Chch teams out of bowls

Press, 29 November 1976, Page 32

Chch teams out of bowls

West Coast and Nelson qualified for the South Island final in February of the Rothmans national inter-centre bowls tournament when they were successful yesterday in zone eliminations. In the zone six elimination on the Linwood green. West Coast came from a point behind starting the last round, to win by one point. This is only the second time in the seven years of the tournament that West Coast has reached the South Island final. When it did so five years ago it won the island final and was beaten by Auckland in the national final.

West Coast yesterday finished with 11 points. Christchurch red was second with 10 and then followed Christchurch black, nine, and Buller. six.

West Coast was led to victory by its 23-year-old singles player, Richard Case, who

matched his performance of last year by winning all his three games — a contribution of six points. He beat Earl Sara (Buller) 25-17, in the first round, and followed that with a very impressive 25-9 win over Start Lawson (Christchurch black). Lawson looked short of match play and he confirmed this impression when he struck fine form in the last round to beat Sara, 25-11. In the last round Case met Duncan White (Christchurch red), who also had two attractive wins to his credit. Case broke away to lead, 18-7, at one stage, but White made a great recovery and at 18-20 he had three shots to take the lead until Case drew a toucher with his last bowl. Encouraged by this save, Case won the next two ends with a single and a three, to keep his record intact.

A game which looked vital to the outcome half-way through the second round was the pairs match between Arnold Memory (Christchurch red) and Fred Goodall (West Coast) and although Memory scored nine points on three ends towards the finish to win 22-17, Case’s win over White and a clear win by Ron Baxendale (West Coast) over Ken Shivas (Christchurch red) in the fours gave West Coast the two wins it needed to finish on top. For Christchurch it was unfortunate that Doug Stuart’s four of Sonny Calder, Bernie Johns and Jack Dale was named in the black entry instead of the red one. This four played consistently well to win its three games, the only close result being in the first round when it beat Shivas's four, 17-16.

The black pair of Peter Meier and Tom Dixon was a little disappointing, with Dixon missing more drives than usual. It was beaten by Murray King and Memory in the first round and salvaged a draw in the second round against Goodall by scoring eight points — a five and a three — on the last two ends. It actually had the four shots it needed for victory on the last end until Goodall pushed one out. In the last round, Dixon was beaten again — 22-21 by George Allan (Buller), whose raking shots into the head

had played a big part in his victory over Memory a round earlier. Christchurch was eliminated entirely from the tournament when its third team — and on paper the strongest — could do no better than third in the zone five elimination on the United green, Nelson.

The winner was the Nelson red team, which beat Marlborough on a countback of points, scored for and against. Both teams won five games for 10 match points, but Nelson red had a differential of plus 29 and Marlborough’s was minus 18. Christchurch and Nelson white each had eight match points, with Christchurch’s differential being plus 11 and Nelson white’s minus 22.

Big wins by its singles player, John O’Kane, in his first two games proved very handy for Nelson red when the decision went to a countback. And Marlborough suffered heavily for the eight its four dropped in the final round against Nelson white. The scores were close at the time, but the Marlborough four, skipped by Gordon Chapman, was unable to make up the lost ground and was denied a win which would have made Marlborough a clear winner. The Christchurch singles player, Wally Wilkinson, narrowly lost his first two games, both being marathon battles, of 28 and 29 ends respectively. He also required 28 ends to beat the previously unbeaten O’Kane in the last round. Christchurch was well served by its pair of Morgan Moffat and Kevin Darling, which had three wins, but the four skipped by Travis Coup was struggling all day and was beaten three times. Results:— ZONE 4 First round Singles.—Christchurch Red (D. P. White) 25, Christchurch Black (S. E. Lawson) 18; West Coast (R. Case) 25, Buller (E. Sara) 17. Pairs.—Christchurch Red (A. Memory) 17, Christchurch Black (T. W. Dixon) 13; West Coast (F. Goodall) 28, Buller (G. Allen) 17. Fours. —Christchurch Black (D. H. K. Stuart) 17, Christchurch Red (K. G. Shivas) 16; Buller (C. O’Brien) 16, West Coast (R. Baxendale) 15. Second round Singles.—White 25, Sara 16; Case 25. Lawson 9. Pairs.—Dizon 20, Goodall 20; Allen 22, Memory 14. Fours.—Stuart 20, Baxendale 13: Shivas 12. O’Brien 11.

Third round Singles.—Case 25, White 18; Lawson 25, Sara 11. Pairs.—Memory 22, Goodall 17; Allen 22, Dixon 21. Fours.—Stuart 23. O’Brien 10; Baxendale 22, Shivas 13. ZONE 5 First round Singles.—Marlborough (G. Holloway) 25, Christchurch (W. R. Wilkinson) 24; Nelson Red (J. O’Kane) 25. Nelson White (C. Vowlers) 8. Pairs.—Christchurch (K. R. Darling) 20, Marlborough tJ. Mears) 18; Nelson Red (p. Carter) 21, Nelson White (C. Walsh) 17. Fours.—Marlborough (G. Chapman) 14, Christchurch (T. F. Coup) 11; Nelson White (L. Gargluloj 25, Nelson Red (R. Wadsworth) 20. Second round Singles.—Vowlers 25, Wilkinson 22; O’Kane 25, Holloway 8. Pairs.—Darling 30, Walsh 14; Mears 19, Carter 17. Fours. —Gargiulo 22, Coup 18; Wadsworth 18, Chapman 16. Third round Singles.—Wilkinson 25, O’Kane 16; Holloway 25. Vowlers 15. Pairs—Darling 20, Carter 12; Mears 20, Walsh 17. Fours.—Wadsworth 26, Coup 13; Gargiulo 31, Chapman 15.