Bellis Again Contender

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32011, 11 June 1969, Page 17

Bellis Again Contender

L. Bellis (Greymouth), who won the New Zealand indoor bowls singles championship as an 18-year-old at Christchurch five years ago, heads a list of 128 bowlers who will compete for this year’s title at Cowles Stadium today.

Although Bellis appeals as a possible winner at the same venue as his earlier success, he will have to reach a consistently high standard for the eventual champion faces the difficult assignment of being unbeaten in eight games today. The Canterbury players, A. E. Williamson and R. J. Watkin, who shared the pairs title three years ago, have also progressed to the last day of singles play and will be seeking the individual title to add to their earlier combined success.

Already Bellis has had to delve into his undoubted resouces to escape elimination, particularly in his game against the legless N. Dick (Bush-Ruahine). The two bowlers were level at 10-10 after 10 ends; Bellis moved ahead by two points on the next end, and on the last end Dick scored one point after the umpire had ruled that his second ball and Bellis’s best delivery were equally distant from the white ball. Bellis thus won, 12-11. The present Canterbury title-holder, W. Blackler, was beaten in the first round when he lost to another local player, D. Buckley, in an excellent game. Blackler needed two points on the last end to win, but Buckley scored one to extend his lead. Buckley had further success when he scored two points on the last end to beat the Auckland representative,

F. Clark, 10-9, but in his next game he was eliminated by H. W. Mountford (Canterbury). Mrs P. Lovelace defeated the skip of the runner-up fours last year, R. Motion (Wellington), a New Zealand Indoor Bowls Federation member, in the second round, 8-6. But Mrs Lovelace fell to Mrs M. Adams (South Canterbury), 10-7, in her next match. Auckland bowlers met with little success. In addition to Clark, R. Pridham lost 10-9 against a fellow watersider, L. Mayhew (Canterbury), A, Rasmussen was eliminated by T. Wright (Waikato), 12-10, in a hard-fought game, and L. Dunn could not make up a 7-9 leeway against I. Cross (Canterbury).

L. Dunn (Auckland), the 1958 pairs champion and the skip of the successful four two years ago, and another former fours winner, P. Nee (Canterbury), qualified for post-section play when the preliminary rounds of the pairs was completed yesterday morning. However they did not advance without surviving strong challenges from Mrs K. Ellwood (skip) and Mrs E. Morris (Otago). Mesdames Ellwood and Morris beat Dunn and Miss B. Bowsie 9-5, and lost to Nee and D. Watts by only 6-7. Mrs Ellwood also beat B. Gerken and Mrs Gerken (Southland), but was only able to draw with B. McNabb and Mrs McNabb (Nelson) and failed to qualify.