook and Onehunga, the former with their -whole strength, and the latter after picking out two rinks to meet Papakura. Stanley is now a good third, and will have to meet Takapuna, a club anxious to keep up the reputation gained in the Dominion tournament. A Cricket Score. There have recently been some claims i:i Australia to a record bowling score, but one was made on Saturday on the Auckland green which will take some beating. Being in club fours, all these matches were played out to the very end, for the aggregate score counts in the event of a tie, but towards the end it looked as if a record was in view, so the leading team made an attempt to lift the score to 50. Their efforts seemed likely to be crowr*ed with success, for they reached 47 by the 20th head, and were laying the whole six when the skips went to the mat on the 21sf. Visions of 53 soon faded, however, for the losing skip put his bowl right on the jack, and the match finished at 47 to 13. At Onehunga there has been an interesting competition on these lines during the present season, for the president gives a prize each Saturday to the rink getting the highest score, a cigar going to each man. It is usually wou by a good margin, but. on one recent Saturday a team which scored 39 presented their card for the usual , smokes, only to find that another rink had claimed the cigars with exactly the same score. This unusual tie cleared out all that the president had in hit case. A Great Bowling Centre. Recent affiliations have made the Auckland bowling centre so large that it looks as if it will comprise just as many clubs when the new North Auckland Centre is formed as it did last year. When the report of the Dominion executive was published there were 4C clubs in the centre, and since then four new clubs have been formed in the suburbs, viz., Henderson, Hillsboro, ALangere, and Te Papapa. A new club has also been formed at Hokianga, and the Taiparirua club has been received into the fold, under the name of Tauranga South. The membership will not lie available till the next report is published, but it is probably a little in excess of 3000, making Auckland about a- large as the next two put together. In point of numbers, the next three are almost equal, with about 1500 each, viz., South Auckland, Wellington and Christihurch. It is very pleasing to see bowling progressing elsewhere, although nothing equal to the wonderful growth in Auckland. Christchurch is second in the number of clubs, the affiliation of new clubs at Barrington and Shirley bringing their list tip to 35. South Auckland has been strengthened by the addition of Putaruru, and now numbers ->3. There was also great rejoicing at Feilding the other day, when the new Oroua club was opened. Some difference of opinion had existed as to whether Feilding could support two tlubs, but the president, Mr. Goodbehere, who claimed to be one of the only two Mirviving foundation members of the Feilding club, said that the venture was justified by the membership of the two clubs being about equal. Feilding's membership last year was about 80, and the starting of the new club had not depreciated this to any extent. He remarked that when the older club was formed the only club between WelIWgton and Wanganui was Palmerst.^