FOUR IN SIGHT OF BOWLS GOLD

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 10

FOUR IN SIGHT OF BOWLS GOLD

(From K. ]. McMENAMIN)

With three rounds remaining in the bowls, New Zealand has excellent prospects of the gold in the fours and at least the bronze in both the pairs and the singles.

A hig break came forli the four — Kerry Clark,,j Dave Baldwin, Jack Somerville and Gordon Jolly — in the final round yesterday when , its toughest rival. Aus- ' tralia. had a shock loss ' to Kenya.

The Kenyan four had won only one previous game and even with its win over Australia is still bottom of the points table. The well-disciplined Australian team, with its skip Keith Poole a great asset, had been playing so impressively that it had become a warm favourite to win the fours. However, the Kenyan four scored heavily in the middle stages and even though Australia picked up nine points on the last four ends, it went down 22-24, This leaves the New Zealand four, which had little difficulty winning twice yesterday, at the top of the table with 16 points. Australia has 14 and if it wins this morning against Fiji it will draw level, because New Zealand has the bye this morning.

However, New Zealand’s remaining two games are against teams down the ladder, Zambia and Hong Kong, while Australia could have groblems with both Fiji and apua-New Guinea, which it meets in the final round tomorrow.

Also, New Zealand has a handsome advantage over Australia in points for and against and these will decide

[the placings if they should I finish equal; New Zealand is I plus 103 and Australia plus 170.

Jolly in form

It is difficult to see how the New Zealand four can fail to get a medal, for its nearest rival after Australia is Papua-New Guinea, which is five points away, with two tough games today.

Six teams have a chance of a bronze medal. Jolly and his team had to beat England yesterday morning to keep within striking distance of Australia and this they did with surprising ease. The whole team contributed. with Jolly, especially, having a fine game. New Zealand was in front all the way and had few worries when it led 18-5 after 12 ends. The final score was 30-13. In the afternoon New Zealand was able to relax against Western Samoa, winning 34-11.

Singles close

The top three in the singles remained unchanged yesterday. The Englishman, David Bryant, retained his lead with two more wins and he is still two points clear of Clive White (Australia) and Percy Jones (New Zealand). However, Bryant, although winning both his games comfortably, was not particularly impressive and his match against White this morning will be vital to his chances of retaining the title. Jones played some of his best bowls of the tournament to win twice yesterday and although he has strong opponents in each of the final three rounds, a medal is certainly within his reach.

This morning he plays the Scot, William Wood, the only man to beat Bryant so far, and this afternoon he will meet the world singles champion. Maldwyn Evans (Wales), who now lies fourth. Jones’s final game tomorrow morning is against Bryant. Jones played very steadily to beat Denis Gosden (Kenya) in the morning 21-16 and in the afternoon played even better to beat the accomplished Roy Fulton (Northern Ireland). He got to the front early and a key end was the fifteenth, when he was ahead 14-11. He was four down when he came to play his last bowl, but took the shot with a toucher. He had few worries from then on.

On points for and against.

Bryant is plus 95, White plus 65 and Jones is plus 48, so if Jones is to get more than the bronze medal he would probably have to win two of his last three matches. Pairs excitement

The news was not as good for New Zealand in the pairs though. Phil Skoglund and Bob McDonald had an easy win in the ninth round over Kenya, but were beaten in the afternoon by the Northern Ireland combination, William Pimley and William Tate.

Before yesterday Northern Ireland had lost more games than it had won, but it showed its record to be a bad guide when it narrowly beat Australia in what was by far the most interesting pairs game yesterday morning. Against New Zealand, it was the skip, Tate, who brought about the home team’s second loss. On the fifth end he put the kitty in the ditch to go from five down to five up and two ends later he used the same tactic to score a three.

With Skoglund not leading too well, and Tate undoing much of McDonald’s good work, the New Zealand pair was struggling. It trailed, 18-9 after 15 ends, but then, with McDonald the dominant figure, staged a wonderful recovery.

On the second-to-last end New Zealand was behind only 16-19 and the crowd buzzed with excitement when McDonald drew three shots to add to the one he held at the change. Tate, however, still had a bowl left and with a wonderfully weighted delivery he cut inside New Zealand’s counters and trailed the kitty for three shots. It was a superb shot to a full-length head on a green which was far from easy to read.

McDonald burnt the first head on the final end when the six he needed to draw was out of the question and in trying for another bum Skoglund put the kitty into the ditch. McDonald then could only play for points and he managed a two. This defeat left New Zealand in third place and its chances of a medal will hinge greatly on how it fares against the "leader, Scotland, this morning. Scotland, represented by John Christie and Alex McIntosh, retained its perfect record with two more convincing wins yesterday.

England, too, was untroubled to win twice and hold second.