WINTER BOWLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 158, 6 July 1937, Page 14

WINTER BOWLS.

CHALLENGES RESUMED.

THREE TOURNEYS RUNNING.'

BUSINESS MEETING ARRANGED

(By TRUNDLER.) | Brilliant sunshine and a dead calm ' assured a good attendance on Saturday ' at the few greens open for winter play ' this year, so all the fixtures were carried, * out. after several delays. The Balmoral 1 two-Saturday tournament v."ae completed ! without a final, as it was won outright _. with six wins by Heasman, Stevens, 1 Loxley, Francis. By a coincidence they ) met and defeated Walter Franks in the 1 last round, repeating the verdict of a few ', weeks earlier, when they met in the final j of the previous tournament after a tie i in the section play. The tournament at •' the same dub which was arranged to commence next Saturday has been postponed for three weeks, and will now be held . j on July 31 and August 7. Hillsboro made ( a good start with their tournament, and 1 the remaining rounds will be played next ' Saturday. Hallyburton Johnstone lost the Edwin Stai-s, after five wins, Firth 4 (CJlen Eden) winning by 23 to 16, and the-] new holders will play on the same green ' this week, as their own is closed for the I winter. The next challenger is W. Ure , (Auckland), followed by L. S. Francis j j (Balmoral). ] The Denison Pine gave a very close j game, the striking feature, according to I the losers, being the excellent recovery 1 shots played by the Mount Albert skip, ; who was continually saving the situation I by uncanny accuracy in getting through difficult openings. They tied at 13 all and 17 all. the holders getting the necessary success in the last few heads to retain the trophies by a narrow margin: Stevens, Barlow, Conner, Thomas (Mount Albert), ■ holders, '.'O, v. (iooding, Bird, Little, Hodd ; (Carlton), challengers, 18. The holders! will a*:ain defend their trophies on the . Hallyburton .lohnstone green next Satin- : day. when the challengers will be C. ' Barnes, W. Lendcryou. C. G. Maher, E. j Hunt (Auckland), and the next on the, list aie J, 11. Colthurst (West End) and" F. W. Dates (I'onsonby). Soldiers On the Green. i Two rounds reduced the six section winners in the returned soldiers' tournament to two rinks, and the final will be played when Dr. Hardie Neil returns from I Fiji. An interesting coincidence is that I his rink reached the final two years ago, when they were defeated by Alex Moon (Te Papapa), and that the other finalist, ' T. If. Stringer (Hillsboro'), reached the! final last year, to be defeated by F. A. ' Hosking (Pukekohe). One of thorn must [ win it thi« time, and both can live in ' hope for a few weeks. There will be ! some sympathy for S. Vella in getting pushed out in the first round for po-«t- ; section play by one point, for nobodv has worked harder to make a success of these tournaments, but last year he had jto go to Sydney just before the tourtla- , nient, on a short business trip, and the ' j previous year he had to be al>sent oil, account of the death of hie father. ] The postponement of the final will leave Stringer's rink free to take their turn . next Saturday in the Diggers' Badges, which are still at Balmoral, as the holders had rather an easy win. The game was started on June 5, hut interrupted by heavy rain, so the whole game was played j j over Renin, in accordance with the rules. ' I after being interrupted by the soldiers', tournament: King, Clews, Gifford. Goldsmith (Balmoral), holders. 29, v. Smith. I Coutts. Pitts, Lockley (Devonport), challengers, 16. Peculiar scoring was the feature of the Jordan Pins match, the visitors being 8 to 6 on the seventh head, and 18 to 6 on the twelfth, after which they scored only a single, while the holders secured a four and seven singles: G. Martin. J. Sommore. G. Laslett. T. H. Mitchell (Mangere). challenger*? 10. v. W B Stephens, J. R. Harlock. E. J. Gatland. j L. Bray (Onehunjja). holders. 17. The ! winners will phiv at Onehungtt again next ' Saturday, as their own mvon is being I renovated. :ind the challenger will be S. Moore (To PnpapiO. 1 The Council In Dunedin. The newly-elected council of the New Zealand Bowling Association will meet in Dunedin to-morrow, when the most important business, outside the routine work that has to be done every year, will be to complete the arrangements for the Empire Games in Svdney next February, and to deal with the suggestions of the various centres regarding the revision of the constitution and the laws of the game. Strange to say, there is not a word on either subject in the report to be presented to the meeting by the outgoing executive, the whole of four T>aiares beinp devoted to placing on record the activities of the past ve-nr. Doubtless this is qui+.° in order, and the report is substantially correct. Which ie more than can be said for the renorte of some of the previous executives, but these facts are already known to most bowlers, whereas it would have been interesting to learn what the other centres have done toxoids j two niatWs mentioned above. Howfever, we shall probably know to-morrow. A Matter of Arithmetic. Tlie only serious mistake in the report is in regard to the recommendation of the executive to abandon section t>l ay in the sinules. after three trials, and to revert to the former system of the twolife throuirhout. As explained in the Sports Edition on Saturday this was | debated at the meeting of delegates last I Tuesday on the assumption that a shortage of greens made it awkward to accommodate the players on the section svstem. 12 on each preen, and th;>t Wellington ' had to solve the difficulty by putting 14 on some green«. whi»rea« the two-lif" | would 'have enabled 16 to play on each green. j It now turns out that this is not the reason, but that it is "owing to the large number of winners of three games in section play qualifying for post-section play " If equity is considered it is just as fair for a large number to qualify I as a small number, and the possibility , of some going forward on the minimum qualification was recognised when t'he , conditions were framed last July. The i Wellington contention, therefore, can only j mean that thus unexpectedly brouriht in 1 a "large number," thereby prolonging the tournament, whereae under the two-life' a smaller number would have gone forward to the second day's play. I What are the facts? Thirteen unbeaten ' qualified as two-lifers, and 64 beaten as I one-lifers, whereae under the two-life system' on the firet day there would have been eighteen going forward as two-Hfeiw. and 69 as one-lifers, or else 17 and 71 respectively. Consequently the Wellington members of the council will have to put up a better argument to-morrow than the one they included in the report, if they expect ito convince those councillors who ! thoroughly understand the two-life system, ! for it is obvious that the old sveteni would i have taken quite as long to finish as the tournament actually did, and possibly one round longer.