Skoglund, Shivas in fours fight

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34048, 12 January 1976, Page 3

Skoglund, Shivas in fours fight

(From

KEVIN McMENAMIN)

( DUNEDIN. | | Mill New Zealand’s I: best-known bowler win I his eighth national title, and take yet another record, or will a Christchurch skip of modest reputation win his first ma jor championship? I This is the question that' will be answered on the Kai-] [ tuna green tomorrow after-, I< noon when Phil Skoglund] i ('Northeim) meets Ken Shivas! I (Burnside) in the final of the! i’ blue ribbon event of national! | bowls tournaments, the! j fours. i Skoglund is assured of at] least one more record tomorrow. The fours final will bel his forty-first match of the ] tournament, one more than! Stan Lawson (Christchurch) I played when he was placed] I in all three events at Christ- ' church two years ago. ■ If Skoglund wins he will] not only repeat his feat of! four years ago at Dunedin off winning two titles in the one year — he took the pairs a week ago — but he will become the first man to have completed the grand slam of singles, pairs, and fours titles.! It will be Skoglund’s third! fours final, having been! I beaten bv Mate Connewl i (Carlton) at Dunedin in 19681 | and by Ken Murtagh (Pari-i (tutu) at Christchurch twoi ] years ago. If records mean anvthing. and they usually do in" bowls i finals, then Shivas will have! I a tough row to hoe tomorrow. 1

lln his 25 years in the gamei he has never even managed a Christchurch centre title,] although he has gone close a few times. And the same goes for his team of Bill Morrison (who is a younger brother of the former All Black and New Zealand Rugby Union chairman). Tom Morrison, Tom Brady (who had a major vein (operation in a thigh last winter), and Peter Rose, who ] like Shivas is a better bowler ■ than his record of just one ‘Wellington centre title suggests. ; Shivas’s best effort before .this tournament was at the ' 1972 Dominion in Christ- ' church when, with the same team, he reached the quarterI finals of the fours. i But while Skoglund. whose I team is George MacKenzie, I Mario Basile (with whom ' Skoglund won the pairs last ] week), and Wally Hobbs, preisents a formidable obstacle, Shivas will go into the final with one advantage. Skoglund has at times been a ] “one-man band” in bringing his team so far. Shivas. a 55-year-old foreman carpenter, has got where he is through team effort. His team carried him to two comfortable wins on Saturday, the first over Kerry Clark (North East Valley) and Mel Brown (Hillsboro), and it was much the same again yesterday when he beat two other Christchurch skips in the quarter and semifinals. In the quarters, he met Wally Willdnson (Beckenham). whosA team of Lyn Armstrong, Noel Browstow,

t and Barry Chapman • [Struggled for a long time and! ; never approached the dizzy! I heights of Saturday when it! I played one of the finest! (games of the week to beat! Dave Baldwin (Paritntn'),| 123-13. i Wilkinson. still playing [well himself, kept his team! •in the running for a longi I time, but the greater 'con-j sistency of the Burnside four] ihad its rewards and it even-] itually pulled away to 28-15 [in a game which saw at least' • 14 heads killed. Draw accident | Wilkinson might have ■ cause to regret his tactics in, the latter stages, when hej llost three out of five ends] '{through being unsatisfied: with the number of shots he I held. For a start, the gap in • the scores was not great’ •enough to run the danger of! {losing the heads. i B\/ an accident of the draw,! {the four Christchurchl [teams which survived! 'Saturday’s third and! {fourth post section rounds' were all grouped together at • the top half of the chart.] This meant that a Christ- , church team had to reach the {final. The other two skips who met in the quarter-finals were Bruce Sinclair (St Albans) and Stan Lawson (Christchurch), Sinclair and his team of Harry van Dalsum, Joe Shultz and Jack Edmonds emerged the winner, 19-14. Lawson led 7-0 after five) ends, but then things started

to go wrong for him and' twice Sinclair won heads; with wide drives. By the! thirteenth end, Sinclair was! in front, 11-7. and although! Jie and his team, but Sin-1 ciair in particular, played! much better towards the end] bad luck continued to rob’ Lawson time and again. ] Once he drove the kitty] towards the ditch for four! shots only to see it rebound! up the rink, back to Sinclair’s-; ! bowls. Even oh the last when i trying for a replay, Lawson’ had no luck. His third. Betniei Johns, hit the kitty clean, but) it-came to rest in the ditch,! just beside the peg. Tough struggle The semi-final between j Shivas and Sinclair was never! in much doubt from about! the middle of the board.) Once again, Shivas’s team] had the virtue of consistency’,! and fives on the second,; thirteenth, and twentieth! [ends sealed Sinclair’s fate. ; Sinclair conceded on the; • twenty-first end when down, 27-12. j Sinclair had a tough ■ struggle on Saturday when,! against Alan Stuart (Burnham Camp) he scored a four on the second to last end toi level at 22-22 and then won the last head with a two. Lawson, too. was lucky to] survive Saturday. He beat] Bernie Wood (Baimacewen); on an extra end. the kitty! going into the ditch and! Lawson drawing the winning! shot eight feet away. . Skoglund had four com-, 'fdrtable wins at the week-i

end, fair testimony to the masterly way he "has been playing." Results: — Round three.—M- Brown. (Hillsboro) 28, K G. EUwood (Port Chalmers’ 18: K J. Shivas! (Burnside) 29, P. K Clark (North; East Valley) 18; W. R. Wilkin-, son (Beckenham'* 31, J. F. Stiles. (Fairfield) 20; D. C. Baldwin (Paritutu) 25. K. R. Darling (Linwood) 9: S. E. Lawson (Christchurch) 27, B. A. Wood (Balmacewet) 26; B. 3. Bennett .West • End, New Plymouth) 23, P. J. Beiliss (Aramoho* 17; B A. Sinclair (St Albans) 21, J. F. H. Twemiow (Otatara* 17; A. V Stuart -Burnham: 34, E. M McCahon (Elmwood* 13; M. R Buchan <Tui Park- 27, J G. F. Walsh (Winton Central) 14; P. C. Skoglund (Northern.! 31. A. Robertson <Awaroa> 10; R. R., London Kirk (Green Island * 20. R. G. Park (Carlton) 31; A. C. Shanks (Sprmglands) 14. \. ( nkovich (Okahu Bay) 27; K. J Schroker (Blenheim 15, F. A.i Morgan (West End, Timaru) 27: B. A. Malcolm (Port Chalmers• 16, B. Spurdle (Paritutu) 23; F. W. Craw (Lincoln) 9. J. N. S. Flett (Onehunga) 28. Round four —Shivas 23. Brown 14. Wilkinson 23, Baldwin 13; j Lawson 31. Bennett 13: Sinclair 24, Stuart 22; Skoglund 34, Buchan 17; Park 21, London lE, Unkovich 30, Morgan 12; Flett 27. Spurdie 19. Quarter-finals.—W. Morrison. T. Brady, P. Rose, K Shivas 'Burnside) 28, L Armstrong, N Brostow, B Chapman. W. R Wilkinson ■ Beckenham 15; H. van Dalsun, J Schultz, J Edmonds, B. A. Sinclair (Christ-; church’ 19, P Jolly, G. Barnes, B. Johns. S. E. Lawson 'Christchurch) 14; G. MacKenzie. M Basile, W. Hobbs, P C. Skoglund (Northern) 25, J. Malcolm. D. Park, D. Emirali, R. G. Park i (Carlton) 21; N. C. Church, R. A ; ! Lowe, D. H. Goodwin, J. N,. S iFlett (Onehunga) 22, D. Craig, DJ i Richards-Jolly, D. O’Connor, K.; Unkovich (Okahu Bay) 20.

Semi-finals.—Morrison, Brady, [Rose, Shivas (Burnside) 27, i Edmonds, Schultz, van Dalsun, i ! Sinclair (Christchurch? X 3; MacKenzie, Basile, Hobbs, Skoglund, [(Northern) 34, Church, Lowe,’ (Goodwin, Flett (Onehunga? 13.