NOTES ON THE PLAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1335, 12 January 1912, Page 7

NOTES ON THE PLAY.

The first round of the play between section winners saw the'.two unbeaten rinks go down. Craig (Gisborne), who svas not playing up to the form h& showed on Wednesday, went down to Bell , (Wellington),. who lias- been _ showing something like his old form in .the tournament. With good suppoyt frou. his team Bell scored a deserved win.' Another unbeaten section winner who went, down in the ;first round of. the play-off resterday was ' Gordon ' (St. John s), th« Wanganui skip, who played so well right ili'rough the sectionaJ games. Tho residl of this gam©'was in doubt up to thfc last head, but- Macdongall (Christchurch) was too safe a map. to. allow (iordon to .get the points he wanted on the last heat). Alacdougall won the game on the first two heads, when' he scored five', shots on each occasion. The number of Wellington skips who defaulted in-the -Gonsolation Match was not to tho credit of the city. Many of the visitors who were looking forward to a game yesterday morning were disappointed on that score. Wylie (Newtown) had a comparatively easy win over Snaddon (Victoria; in the first round of Section C yesterday. Wylie wound up eight points to the good. Hemingway (Victoria) went very nearly winning his game against Walker (Ponnonby) in tho first round of the championship play-off yesterday morning. On tho last head the Victorian wanted three to tie, and was actually lying four shots srhen Walker played his first bowl. With 't Walker drew tho third shot. Hemingway tried a firm shot, and missed, leaving. Walker a winner by the narrow mar jority of one point. Maurice Casey, lead for Walker (Ponsonby), gave up play yesterday owing to a slight injury ,to his hip, which inter- ■ fered with the delivery of his bowl. His place was taken by Kuninar, who had been playing No. 3 for M'Leod (Ponsonby). One of tho big surprises in tho second round of the champiunship play-off was the defeat of Tom Lock (To Hi'wi) by Still (Wellington). With Lock lying one to the good, Still dead-headed with his last ball. Whon the skips went down for the last ■ time, Still lay one (which would.have given him a tie). Lock failed in his attempts to dislodge the shot, and Still drew another shot and lay the game—by one point.

Wylio (Newtown) a hard fight to extinguish Gordon in the second round yesterday, and eventually did so -with careful glaring by five points.. Snaddon (Victoria) was not expected to boat Macdougall (Christchurch), who had boon playing a very solid game. Iu this game, however, his team did not play up to their host, form, while Snaddon's men seemed to bo tuned up to big things. The win was popular, though'it was not anticipated. One of tho best finishes was the game between Dell (Wellington) and Hemingway (Victoria), It looked like the .beginning of tho end whon Bell got a five on early in tho game. A couple of heads later Hemingway responded with a five, tiud the score was 10 all. From tliat out it was a dinp-dong go right to tho end, and had Hemingway's men played steadily 011 the last head tliey must have won, but they funked the "jack," and Bell sailed in and won—just by a point. Craig (Ciisborno), who was looked upon as a likely winner of the championship, cracked up completely yesterday, and his rink went down in all threo games— against Bell (Wellington), Walker (Ponsonby), and Hemingway (Victoria). There is lots of time, 'however, for Craig to win championships—and ho will-.' Hemingway (Victoria) was in admirable form yesterday. He had a good deal of hard luck in his game with Walker (Ponsonby), which ho lost by one point only, and made no race at all of it with steady-going "Monty" Craig, of Gisborne. Hemingway's rating on the Victoria green will go up after this. There was no game played during tho day which excited so much interest as that between Walker (Pons'onby) and Bell (Wellington). Ponsonby ran away with the lead,-and was 10 on the sixth head to their opponents' throe. Then Bell's men bucked up, and got threo on the next two heads and so well did they recover that on the fifteenth head Bell was 12 to Walker's 13, tho latter having remained on the fateful number for four heads. The beginning of tho end came with Walker getting a 2 and a 3 on the next two heads,'ana following it up with a eouplo of singles, making tho score 20—12 on the nineteenth head. Bell's lead was responsible for the singles Wellington scored on tho last two heads. They wanted a basketful, but Walker mixed them up with excellent cunning, ami won the game fairly on generalship, as well as piny.

Twenty nil on the twentieth head!" The shout attracted many of the spectators from different parts of the green to witness the final head in the game between Wylie (.Newtown) and Macdoupnl! (Christchurch). The Christchurch rink had pulled up from an almost hopeless position, and the announcement surprised many who had allowed their attention to wandor from the rink in (/iiestion. When the skips went down Wylio lay one, but Mncdougall planted one in that was a shade nearer, !>oth bowk lying about eighteen inches behind the jack. AV.rlio did no good with his first bowl, and Macdougall did not alter the position, which was given out as a "measure." But Wylio signalled that he bo-

Bored lie was one down, as lie went back to the mat to play his final bowl. All depended on it, and as ho drew to get tho Fhot, those interested held their breath. The bowl did its work—it just managed to shift Jlacdougall's shot an inch farther back, but that inch saved Wylie, and placed him in the liuals to be played to-day.