Bowls singles and gold star to Mrs Wilkie

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32531, 15 February 1971, Page 3

Bowls singles and gold star to Mrs Wilkie

(By our bowls reporter)

The statuesque figure of Mrs E. Wilkie (Walton) dominated proceedings on the final day of the national women’s bowling tournament yesterday, and it is a day neither she, nor the spectators who came to watch, will easily forget.

In the morning Mrs Wilkie and her lead, Mrs J. McLean, narrowly failed to capture the pairs title—an event they had won twice before.

But in the afternoon Mrs Wilkie brought the tournament to a wonderful conclusion when in a dramatic final she beat Mrs T. Bainbridge (Auckland Central) for the singles crown.

This gave Mrs Wilkie, who was defending the title,- her third win in the singles, and as well as becoming the first person to win the event more than twice, she set a record by winning it in consecutive yeSrs. However, Mrs Wilkie’s proudest moment came when at the prize-giving she was presented with her New Zealand gold five-star medallion —only the third woman to have gained the honour. The pairs championship was won by the popular Heme Bay combination of Mrs J. Gifford and Mrs V. Devlin who, as members of Mrs L. Fowler’s rink in the fours, were possibly a little unlucky not to do better than third in that event. SISTERS-IN-LAW Mrs Gifford and Mrs Devlin are sisters-in-law, and although they very nearly allowed the title to slip away from them, it was a fullydeserved success. They earned the right to meet Mrs Wilkie in the final when they easily beat Mrs L. Harland (Marewa) in a semi-final on Saturday. Mrs Harland managed to win only four of the nineteen ends played, and when she conceded the score against her was 21-6, which was a fair commentary on the superiority of the Herne Bay pair. In the final, Mrs Wilkie made a flying start when she collected five points on the opening end, but she then had a long period in which she could not judge the weight, and with Mrs Devlin and Mrs Gifford playing as well as they had on the previous day, the scoreboard took on a surprisingly lop-sided look.

By the thirteenth end Mrs Wilkie had added only two singles to her opening haul, while Mrs Devlin, through the steadiness of her lead and her own ability to play all types of shots, moved to 18. Playing the fifteenth end, Mrs Devlin led 21-10, but then suddenly the Walton pair came to grips with the green and, playing some superb

bowls, took six successive heads to trail only 20-21 starting the final end. Mrs McLean drew to within two feet of the kitty to lie shot on the final end, but then Mrs Gifford got even closer. Mrs McLean sent her own nearest bowl from the rink in attempting to drive off the shot bowl; and at the changeover Mrs Devlin held two shots. She got a toucher with her first delivery, but with a shot into the head, Mrs Wilkie reduced the counters against her to one. DIFFICULT SHOT

Mrs Devlin left matters as they were with her next bowl, and with her final delivery Mrs Wilkie tried a very difficult shot to wrest the shot bowl out and gain the two she needed for victory. The weight was perfect, but the track a fraction astray.

While the pairs was being finished, Mrs Bainbridge earned a place in the singles final by eliminating the last Christchurch centre representative, Mrs A. Beazley (Linwood), 20-11. Mrs Beazley had played some outstanding bowls to survive Saturday’s five rounds, and although she slipped a little against Mrs Bainbridge, she came back strongly later in the day to beat Mrs E. Potter (Auckland Women’s), 22-5, and so share third place. Also in third place was Mrs J. Osborne (Manawatu), who after being the last remaining two-lifer, had the misfortune to twice have to play Mrs Wilkie on her path to the final.

The first meeting was in the final round on Saturday when Mrs Wilkie won, 20-9, and the second came between the two finals yesterday when Mrs Wilkie won 21-10. Both games produced a high standard of bowling, and in neither did the score truly reflect just how much Mrs Osborne tested Mrs Wilkie. REPEAT DEFEAT

This was the second time that Mrs Osborne, who is a sister of the former prominent jockey and now nationally-known bowler, V. J. Sellars, has had Mrs Wilkie take both her singles lives. In 1966 Mrs Osborne lost in the semi-final and the final to Mrs Wilkie. SINGLES FINAL

Yesterday morning Mrs Osborne advanced to the semi-finals by comfortably accounting for Mrs Potter, 23-11.

Mrs Wilkie looked to be

feeling the effects of her three earlier games when she was outbowled by Mrs Bainbridge on three of the first four ends of the singles final. Mrs Bainbridge, however, was playing as well as at any stage of the championship, and her early 5-1 lead was achieved by some steady drawing.

Mrs Wilkie trailed the kitty on the fifth end to go from two down to two up, and on the next end she drew two lovely shots to level the scores at 5-5.

Both players thrilled the gallery, which was disappointingly | small, with some top-shelr drawing, but it was Mrs Bainbridge who more often had the final say and she clung to her lead until the last end.

On the final end, with the score against her 17-15, Mrs Wilkie showed the true qualifies of a champion by drawing three close shots. Mrs Bainbridge mixed her bowls, and with her drawing confidence shaken she elected to try and kill the head—which was a long one—with her last delivery rather than draw to save.

Her drive narrowly missed the kitty, and Mrs Wilkie in reply to her question, was told by the marker that she held two shots and it was a measure for third. Mrs Wilkie then inspected the head and surprisingly relinquished her right to play her last bowl.

However, Mrs Bainbridge conceded the third shot without calling for a measure, and so she had her first national title snatched from her grasp after leading for 20 of the 21 ends.

Results of the final rounds were:-

Singles Ninth round.—Mrs E. Wilkie (Walton) 20, Mrs J. Osborne (Manawatu) 9; Mrs T. Bainbridge (Auckland Central) 19, Mrs D. McGregor (Auckland Women’s) 17; Mrs A. Beazley (Linwood) 24, Mrs J. Thodson (Wairere) 10; Mrs E. Potter (Auckland Women’s) a bye. Tenth round: Bainbridge 20, Beazley 11; Osborne 23, Potter 11; Wilkie a bye. Eleventh round: Wilkie 21, Osborne 12. Final.—Wilkie 18, Bainbridge Pairs Semi-final.—Mrs V. Devlin (Herne Bay) 21, Mrs L. Harland (Marewa) 6.

Final.—Devlin 22, Mrs E. Wilkie (Walton) 20.