Auckland pair win bowls final

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33252, 15 June 1973, Page 10

Auckland pair win bowls final

(New Zealand Press Association) WANGANUI. Auckland carried off the pairs title for ; the second time in three years when G. Gioves and J. Pringle scored a comfortable, 18-12, victory over the Southland combination, G. Gleghorn and R. Calder, in the final yesterday.

The northerners, whose previous best effort was finishing in the final four at national Catholic level, I played steadier bowls and deI served the victory. They led 10-5 at the halfway stage of the 18-end final) {and finished strongly after, Cleghorn and Pringle had closed the gap to 10-13 with four ends to play. For Cleghorn, who comes! from Gore, it was a case of being the “bridesmaid” for a second successive year. He was also runner-up in the pairs final last season at In- I vercargill. A feature of the final was some fine drawing shots from Auckland lead, Groves, who was very accurate. Pringle proved the ideal skip, capitalising on some fine heads built up by Groves. SURPRISE VICTORY Pringle and Groves reached: the final with an upset, 11-7,! victory over the strong Auck-| land pair, B. Pridham and F. Bell. Pridham, the most con-! sistent bowler at the championship, also reached the final four in the singles yes-; terday, and he and Bell, arei both former fours champions. I Calder and Cleghorn eliminated the Bay of Plentv pair, D. Dury and I. Ruff, 8-3, in the other semi-final.

Canterbury’s hopes of taking the title came to an end in the fourth round when its last surviving skip, W. Logan, was beaten, 13-4, by Calder. [ln the previous round, seven ■ Canterbury skips had been [eliminated. [ After Logan’s defeat, Canterbury supporters switched their allegiance to J. A. Robertson (Ashburton), Mrs G. Holloway (Marlborough), and R. Harding (Nelson). However. al! three were eliminated in the fifth round.