INDOOR BOWLS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27369, 7 June 1954, Page 10

INDOOR BOWLS

PLAY FOR DOMINION TITLES

FINAL OF FOURS DECIDED The final of the fours and the semifinals of the singles championships of th. New Zealand Indoor Bowls Federation were decided yesterday. Play began on Saturday in the tournament, the fifth held by the federation, and will be completed today. The fours title was won by Hint and Hutt and Wellington players will contest the final of the singles. No fewer then 390 players competed in the singles, 255 are entered in the pairs and 130 played in the fours. Centres and associations represented are Auckland Canterbury, Greymoutb. Hawke’s Bay’ Horowhenua, Hutt, Manawatu. Marlborough. Nelson, Ruapehu. Southland Taranaki. Thames Valley, Upper Hutt Valley. Wanganui. Waikato, and Wellington. Nearly a third of the competitors are women. The tournament, which is being held in the Railways Department’s B goods shed, was opened by the Mayor of Christ- ‘ church (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P i The game is similar in many respects to the lawn. game, except that it is played with a’4in bowl and on a mat that measures 22ft by 6ft. In the quarter-finals of the singles R Robertson (Horowhenua) beat Mrs’ F Coulson (Hutt), 12-7. Mrs Coulson led' 4-3 on the third end, but Robertson drew away to win comfortably. P. J. McKenzie (Wellington) had & runaway win over G. Bain (Wellington' Over the first eight heads, Bain did not score, but McKenzie ran up 14 points Bain took two on the next end. McKenzie winning. 15-2.

Another runaway game was seen between G. McDonald (Hutt) and A Thomae (Wellington). McDonald led, 6-0, on the fourth end. Thomas scored two on the next, and over the next five ends McDonald scored 10, to give him a lead of 18-2, Thomas taking three on the last D. R. Fleming (Canterbury) went awav to a lead of 9-2 against T. King (Southland), and from then on did not score again. King increased his score to seven but was unable to win, as the time limit had expired. Fleming had a hard tussle with McDonald in a semi-final. He led 6-3 on th* fifth end, but McDonald took the lead 11r6,..0n the ninth. Fleming scored a two and a three, to bring the score level and on the last end honours went to McDonald, who won. 13-11.

In the other semi-final, it was anvone’a game until the last bowl was played McKenzie won the first four heads with » single on each, to lead 4-0. A four and a two to Robertson on the next two gave him the lead by two, but a single and a two to McKenzie on the next two ends gave him the lead, 7-6. Robertson evened the ISPS? on . the next - and on the last end McKenzie was Eble to hold one shot to win the game, 8-7. * _ Play in Foursv Section play in the fours had just reached the quarter-finals last even ng when an electrical fault occurred wh ch threw the whole building into darknS? Play was transferred to a small hall across the road. The wooden floor was more true than the concrete on? of the goods shed, and some fine bowling was seen. In the game between J. (5. Hom (Horn. H. Gough (Canterbury) Gough led 4-0 on the third end, and remained on four for the next four heads H x J an HP seven points, to take th® lead. 7-4, and win. 8-6. A very close finish was seen between F J. Haughey (Waikato) and P J N a u£* (Wellington), Haughey beinf'9-7 the seventh end. Nalder took a single o“ the next head, and it seemed he wal certain of a win, but Haughey scored a ii- u io w n the Ba,ne on the last

E. Macdonald (Hutt) wa» trailing N + i C^n l erbury ) J ’ to the fourtl » end, but then he scored a single to even the score, 6-6. Prisk took the lead on the next end. and a three to Macdonald put him in the lead- for the first time. He won, 10-8. A. Wilkie (Hutt) had no difficulty in disposing of H. Ramage (Wellington),

In, the semi-final .Wilkie was able to score on only three of the heads flayed. Macdonald lead 6-2 on the fifth end and 10-3 on the eighth, winning the game after 10 ends had been played, 13-3. Horn recovered brilliantly over the last three ends to win the other semi-final from Haughey. After Horn was leading 8-5 on the sixth end Haughey scored a seven to give him the lead 12-8, but on the next head Horn scored a five. On the next he scored a four, and with a single ort the last ei(id he won, 18-12. The final of the fours was a brilliant game. Macdonald won the title for the third time, beating Horn, who skipped a team that included his wife . and two sons. Macdonald led 5-2 on the third end. but a six to Horn gave him the lead, which he increased with a three on the next head, Macdonald was 12-8 down on the eighth end, but he kept Horn on 12 for the next four ends and took the lead, 14-12. He sitill held a lead of 17-14 with only two heads to play, but Horn scored two, to be one down with one head to play. Cn the last head Macdonald held one shot to win the game, 18-16. The final of the singles, which was to have been played last night, was postponed until today, as G. McDonald, one of the finalists, was also in the final of the fours. a Today the section play and post-sections * of the pairs will also be played. Results were:— Singles.—Quarter-finals: R. Robertson (Horowhenua) 12, Mrs E. Coulson (Hutt) 7; P. J. McKenzie (Wellington) 15. G. Bain (Wellington) 2: G. McDonald (Hutt) 16, A. Thomas (Wellington) 5; R. Fleming (Canterbury) 9, T. King (Southland) 7. Semi-finals: McKenzie 8, Robertson 7; McDonald 13, Fleming 11. Fours.—Quarter-finals: Mrs J. G. Horn, B. Horn, J. G. Horn, jun., J. G. Hom, sen. (skip) (Horowhenua), 8; C. A. A. Smith, F. Dephoff, N. Hocking, H. Gough (skip) (Canterbury), 6. C. J. Thompson, Mrs F. J, Haughey, Mrs C. J. Thompson, F. J. Haughey (skip) (Waikato), 11; E. R. Trask, J. W. Saunders, P. McKenzie, P. J. Nalder (skip) (Wellington), 10. C. Clark, H, Robins, G. McDonald, E. J. Macdonald (skip) (Hutt), 10; M. D. Prisk, J. Stark, I. Steel, N. _T. Prisk (skip) (Canterbury), 8. Mrs A. Wilkie, Mrs B. Brown, B. Brown. A. . Wilkie (skip) . (Hutt), 10; GJ: K. Perrin, J. Bunker, C. Doprian, H. Ramage '(skip) (Wellington), ,4. Semifinals: Macdonald 13, Wilkie 3; Horn 18 Haughey 12;- Final: Macdonald 18, Hom 16.