Bowls TEAM FOR GAMES

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28524, 1 March 1958, Page 14

Bowls TEAM FOR GAMES

Seven Players Nominated

(From Out Own Reporter) WELLINGTON. February 28. The president of the New Zealand Bowling Association and chairman of the selection committee (Mr S. L. Hall) announced in Wellington this evening thejnames of the seven bowlers nominated to represent New Zealand at the Empire Games in Cardiff in July. They are:— Singles: J. Pirret. Jun. (Tuakau). Pairs: J. M. Morris (Hamilton) and R. E. Pilkington (Balmoral). Fours: T. W. J. Barron (Miramar). S. J. Snedden (Linwood), R. , J. Andrew , (Onehunga), and W. H. Hampton (Naenae). W. R. Hawkins (Hamilton) is a reserve should any of those selected not be able to make the trip. The hames will go on to the Empire Games selection panel, Messrs E. G. Guy (Rotorua), P. N. Robinson,' and C. L. S. Cross (Wellington), for approval. Pirret is one of the finest fourbowl players in the Dominion and one of the most popular. Pirret, now 42, has had 20 years of bowling with the small Tuakau club and has virtually taken possession of his club’s singles title, having won it on 15 occasions. In the Empire Games on the Carlton green in 1950, he won the singles title. He won his Empire title before he became a New Zealand Champion. Four years later, when defending his title at Vancouver, he finished in second place. At the last national charripionships in January he bowled well in the singles and won the pairs title.

Morris has often finished well up in national tournaments and his record in Hamilton is outstanding. He has • one of the greatest records of any player in the Waikato centre, both in' club competition and centre fixtures! 1953 Winner

Pilkington in the last four years has been very prominent in national tournaments, having won the pairs in 1953 with J. F. Benson as lead. In this tournament he also finished third in the singles. In 1954 he was a quarterfinalist in the fours, and in 1955 he played off for fourth place ih the pairs. In 1956 he was runnerup in the fours. He has always been to the fore in national tournaments, Mnd although he had rather a lean time in Christchurch in January, his previous record and his Auckland centre record were held sufficient for his selection as skip of the pairs. • |

Barron bowled well in the pairs and singles at the national tournament in Christchurch and has figured prominently in previous tournaments. He is an excellent lead and has won the Wellington singles title. He achieved this after only a few years of bowling. His judgment of weight and green at times is uncanny. In his first attempt at the Wellington singles title he was runner-up, but. next year won the title. Christchurch Player Snedden, one of the outstanding bowlers in Christchurch, has a record of which he can be justly proud, for since he started playing bowls in 1932 he has won 29 club titles—nine singles, 12 pairs,, and eight fours. He is the only player who has won all three Christchurch Bowling Centre’s champion of champions titles, and he has won the fours twice. Snedden was a member of the winning four at the national championships in 1938, and in 1954 at Christchurch, he was eliminated from the fours in the semi-final by A. Connew (Carlton). Snedden is still bowling well, and at present is the. only player in Christchurch holding lives in both the open singles and open P z lr ™ . His recor< i made him one of Christchurch’s strongest contenders for selection.

Andrew was a national singles’ winner in Christchurch in 1954. He has had many notable successes in Auckland. In 1955, with N. L. Norman as lead, they met Pirret and Rodgers in the final of the Auckland open pairs—a game which took seven hours and three-quarters to play. Andrew did not figure as prominently in the last Dominion tournament as he did four years ago in Christchurch, but he is a very soynd player and should make an excellent number three for the four. Hampton began playing bowls in 1928 at Sumner as a lead for his father, the late W. J. Hampton, who was a well-knoArn Christchurch player. In 1955. with F. B. Tait, he reached the final in the national pairs at Wellington, but he was beaten by W. R. HaWkins and M. G. Borich (Hamilton). At Dunedin in 1956 he skipped his team into third place in the fours, and in 1957 at Auckland led the same team tp the final but lost again. Hampton played well in both the pairs and singles in Christchurch at the last New Zealand tournament, but the number of games he had to play over the concluding stages proved very tiring and he lost to fresher players. Hawkins is probably one of the most unlucky players not to be selected. He has won the national pairs title twice—first in 1947 with E. P. Exelby when a member Of the Frankton Junction club and again in W 55 when he led for M. G. Borich.