BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 1, 3 January 1933, Page 12

BOWLING.

CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS. NEW POEICY OF PLAY. WELLINGTON NEXT WEEK. (By TRUNDLER.) The Auckland Centre's Christmas tournament is now only a memory, but there were several features that are not likely to be forgotten for a long while. It is probably the first major tournament in which the winning skip did not make a single drive, and probably never before has the winning skip played with such widedrawing bowls. Lancaster often got his third to drive, and even occasionally his second, but his confidence in sticking to the draw himself made his play appear quite uncanny. As for his bowls, there could hardly be a greater contrast than between his and the bowls with which Ueli won the open singles a month ago, and it will make players recast their idea of the supposed advantage of the minimum draw. Lancaster certainly e-oloited one feature that appeared to outweigh the usual objection to a big draw—he got round a heap of wood, that would have presented an insurmountable difficulty to bowls with the minimum draw.

He carried out to the letter the maxim of Mr. Arthur Parsons, "Get rid of your loss as early as possible, for you are bound to get one," for he went down to Walker in the very first round of post-section play, and then got five wins on end. His lucky number must me 14, for in four of those five matches his opponents scored only 14 points. Naturally Mr. Lancaster's progress will be keenly watched in the future, particularly at Wellington next week, where he seems to have a rink just as good as the one who helped him at Christmas. Tho big puzzle will be as to whether he can retain his form, or whether he has only gone up like a rocket, like those who appeared in earlier years to have introduced a new standard of play, such as Auckland had never seen before, and then were hardly heard of again. He will have the best wishes of Auckland that he can retain his remarkable touch.

Among the interested visitors at various stages of the tournament were: Mr. J. W. Hay den, a former president of Takapuna, who has just returned from another vis't to England; Mr. Frank Carbines, who returned from Australia just too late to help a Ponsonby rink to qualify; Mr. A. C. Mclntyre, formerly of Devonport and Carlton, but more recently of Hamilton, Hlintly, Whakntane and elsewhere, who skipped the winning rink in 1918. and plaved third in the winning rink in 1922 for. Carlton, and in 1923 for Hamilton; Mr. _E. Jury, who skipped the winning rink for Karangahake in 1920, prior to leaving for Wellington to win the Dominion rink championship; Mr. Harry Frost, the wellknown Rugby official, whose presence on a bowling green was probably due to his family connections necessitating his attend; ance when a member of the House of Torrance was in action; Mr. Oliver Nicholson, chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, and patron of the Mount Eden Bowling Club, although it did not transpire in which capacity he attended; Mr. Vio Casey, now of Sydney, who skipped the Ponsonby runners-up 16 years ago, and played third for the winners a couple of vears earlier, with Walker as skip; and finally there was present practically every competitor now resident in Auckland who has ever won or tried to win the popular Christmas tournament.

The annual Dominion tournament commences in Wellington next Monday morning, when the first round in the singles championship will be played on 10 greens, commencing at half-past ten. Three more rounds will be played in the afternoon, and by the evening the 148 competitors will probably be reduced to 10 two-lifers and 36 one-lifers. These will resume on Tuesday morning, and five rounds will be played that day, after which there will probably be only three or four survivors. These will not continue till after the rinks are disposed of, which will be next Wednesday week at the earliest, or later if they qualify for post-section play in the rinks.

It is understood that arrangements-are being made for broadcasting the finals of all three competitions over the air— singles, pairs and rinks—but in view of the success in broadcasting the Auckland Christmas final last Saturday the Wellington committee may decide to try it with some of the earlier matches. For instance, on Tuesday afternoon there will probably be only five matches in the seventh round, and if one of these should happen to be a meeting of two former champions it might be just as interesting as any of the finals. Last Saturday's trial was a success in every way. The announcer made it interesting, and it was so clear that occasionally the players could be heard calling their directions across the green, and consulting as to what shot to play, while very often the audible applause showed that the attempted shot had come off, even before the announcer could describe it. As wireless annihilates distance, it is not surprising to learn that some of the holiday resorts up the coast tuned in, and got the news first hand.

The New Year tournaments started under most delightful weather conditions, but some of them are giving a full measure of section play, and will not attempt the finals till next Saturday. Having regard to the ease with which entries were received, the largest being 44 rinks at Remuera and 28 at Onehunga, it makes one recall with astonishment the experience of only a few years ago, when the only really organised New Year tournament was at Otahuhu. It was frequently urged that a few large tournaments at New Year would prove popular, instead of giving so much attention to Labour Day, when the weather is so often unfavourable, and the promptings have borne good fruit. A request has been made that attention should be drawn to the inconvenience often caused by competitors entering a rink, and then drawing out at the last minute, Without giving due consideration to the probability that this will upset the draw, thereby militating against the enjoyment of all the other competitors. This has happened so often lately that the subject will probably be ventilated at the annual meeting of the centre. A coincidence in connection with the one-day Christmas tournaments at Otahuhu that has probably never happened before in similar circumstances is worth recording. Progressive pairs were played on bothdays, run off as entirely separate tournaments, and on both days the winning skip was A. J. Carson. (Otahuhu) and the winning lead R. Kay (Mangere).