EMPIRE GAMES N.Z. Bowls Four Slumps In First Two Rounds

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29984, 20 November 1962, Page 17

EMPIRE GAMES N.Z. Bowls Four Slumps In First Two Rounds

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright)

PERTH, November 19.

The New Zealand four slumped to a 21-15 defeat by Rhodesia after leading 8-1 with six ends played in the first round of the bowls matches at the Perth Empire Games today. The New Zealand four was also defeated in the second round, this time by England, 15-24.

Points after two rounds were: Rhodesia 4. England 4, Hong Kong 4, Wales 3, Fiji 2. Papua-New Guinea 2, Australia 1, Canada 0. New Zealand 0. Scotland 0. Kenya and Fiji each had a bye. In the game against Rhodesia it was an indifferent showing after an encouraging start as their drawing became ragged and uncertain. The heavy green, a thick mat of course grass, obviously tr jubied the New Zealanders.

They were consistently short a trend that became increasingly more apparent as ".heir opponents concentrated on long heads. The New Zealand skip, J. H. Rabone, seldom managed to build a head that allowed him to play firm shots with any confidence. The teams were.—New Zealand: Rabone. W. P. O’Neill. R E. Pilkington. M. K. Boon. Rhodesia: R. H. Turner (skip) M. D. Milligan, V. Blyth. M. M. J. Bibb. A. S. S. McGil- \ ary. Often Tense The game was always interesting and often tense. Rabone attracted attention with some fierce drives.

The standard of play did not reach that of some of the other games, with heads generally loose. Rhodesia scored first with a single but New Zealand took over for the next three ends. A two on the second and one on the third was followed by an excellent four

to give them a commanding lead. Rhodesia struck back with a four on the seventh end. It was the turning point. NewZealand picked up two shots on the eighth when O'Neill with each of his bowls advanced front bowls in the scoring. Rhodesia scored seven on the next round ends to take the lead for the first time on the 12th. Then two singles to New Zealand levelled the score at 12-12 with 14 ends gone. Rhodesia went ahead with singles on the 15th and 16th and then a two on the 18th to lead 16-13.

The game was drifting away from New Zealand and all hope w-as lost when they dropped a five on the 20th. It was a disastrous head for New Zealand with Rabone unluckily driving the jack into the ditch.

Needing a maximum eight on the final end, New Zealand could do no better than a single to make the final score 21-15. Rabone was the best of the New Zealand players. The others were too irregular in their play. Turner. who played at previous Empire Games at Vancourver and Cardiff was a strong skip for Rhodesia and was well supported by Milligan, who also played a«t Vancouver After fighting tenaciously for the first 12 ends of the afternoon game against the powerful English team —unbeaten in international

matches against Wales. Scotland and Ireland for the last three years—New Zealand plumme'.ed to a 15-24 defeat with one end unplayed. All the New Zealanders improved substantially on their morning performance but still they were outplayed by the talented Englishmen. Once again there were too many short bowls from the New Zealanders. Rabone had his big drive working overtime in an effort to offset the greater accuracy on the draw of the Englishmen. His spectacular play had the crowd buzzing with excitement as he burned several heads and broke up others. But several times New Zealand did not have the back bowls needed to take advantage of Rabone’s barrage. Boon drew steadily, Pilkington achieved a number of fine shots, and O’Neill always inspired confidence whether drawing or driving. G. T. Fleming (lead) and D. J. Bryant (No. 2) were brilliant with their draw play while J. L. Watson and the colourful skip, S. Drysdale, played every shot in the game. Once again New Zealand started well with a single on the first end and a four on the second. But then the Englishmen got the feel of the green and scored three on the third, sixth, seventh and tenth ends to lead 14-11. New Zealand was still in the game with a single on a particularly hard - fought twelfth end with the score 16-12 to England, but from that point they drifted quickly out of the running. England added six points on the next four ends to lead 22-12, and although New Zealand rallied briefly, a single on the twentieth end was insufficient to keep the game alive.

With a 24-15 lead England could not be beaten, and the last end was not played. Scores: — First round (the 11 teams play each other once. There are two points for a win and one for a tie. The team with most points wins the gold medal).—Wales (C. Stephens. E. Porbert, T. Griffiths. A. Evans) 25. PapuaNew Guinea (R. Bailey, B. Schleusener, R. Holding, H. Nelson) 12; Rhodesia (M. Bibb. V. Blyth, J. Milligan, R. Turner) 21, New Zealand (M. K. Boon. R E. Pilkington, W. P. O'Neill, J. H. Rabone) 15; England (G. Fleming. D. Bryant, J. Watson, S. Drysdale) 24. Scotland (M. Purdon, T. Hamill, J. Black, W. Moore) 12; Hong Kong (M. Hassan. A. Pereira. E. Liddell, G. Souza) 30 Canada (A. Hoar. R. Moir B. Shields, E. Brown) 20; Fiji (J. Daunt, V. Costello, G. Williams. M. Bay) 33, Australia (R. Gillings. L. Edgeworth. A. Baldwin, G. Makin) 20; Kenya a bye. Second Round —Papua - NewGuinea 26. Kenya (M. Katzler. E. Wiltshire, G. Ashford, W. Coackley) 15: Rhodesia 38, Canada 12; England 24. New Zealand 15; Hong Kong 25. Scotland 19; Australia 18, Wales 18: Fiji a bye.