Barrington pair wins its second bowls title

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34097, 8 March 1976, Page 15

Barrington pair wins its second bowls title

The Barrington part-|-nership of Cliff Cox and Arthur Tall yesterday collected its second Christchurch centre* pairs bowls title when, on the Papanui green, Cox and Tall beat the defending champions,! I Murray King and .Arnold Memory (Wools-' ton W.M.C.) in the final of the open pairs. Seven years ago, Cox and Tall, with Cox skipping and Tall playing lead, won the. ichampion - of - champions; , pairs. This time the order i was reversed and, in fact, I the open pairs is the only tournament each year that; Cox forgoes the skipping. He explained the reversing of the order as his “pe- ! nance.” “It’s Arthur’s chance to get even with me for my; growling at him the rest of I the year,” said Cox just I after the victory. The pair, with Tall as lead and Cox as skip have won their club’s pair title and thej will be playing this way when lt.hev attempt to again win the leha'mpion-of-champions pairs, 'later this month. Cox in whose name the team was entered, beat Memory. 1613. in the final, although it was iTall with his last bowl who (clinched the victory. The match was close throughout, with the gap in the scores never more 'than five points.

Over the latter stages Cox had a slight, edge on King and Memory was under some pressure to keep in touch. He succeeded with a couple of drives when the situation was grim and a two on the second-to-last end brought, him to only, one point behind. The last end proved a wonder-1 ful conclusion to the tournament, j Cox olaced his first bowl just ’ behind the kitty and with his third drew a second shot a foot ■

( jn front. Memory drove both I Cox's bowls off with his first delivery, but Tall immediately regained the shot with his first* delivery. Neither second bowl countered and Memory played what looked 'like a match winner when he trailed the kitty with his third bowl for three shots. ; •’You can only rubbish it.’’ Cox 'called down to Tall and. with ionlv a second's hesitation, the ’left-handed Tall ran at Memory’s, kitty bowl. He was right on target and the kitty went backs to leave Cox holding two shots. 1 The tournament resumed at Papanui on Saturday with Memorv the last two-lifer and 10 one-lifers. There were two very good finishes in the first round and Cox finished in one of them. He trailed Neville Poole * Sumner) most of the way until he levelled at 18-18 on the last end And on the extra end Poole, holding two shots, looked safe; when Tall under-grassed his last bowl. However, he got* on to one of his front bowls and it rolled in to lie shot. The other tight finish was be- . tween one of the favourites. Stan Lawson (Christchurch) and Barry Chapman (Beckenham). Chapman brilliantly driving off a bowl on the last end to score a two and win by one. This was the fourth time the state of the head had, changed. Cox took Memory’s first life, as well as his second. They met for the first time on Saturday afternoon and Cox was ahead 10-0 after five ends. Memory fought: back to level at 14-14 on the six- 1 Iteenth end. but Cox went clear again with twos on the last two ends. This win put Cox into the final and Memory met Chapman to decide the other finalist. Chap-

man and his lead, Noel Brostov.. who had had a bye through the previous round, took time to settle and with Memory playing particularly well Chapman nevei had a chance to make up the lost ground. Results: — Ninth round.—R Ward (Shirley) 20. C. Cox (Burnsidei 17; R ’France (Sydenham) 18, D. Collie (South Brighton) 15; B. D. Chapman (Beckenham) 14. S. E Lawson (Christchurch) 13; C. Cox tßarrington) 19, N. Poole (Sumner) 18: A. L Stuart ißurnham jCamp) 19. R. Thomson (Christ chorch-Richmond M.S.Aj 12. A Meinory (Woolston W.M.C.), twolifer. a bye. Tenth round. —Memory 15.

Ward 12. Chapman 19. France 14. Cox 24. Stuart 9. Eleventh round. Cox IS. Mem ory 14: Chapman a bye. Semi-final.—Meinorx 19, Chapman 10. Cox a bye. Final—Cox 16. Memory 13.