BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 47, 25 February 1929, Page 14

BOWLING.

TWO TOURNAMENTS CONCLUDED. PROSPECTS IN ENGLAND. 5 ' (B\ TRL'NDKLR.i A week of perfect summer weather enabled 1 lie centre pairs tournament nnd lite second Rotorua tournament (u be carried out under delightful conditjons. Competitors in (he latter were very please,! to see the improvement in the. greens compared with their .state a fortnight earlier, and as this is quite a common experience it looks as if the right policy is not carried out in preparing for the first and larger tournament each year. However, the local committee doubtless saw this for themselves, and will take steps to provide better greens in the future. A noticeable feature was the wider representation in last week's function, quite a number coming from Wellington and other distant centres. While only 11 out of the 30 rinks were from the Auckland' centre, in the first tournament 32 out of 55 came from here.

In one respect, however, the tournaments were similar, in that both were needlessly prolonged by finding the section winners first, instead of letting all the winners and ties go forward to intersection piny. If there was anything gained by the plan adopted, it might be worth sacrificing the interest for the sake of getting it through, but it takes longer and creates less interest the way it is played. It was shown last week that it took four rounds to find the winning rink in the first tournament, whereas three would have sufficed if all the ties had gone forward, and it would still have taken only four rounds if all the sevens had qualified, making 14 rinks go forward.

In last week's tournament it again took four rounils, even though only 30 rinks competed in three sections, instead of 55 in five sections. But again the winner would have been found in three rounds if all the ties had gone forward, and the Dominion provision mentioned last week would still have taken only the same four rounds.

There seems to be no question that the extra interest created by this suggestion would far outweigh any objections, even if it did happen to make an extra round, which is very unlikely, for nearly every rink would then have some interest in the whole of the section play, right up to the last round. In the meantime it is only necessary to congratulate the two Wellington rjnks who fought out a close finish, and if only the Rotorua tournament could be held a little closer to the Dominion tournament, when the latter is held in Auckland or Wellington, there might afc?o be a few South Island rinks competing. The Pairs Tournament. This will give something to talk abotit for a week or two, if only on account of the unexpected happening in so many sections. However, as the president of the centre observed, when presenting tho prizes, the same familiar faces usually appear in the finals, in spite of all tbr> luck of the game. Mr. Coldicutt remarked that the finalists had been before the Auckland public for thirty years, and none of the younger generation Beemed able to displace them. Off to England. At the conclusion of play at Remuera *>n Saturday the club president, Mr. T. R. Proctor, made a presentation of a cased table timepiece to Mr. J. Woolter, who leaves for England this evening by the Aorangi, via Australia. Eight times champion of the club during the last twenty years, Mr. Proctor expressed the. confident hope that their champion would represent the club with credit abroad, and assured him of a warm welcome on his return. With regard to Mr. Wooller's games In England, there is little doubt that he ■will seize every opportunity to play in any singles tournament that is open, for this is a very popular game in England. Rink play, however, is even more Important, and half a rink from Auckland is already in Australia, en route to England, viz., Messrs.| J. Pascoe, Devonport, and A. D. Gray, Auckland. With Mr. Wooller leaving to-day, and Mr. H. W. Frost (Carlton) leaving in a few weeks, they would make up about the strongest Auckland rink that has ever played out of New Zealand. Several other good players have already been mentioned as likely to leave Auckland shortly, and if they will notify their movements while in England to Mr. Pascoe, whose London address will be care Bank of New Zealand, he may be able to arrange for two or three rinks to ( play in some of their big tournaments. They may be able to follow up the great success of Mr. Hardley's party of last year, who won handsomely two of the four Test matches, and only just missed winning the other two. They should also keep in touch with Mr. Melbourne Orchard, late of Devonport, whose address is 47, Stanbury Road, S.E. 15, for he always knows what tournaments are pending in which New Zealand bowlers will be eligible to compete.

Another Australian in Auckland. While the Remuera members were assembled for Mr. Wooller's presentation, Mr. Proctor took the opportunity to introduce to the company Mr. R. Rogerson, of Perth, West Australia, ■who had arrived from Rotoma the previous evening. Mr. Rogerson is known in N.Z. as the only skip on either aide .who had threa wins in the three Test matches in Wellington last month, and- he went to Remuera to see his opponent in one of those matches, Mr. Arthur Parsons, competing in the pair£ final. He is playing at Carlton this afternoon, Mount Albert to-morrow afternoon, and all day on Wednesday in the tournament at Ponsonby, leaving for Australia on Friday. Other tournaments pending are pairs at St. Helier's a week later, March 6, rinks at Mount Albert on MarcTi 13, and rinks at Mangere on March 14.