Bowls title to Johns

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33154, 19 February 1973, Page 15

Bowls title to Johns

B. S. Johns (Christchurch) and the South Brighton team of P. F. Meier and T. W. Dixon (s) at Papanui on Saturday won the 1973 Canterbury open singles and open pair bowls titles respectively. The singles final, adjourned: because of strong winds two weeks ago after seven ends; had been played, produced a| very exciting finish, with! Johns beating R. C. Lamb, (Beckenham) with his last: bowl. Johns also took the event in--1969. and he is now one of only, three players to have won ft j twice, the others being H.j DeavoTl and M. K. Boon. It was! Johns’s third centre title, and! it was also the third successive! year that the open singles cham-' pion has come from the Christchurch club. The game began again with Lamb ahead. 7-2. but there was not quite the same exactness • about his play as there had been! previously, and Johns steadily j narrowed the gap and eventually! drew level at 11-11 on the sixteenth end. On the seventeenth end. Johns: drove the kitty into the ditch' to take a one-point lead, and he increased it to three with two! closely-drawn shots on the next! end. FINAL END Lamb scored a single with a! toucher on the nineteenth end, and two close draws to a long head on the next end made the ; scores level at the beginning of the last end. Both players were heavy with I their first bowls on the final end,! but with his third delivery Johnsl drew the shot a foot in front; of the kitty. Lamb played a: perfect draw with his last bowl to rest on the kitty, and from’ the lie of the bowls Johns, appeared to have only a faint : chance of regaining the shot. He played a firm shot in the! hope of turning out Lamb’s; toucher, was a spade thin, and; hit his front bowl, which ran on I to the kitty and moved Lamb’s bowl about a foot. Johns's nearest bowl, a similar distance away, fell inwards as it stopped, and this enabled him to win the head and the title on a measure. PAIRS TITLE Meier and Dixon had to win; two games before they took the; pairs title, and in both they com-i bined extremely well to generally hold the upper hand. The victory’ gave Meier his third centre title and Dixon his; second. They first played T. J. i Edmonds and B. W. Sinclair (St Albans', and although Dixon led! most of the way Sinclair kept; within striking distance, and; twice came close to taking the lead, r

In this game, Meier led outstandingly and although Edmonds was far from disgraced, he could not match his opponent’s consistency. Sinclair was often forced to try very difficult shots, some of which came off. However, he. too, had a tough time competing with Dixon, who played very steadily and many times used wing bowls expertly to get into the 'head. Playing the last end, Sinclair; needed a five to tie. and there, was a chance he could get it with a bowl to move the kitty a yard. His last delivery was finely judged, but the kitty did not go far enough in the right direction, and he secured only a i three. In the final, Dixon met another ISt Albans entry, that of D. Miller and H. Hartley (s). who had a bye through to the last round. Again Meier outled his I rival, although Miller usually managed to play at least one good bowl on each head. Dixon and Hartley both showed I the form of which they are i capable, and their bowls determined the outcome of many of ■ 'the heads. Playing the seventeenth end,' the match was evenly poised ; with Dixon ahead, 14-13, but then; the South Brighton pair took! • command and won the next four i ends to take the game on the twentieth end. In the closing stages. Meier j clearly got the better of Miller,! and Hartley’s play slipped a j ; little, although at least twice! he narrowly missed rests on opposing shot bowls. I Results:— Singles.—Final: Johns 15. Lamb . 14. Pairs.—Semi-final: Dixon 20, Sinclair 18. Final: Dixon 21, Hartley 13.