Beiliss fighting for form

Press, 29 January 1988, Page 32

Beiliss fighting for form

By T. P. McLEAN PA Auckland A savage attack of gas-tro-enteritis may have weakened the chances of New Zealand’s Peter Beiliss in defending the world’s singles bowling championship he won at Aberdeen four years ago and which, from tomorrow, is up for grabs at the sixth world championship tournament in Auckland. The tournament, sponsored by almost $2 million, will be played on

four 40-metre greens laid in 1981 in the New Zealand weed, cotula, which is celebrated for its extraordinarily swift recoveries from downpours and which offers speeds of 17 and more seconds. Beiliss, who in 1984 beat the Scot, Willie Wood, by a last bowl so close that the measure had to be taken many times, was a guest at the opening at New Year of Sanctuary Cove, a vast set-up near Brisbane. In little more than a

week, he lost nine pounds in weight from the debilitating effects of the disease. As a consequence, he is fighting desperately to recover his touch. Wood, though complaining of the uneven draw of the greens, which he says do not compare with Australia’s — “they are the best in the world” — has been shaping brilliantly. The entry of 23 nations is a record for the tournament, first played in Sydney in 1966.