SUMMER BOWLEG.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 34, 10 February 1930, Page 16

SUMMER BOWLEG.

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK.

ROTORUA AND AUCKLAND,

MEETING THE CANADIANS,

(By TKUXDLER.)

The first perfect bowling week this year enabled a good many club matches to he played last week, especially when there were so few local tournaments, and further progress was made on Saturday under delightful weather conditions.

The position has entirely changed this week, as the big tournament lit Rotorua commences to-day, and will continue till Friday, six local tournaments are arranged, and the fifth pennant round takes place on Saturday.

The local tournaments are at Dominion Road to-morrow; Avondale, Edendale and Rawliiti on Wednesday; and Epsom and Mangere on Thursday, all rinks except Rawliiti. A good lhanv players would arrive at their club pavilion on Saturday with some curiosity as to the draw for the fifth round in the pennants, to be played this week. The two rounds postponed through bad weather are to be played on March 1 and S, but this week's round may be expected to give a fairly good idea of the ultimate winners, so members would naturally want to see what preparations their selectors have made in the matter of building up winning rinks.

Otahuliu will be carefully watched tliis time, after their great win in the rink championship, and th. fact that they scored five wins and a tie against Ellerslie: in the last round seems to indicate that the rink tournament was not merely a flash in the pan. Holding fifth place in their section, with 50.25 per cent of wins in the two rounds combined, they are within striking distance of the top, provided that Hillsboro' can look after tlie leading club, Manurewa, now on 100. The Canadian Touring Party. The Canadian bowlers leave the 13Iuff to-day for Melbourne, but most of them will be in Auckland again in four weeks from to-day, when the Aorangi calls in on the return voyage to Vancouver. That will give an opportunity to explain to tliem our dee]) regret that we did not make their trip through the Dominion as enjoyable as we might have done.

If their secretary, Mr. H. Westoby, is correctly reported in an interview which he save in Tiraaru, tliey have been disappointed because they found the ISaw Zealand bowlers too keen to win, whereas in Canada no attempt was made to "stack" the teams who played against our touring party two years* ago. Our people were certinly given to understand that in each city O'V town in Canada the best bowlers were selected to play against thein, and aven then our partv generally won. That is the reason why in Auckland no attempt was made to put in strong teams against them, as their bowling calibre had been fairly well estimated two years ago. If they had inquired into the personnel of our teams, they would have found tliey were chosen purely in a representative capacity by the dubs themselves, and the 124 selected players included only two club . champions; no centre champions and no Dominion champions. On the other hand, the Test team was chosen to win, and also to let them see the very highest standard of bowling that Auckland can produce. . Rain prevented the Test match, but the position is quite clear over the others, that no team was "stacked." What happened in the other cities and towns is not known .here, but Auckland certainly "played the game." If our visitors wanted to win, they had only to say so, and we could easily have watered down our teams still further to accommodate them.

On the other hand, we cannot very -well meet any visitors by being less keen to win. Having once chosen . a team —good, medium, or weak —that team must play their best, or they will forfeit the respect of all true sports. The highest compliment that has ever been paid to a jockey is this: "He always rode to win," and surely we can keep bowling up to as high, a standard as horse-racing. In New Zealand we make no secret of the fact .that we regard a, bowler who does not play his hest in very much the same light as •we hold a jockey who runs stiff. Apparently this sentiment is equally prevalent in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Canada and Australia, for their representatives who have played here have seemed just as keen to win as our own players are, so possibly Mr. Westoby, who is a much-travelled man, did . not make his meaning quite plain on this particular point. He will have an opportunity when he is here next month." 'On that o'ccasion, if the visitors would like to finish up their tour with a >win, we can accommodate them, not with players who are not keen to win, but with weak teams who cannot win, keen as they are. On the other hand, if they would prefer to see an exhibition of high-class bowling, it can probably "be arranged, even though a Monday 'is far from being the most convenient day of the week.' Canadian Hospitality. As regards the claim made by Mr. Westoby that they selected the kindest of hosts, in an endeavour to make the visit of the New Zealanders to Canada one that they would long remember, Canada certainly scored a brilliant success in that respect, and our people have never ceased to talk about the amazing receptions they were given, right thfough the great Dominion. All have frankly admitted that New Zealand could not possibly return the lavish hospitality that was showered upon them in Canada, and it is that recollection which will disappoint our tourists when they realise, if Mr. Westoby is correctly reported, that New Zealand also failed to give them the enjoyment in the game itself which we could so easily have done. ,