Steady North too good for Aust.

Press, 17 April 1980, Page 34

Steady North too good for Aust.

P 4 " V- - Palmerston North Steady bowling by the North Island carried it to a 3-1 victory over Australia in an international bowls match at Palmerston North yesterday.

After taking both the! pairs and triples matches in the morning, it was left to the Taranaki left-hander, John Murtagh, to wrap up the meeting with his 2148 win against the Australian champion, John Snell. Australia denied the--North Island a clean sweep, however, when its fours combination fought back from a seven-point deficit in the early stages to take a deserved 19-14 win. There was never more than three points difference in the singles contest, played to 21 shots, and the lead changed six times. The calculating Australians jumped to a 6-3 lead by the sixth, and lying two on the seventh look- 1 in a strong position. But Murtagh drew superbly, trailed the jack, and took two. Another two on the eighth, and a single on the ninth, gave hi.-i a slim advantage, but Snell took the next three ends to lead 10-8 at the twelfth. The lead see-

sawed before locking at 14all on the seventeenth, and 16-all at the twentieth. It was on the twenty-first end that the game swung Murtagh’s way. Snell drew three, but with his fourth was too narrow and pushed Murtagh through for the shot. He overcame this disappointment to level at 18all, but immaculate drawing by Murtagh, and missed drives by Snell, ended the game on the twenty-fourth. The unflappable Keith Poole, skip of thte Australian four, was the mainstay behind his team’s excellent fight back. His four was not firing early, but he never panicked and eventually gained the upper hand of the Phil Skoglund-led North Island team. North started strongly, and with Skoglund showing a deft touch on the sixth to take a three, blazed away to an 11-4 lead by the tenth in the 21-end game. But the North were not to score again for another six

ends, as Australia, with its second, Ken Williams, beginnlj to latch on to the kitty, going from a seven-point deficit to a 14-11 lead. The other Australians, Clarrie Watkins (third) and Alf Sandercock (lead), were also beginning to judge the ends better, especially with the shortened heads Poole was calling for. Apart from the three, John Lambert, the other North Island players, Skoglund included, fell away in these middle stages. The North fought back to within a point, as lead Wayne Sellars and second Jim Scott tightened their game, but a three on the final end left the Australian four unbeaten so far on tour. In the morning session Skoglund and Sellars came back from a six-point deficit to beat Snell and Sandercock, 21-12, and the triples, headed by Lambert, won in decisive fashion, 1814.