Gold and a bronze to N.Z. bowlers

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33448, 1 February 1974, Page 10

Gold and a bronze to N.Z. bowlers

I By

K. J. McMENAMIN)

X gold medal for the four of Kerry Clark, Dave Baldwin, Jack Somerville, and Gordon Jolly; a bronze for the pair of Phil Skoglund and Bob McDonald, and only sympathy for the singles player, Percy Jones.

These were the rewards for the New Zealand howls team when the final rounds were completed yesterday. The four made sure of the gold by beating Hong Kong, 33-9. Overnight It had shared the lead with Australia, and aggregate shots were expected to decide the placings. But Australia, only a shadow of the team it was in the early rounds, was beaten by its near-neighbour, Papua New Guinea, and this left New Zealand a clear, leader and Australia unchal-i lenged for second. MEDAL IN EACH Scotland took the bronze medal, and it was the only country to win a medal in! each of the three sections.. The Scottish pair of John Christie and Alex Mclntosh 1 suffered a shock defeat—its’ first of the tourna-' rnent—yesterday at the hands of Hong Kong, but still finished on top. England had a chance of denying Scotland the pairs! gold if it could beat New Zealand, but in an excellent game the New Zealand pair,’ which was assured of the bronze medal whatever the result, defeated England, 2321. I OP BOWLER The 40-year-old English-' man. David Bryant, maintained his standing as the top singles bowler in the Commonwealth by winning this event for the third successive time. He shared the lead with Clive White (Australia) overnight, and clinched victory with a 21-8 win over} Jones. Bryant had a big ad-: vantage over White in ag-! gregate shots, but there wasno need for a count-back' after White was unexpect-’ edly beaten by Harry Lakin I (Malawi). A count-back, however, | was required to determine third in the singles, with' Jones, the popular young Scot, William Wood, and the world singles champion, Maldwyn Evans (Wales) all finishing with 18 match points. The count-back was clearly in Wood’s favour. He finished with plus 68 shots, Jones plus 45, and Evans! plus 29. Justice was served' by White and Wood taking! the minor medals, for they! were the only players to beat Bryant, who was plus 120 aggregate shots at the' finish. NARROW HAND Weight problems, partial-! larly in respect to short! bowls, prevented Jones from! keeping within striking distance of Bryant. Jones; played the wide hand main-; ly. but Bryant shrewdly' elected to play the narrow hand on which he found, tracks made from previous; games very helpful in draw-! ing to medium and long heads. tryant led 7-3 after six; ends, 14-6 after twelve ends,! and took the game, 21-8, on the eighteenth end. Over the: final stages Bryant drew superbly, and although Jones twice got out of trouble; with touchers, he was too inconsistent to pose a threat to the pipe-smoking sports dealer from Bristol Bryant said he had had one or two bad lapses, but over all felt that he had played r.s well as when he won the singles in Perth in 1962 and again in Edinburgh in 1970. Although winning easily,; the New' Zealand four gave good value to the large crowd which came to see it win a medal. Fours on three of the first four ends took

the pressure off, and by the; eighth end it was 18-4; ahead. Hong Kong was far from disgraced, but with a gold medal at stake New Zealand gave nothing away, and all members of the team lifted their play accordingly. New Zealand won every end from the twelfth. When it became apparent at an early stage that the Scottish pair was in danger of losing to Hong Kong, the match between England and New Zealand took on new meaning, for if Scotland lost and England won the gold medal was England’s. Scotland never recovered from its bad start, and at the sixteenth end trailed, 9-24. From then on the

I Scottish pair kept a very close eye on how England was faring two rinks away. The New Zealand-England I match had been close all the I way, with once again New i Zealand being splendidly I served by its skip, McDo- ■ nald. It was two i magnificently drawn shots by him on the twentieth end . that virtually decided the ! game. This return put New Zea- • land in front, 23-19, and I after Phil Skoglund had ■ drawn two close shots on : the twenty-first end, the I English skip, Peter Line, had no alternative but to try for I a replay. His first two drives : missed, but his third put the ,' kitty in the ditch and left : him with two shots.