NATIONAL BOWLS Success in pairs despite injury

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33730, 31 December 1974, Page 3

NATIONAL BOWLS Success in pairs despite injury

(Neto Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. Ignoring a painful knee injury, Jack Ireland (Central Petone) has helped bring his pair within grasp of the national pairs bowls title in Wellington.

Ireland, aged 69, strained his lead left knee during the early stages of the pairs section. But after yesterday’s rounds he and the skip, Ron Horne, were one of the five pairs with two lives remaining. To earn this distinction, the pair beat the well performed Bayswater (skipped by Barry Pridham) which has been the Auckland pairs champion for the last two years. Surprise Home’s sudden elevation surprised most bowling .officials at Victoria Green headquarters.

“You could say that we weren’t that ambitious when we started out,” Horne, aged 57, said yesterday. But Horne has competed with distinction at Wellington centre level and was runner-up in the pairs in the Wellington Christmas fours. With the five two-lifers to play off for the title today are 27 one-lifers. Skoglund out But notable players ‘ missing from this already ’ exclusive list are Phil Skog- ' lund (Palmerston North), Cyril Cole (Khandallah), Ken Murtagh (Paritutu), and Bob McDonald (Onehunga). Among the two-lifers are : Kevin Wing (Palmerston : North) who has with him the former top jockey, 62-year-old Bill Broughton. This

pair was shaken in its last game by Dave Baldwin (Paritutu), a New Zealand champion on several occasions. While new names have cropped up in the list of twolifers, prominent present and former New Zealand champions still lurk with one life. Among them are Keith Darling (North East Valley), John Sommerville (Matamata), Bill Hampton (Levin), Cyril Nola (Oratia) and Bill Macarthur (Paritutu), the reserve for New Zealand at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games. Swift demise Skoglund’s demise was swift. A two-lifer overnight, Skoglund, partnered by Yerry O’Brien, was eliminated after three matches. They were beaten, 15-14, by an unknown pair, Phil Todd and Derek Calder, of Piimmerton. Down 12-14 at the eighteenth end, Piimmerton picked up shots to level as the mandatory two-hour playing bell was rung. In the extra end Todd drove brilliantly with his last bowl to take a point and drive out two Skoglund shots. While Skoglund won his I next match, 19-5, over N. B. I Cruden (Hillcrest), Todd and Calder lost theirs, 4-21, to W. J. Gannon (Wanganui R.S.A.), a two-lifer. Skoglund was eliminated next match, 10-17, by Cyril Walker (Palmerston North). Brief glory Todd’s brief flutter of glory ended in his last match against D. Somerville. Though drawing strongly in the middle of his game, he lost to the experienced Somerville, 12-16. Remaining two-lifers and one-lifers are.— TWO-LIFERS D. M. Kydd (Eastbourne), R. Andrew (Onehunga), I. R. Horne (Central), K. Wing (Palmerston North), R. Morrison (Tawa Services). ONE-LIFERS W. F. Reber (Waimauku), W. H. Howat (Whakatane), P. J. Trainor (Northern), R. Lamble (Hokowhitu), J. W. Turley (Wilton), S. C. Glew (Hataitai), J. A. Dale (Burwood), J. D. Bamberry (Petone), C. Nola (Oratia), B. Johns (Paritutu), W. B. MacArthur (Paritutu), I. Marsic (Ellerslie), J. O’Connor (Piimmerton), D. Borlase (Seatoun), W. H. Hampton (Levin), K. R. Darling (NorthEast Valley), J. Somerville (Matamata), W. Gannon (Wanganui R.S.A.), N. Unkovich (Okahu Bay), E. Wilson (Balmacewan), K. Schroder (Blenheim), R. Gray (Rewa), R. L. Park (Carlton), B. Pridham (Bayswater), J. Batlett, G. Dick (Wilton), and T. Purdie (Vogelmorn).