BOWLS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 86, 6 January 1926, Page 6

BOWLS

(By "No. 3.")

The British team of bowlers are due to arrive in Wellington from Palmerston North at midday on Friday next. They will bo met at the Railway Station by members of the Wellington Centre and friends, and at 3.30 p.m. will be accorded a reception by the Government. which will, in all probability, be represented by Sir Francis Bell, should the Prime Minister still bo qbsent in the north. The visitors have had a fairly strenuous time of it since they have been in New Zealand, but at Dunedin they will have a spell from travelling for a full week. The team will sail tor the south by the Wahiue on Friday evening.

The Wellington Bowling Centro and its able secretary (Mr. R. W. Shallcrass) are to bo highly congratulated on the smoothness which characterised the progress of the tournament. Owing to tlie alisence of rain everything worked to schedule time, finishing on Thursday at midday, with the Hataitai rink skipped by Dick Ramsay tho winners. On form during the progress of the tournament there were four skips with names commencing with the letter “R. which caught the eye, as final possibilities— Russell (Newtown), Ramsay (Hataitai), Roberts (Wellington), and Raven (Lyall Bay), and all four won through to the semi- finals, when Raven and Russa" went out. The comparatively easy win by Ramsay over Roberts was one of the surprises of the tournament, but luck and a very solid rink were against the Icsers. Ramsay’s men were nerveless and solid right to the end, and on an almost perfect green kept their length and width wonderfully well, whilst some of Roberts’s rink threw away a good many bowls by hopelessly narrow play. If ’there was any advantage in the green selected (Wellington) for the final play, it should have favoured Roberts, but in actual play such was not the case. Ramsay stood out as a competent skip who wasted no time in making up his mind as to what he wanted and in playing it. Only one one occasion did his tactics give . anyone surprise. That was the occasion when, lying one shot, he elected to drive at a bunch of Wellington howls lying a yard or more away behind the jack to the right, and in doing so gave Wellington the shot. His argument in doing so was quite, sound, as a trail for Roberts was an imminent possibility, and had tho latter skip been successful in his intention he might hare scored five, or six shots. It was only through misadventure that Ramsay tipped out his own shot bowl. Even then he considered himself lucky in getting out of the head with the loss of a single point. Following aro tlie members of the British team now in New Zealand who played against the. New Zealand (.cam which visited the United Kingdom in 1921:—George Wright (Kettering), Walter Wake (Weston-Super-Mare), James Edney (Southampton), and W. F. Wade (Leicester;.

Following upon what I wrote in last week’s column suggesting an international bowling board, “Bowls,” a Melbourne publication, writes on this subject:— “Now that the ice has been broken by the recent visit, wo say, and with a great degree of confidence, that a spirit of rivalry has been engendered which will cause international bowls games to be of more frequent occurrence, and that, contrary (o tho spirit of the recent games, they will in future be competitive rather than social. Australia has young men, capable exponents of the game, who have not yet visited the British Isles; their appetites have been whetted, and in venturing io assert that the next Australian team of bowlers will comprise a large majority of Australianborn members undue optimism is not being exhibited. Now, viewed in the light of such reasonable anticipations, us deductions drawn from the events of the past few weeks, should not the Australian Bowling Council take advantage of carnival time in Sydney in February, 1926, when prominent representatives from all the States ore assembled there, to convene an Empire conference of delegates to endeavour to introduce as far as possible, uniformity in rules and customs in the playing of the game? For instance, our visitors have one custom that has more to be advanced in its favour than against, namely, tlie ihird player rewith tho captain, till his tunc

comes to play. On the other tand, although Australians use a much larger mat than our visitors, the latter do not keep a portion of each foot thereon. Our minimum length is 66 feet; theirs is 75. Australians are in the throes of a bowls standardisation controversy; our visitors have not yet tackled the subject.” The Dominion Bowling Association’s annual tournament will commence in Dunedin on Monday next with the cham-’ pion singles, an event which does not cause 'much interest among North Island; bowlers, who prefer the rink game first, last, and. always.' It is, therefore, very l arresting to learn how keen Einglieh bowlers are on "single-handed bowls,” a game that few ever care to watch, let, alone play in this district. Of course,, the game in England is made a little, more interesting because of the restriction placed on drivers in that no bowl farther than six feet from the jack counts. If that be the rule, what happens when the nearest bowl is more than six feet away from the jsuik at the conclusion of the head? A good many local players will be leaving early next week to participate in tho pairs and rinks at D.iinedin. All three contests gain in interest through this being the fiist occasion on which representative British bowler? have participated in the Dominion Association's tournament. Tho wisdom of the Wellington Centre in deciding Pennant matches (four rinks a-side) on games first, and then, if games be equal, on points, is endorsed by a complaint thtj-t is being mads, in' Melbourne on the system of counting results on points only. "Equity,” writing to "Bowls” on. the subject, sayet, “Is it not ridiculous, when three rinks ere ‘up’ out of four, that be-, cause the aggregate of points is against them the club with only one rink 'up* is the winner? It is quite possible that' a team comprises throe average rinks and a strong one, that their opponents have a particularly weak rink, and the strong rink amasses such a score of points against the weak rink of opponents than although the letter’s three rinks are well ‘up’ victory rests with the side tl\at had only one rink ‘up.’ As an illustration, take the following instance thafi has occurred this season in a Pennant ,game. Three rinks were up 5, 11 and 41 respectively; the ojther rink only scored 12 to 39 against, the one rink winning; team scoring victory bv two points. 'J'he aggregate should only be accepted i)J the event of each side having two winning rinks. Why should tho superior merit of threefourths of a team he neutralised by th® failure of the regaining fourth?*'

Bowls as a game is beginning to claim attention in the United .States. In a IX-cent article in the "Saturday Evening Post” Mr. Samuel G. Blythe, in referring to the skill in playing bowls, states that "the amount of speed to impart to the bowl to get it close to tho jack after it begins to curb is a matter for long practice and close study.” Further, on he says: "A good game of bowls, with four players on a side, is as exciting, as highly competitive, and as interesting as any golf foursome that even- stepped ofl’ a first tee, and though it affords plenty of eentle exercise, it is not tiring" Finally ho claims for tho <-ame that it is easy on tho pocket-book a>3 compared to (ho big expense connected with golf. Ho says: "All that is required for a howling green is a bit of ,land and n, small expenditure for building tho green. Then with a supply of bowls and some jacks and mats the sport is equipped and financed Here’ is a recreation and exercise that is more than seven hundred years old, and by its vitality shows it value. It has maintained a seven-century popularity in England Scotland and elsewhere. It is played everywhere in Canada. It is now beginning to eome into popularity in tho United States. Chicago. Buffalo, Cincinnati. Boston, Hartford, and some other cities have both mihlic and private howling greens. Tn England and Scotland many of the "real resort hotels maintain greens for their guests. And there aro greens at many of the volf clubs.” Bowls bv electric light are ts popular in Melbourne and Sydney as is tennis. Now that Wellington is not restricted in tho use of power it is a wonder some of the clubs do not consider an electric light installation which would make bowls up till 10 p.m. as popular here as in midsummer at Home.