FINALS PLAYED

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 99, 21 January 1935, Page 11

FINALS PLAYED

N.Z. Bowling Tourney SINGLES AND PAIRS Grey Lynn Wins Rinks AN EXCITING FINISH By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, January 20. The annual tournament conducted by the New Zealand Bowling Association concluded on Saturday. The final game in the full rink championship resulted in a win for Grey Lynn. The singles and pairs contests were also concluded. There was a large attendance of the public. The day was hot, and the green moderately fast. A tricky cross wind blew. Following are the results: — . Rinks Championship. —Final: Mincham, Donaldson, Liversidge, Whittle (Grey Lynn) 18, v. Stephens, Macklow, Livingstone, Robertson (_Onehunga) In. Pairs Championship.—Final: Loveridge and Pilkington (Hamilton) 20, v. W. Harris and H. Harris (St. Johns! 13. „ n Singles Chamnionship. — Seventh round: -L. Russell (St. Heliers) 20, v. F. Livingstone (Onehunga) 12. Eighth round: Bourke (Hawera) 20, v. Russell (St. Heliers) 12. Ninth round: Engebretsen (Napier) IS, v. Bourke (Hawera) 14. Final: Engebretsen (Napier) 22, v. Wellings (Hataitai) 5. The Rinks Final.

On the first head in the rinks final Grey Lynn lay three and Livingstone was a little short on the second. Onehunga held the shot. Mineham drew first shot in the third, and Whittle added another. Liversidge held the shot in the fourth until Robertson pushed in Macklow. Whittle drove for a scatter, and Livingstone drew absolute. 5-2. Donaldson trailed the jack in the fifth, and Whittle drew another in the sixth. Livingstone drew the shot, and W hittie drove him out for 2. but Livingstone again drew the shot. 7-3. The seventh was a ragged head until Robertson stopped on the white, and Whittle missed his drive. 7-4. Whittle beat Livingstone’s draw in the eighth. 8-4. Even play followed, the score being 10-6 after the eleventh head. Livingstone trailed nearly to the ditch for the shot in the twelfth. In the thirteenth Whittle beat Robertson for the shot, but Livingstone drove him out clean for two. 10-9. Mincham. drew the shot .in the fourteenth, and Macklow beat him, Livingstone adding another; while Liversidge and Whittle failed to save. Onehunga had taken the lead for the first time The score was even, 12-all. after the sixteenth. Stephens whs almost on the jack in the seventeenth, but Macklow pushed Mincham in for the shot. Robertson burnt the jack, and on the re-. * play Stephens trailed without holding the jack, and Macklow drew absolute, Which was not altered by any of the thick cluster round it. Onehunga 13, Grey Lynn 12. Onehunga Draws Ahead. Macklow in the eighteenth moved the jack for one, which Mincham beat, but several changes saw Onehunga down, until Livingstone drew absolute with his last bowl. Whittle overran the jack. Onehunga 14, Grey Lynn 12. Stephens won the shot in the nineteenth and Macklow added another, but Liversidge beat both of them. Livingstone pushed him out with a lucky snick and Whittle was found short of saving when the measure was put on. Onehunga 15, Grey Lynn 12. . In the twentieth, Macklow got inside Mincham, and Robertson promoted him for two. Livingstone saved' one, and Whittle then rubbed off Livingstone to trail the jack,and made the head safe by drawing a perfect second shot, ing Grey Lynn’s deficit to two —13-lu. ' In the twenty-first. Mincham played a perfect twister- to beat Stephens, and Donaldson drew another. Macklow ■pressed them all out for two without losing his bowl and Liversidge was a bit ■narrow. Whittle switched the' jack right across the head tor four, . and added another with his last bowl, Livingstone covering the head and leaving Grey Lynn the game and_ the championship, the score being 18-15.

. I Overwhelming Lead in Pairs. I The story oE the pairs final between Pilkington and Harris centres round .the first half-dozen heads. Here the Hamilton players by overwhelming superiority established such a lead that to all intents and purposes the . matter was settled, more especially in view . of its being a three-bowl game. Had it been a four-bowl game, which leads to greater possibilities, then the St. Johns team ■may have had a chance of breaking down the odds registered against them so early in the match. The St. J'ohu’s players did not reproduce the form shown in the earlier games. Especially was this the case with the lead, who earlier been responsible for steady - work. Against Loveridge, however, he was all at sea, and beyond flashes of good play,' his display was very moderate. The Harris skip was called on for some heavy work, but was quite unequal to the task. The Singles. lu the first head of the final game of the singles, Engebretsen lay two, and Wellings pushed one. out, but could not get the shot. The Napier man also drove three on the second head. 4-0. In the third he held three close shots until Wellings beat one. G-0. In the fourth Wellings missed his drive when Engebretsen held one on each side of the white. 8-0. Engebretsen was now picking the green to perfection, and had three alongside the jack, of which Wellings saved one. 9-0. Wellings held the shot in the sixth until Engebretsen put the white into the ditch with a perfect drive, his toucher being unbeatable. 10-0. In the seventh Wellings beat Engebretsen’s first shot, and with his last gently pressed Engebretsen for 2, his first score. 10-2. Engebretsen in the eighth got round Wellings forithe shot, and added two more, Wellings missing his drive. 13-2. In the ninth Wellings beat Engebretsen’s two shots with a bowl nearly on the jack, and in the tenth held a nice one until Engebretsen trailed for one shot well protected. 14-3. In the eleventh Engebretsen was all round the jack, and Wellings had fhe misfortune to .press out his own bowl to leave Engebretsen the whole four. J .• Drawn shots in the twelfth left Engebretsen one, and in the thirteenth two. 21-3. On the fourteenth and fifteenth heads each player drew one shot, and Wellings drew the shot on the sixteenth, leaving the score 20 to 5 in favour of Engebretsen. He then shook hands and abandoned the contest. The prize-giving ceremony, at the close of the tournament was presided over by the president of the Dominion association, Hr. Raymond Sheath. FEATURE OF TOURNEY Prominence of Wellington Players Dominion Special Service. Auckland, January 20. One of the most successful Dominion bowling tournaments yet played endeu on Saturday. The weather had been

perfect throughout, although the intensely hot days“were severely felt by.older players. The feature of the tournament was the prominent part played by Wellington players in all three contests, rinks, pairs, ’and singles. They are returning home well satisfied with the form they displayed.’ Three Wellington in. particular have every reason for satisfaction. They were Wrigley, Josephson, Wellings and' McWhannell (Hataitai); Bennett, Mostoii, Shore and Brighting (Hataitai) ; and Gauntlet. Wells, Newson and Brackenridge (Lyall Bay).. They kept each other company until the closing stages were reached, and defeated some very t strong opponents. One at least of the rinks was unlucky in not going, further.

Wellings’s Achievement.

The Wellington players also distinguished themselves in the pairs, while the Hataitai player, Wellings, reached the final of the singles, which; under the conditions of play and considering he had very heavy work to do in the rinks, was a very great achievement indeed. It was obvious that Wellings was completely tired out when he met the Hawke’s Bay player, Engebretsen, and his . opponent scored a ridiculously easy win. . Engebretsen, by his fine play throughout, wits the popular fancy for the event, but it was not expected that he would have the walk-over he had in the final. As a matter of fact, his semi-final game against Bourke (Hawera) was a much more exciting contest. The Hawera player hung on all the way, a;id was level with his opponent, but the time limit prevented the game going tlie full distance when the Napier player had a four-point advantage.

Outclassed from Commencement

Wellings, who had not played a game on the day, took the field hoping he would find the sreen right away, but conditions and his opponent’s close play found him outclassed right from the commencement. Engebretsen’s four bowls at times were placed round the jack as if they had been mechanically propelled. It was no surprise, therefore, to find the Napier player quickly in the lead with a score of 104) on tlie first six heads. Wellings opened his scoring account with a brace, and even then he had to beat Engebretsen’s toucher to do it. With his last bowl he rested Engebretsen’s close second for two. Wellings altered the length, on the seventh head, and threw the jack right to the ditch. He was fairly close. with his first bowl, but to show he was in no way troubled by the new length, Engebretsen placed three bowls inside Welliugss first one. The Wellington man drove and missed. The game progressed in similar fashion until the end. Exciting Final.

It is not often that such an exciting final is seen as that on Saturday in the rinks championship. There were thrills in abundance, not least of which was evidenced in the final stages, when “Harry Whittle, the redoubtable skip of the Grey Lynn team, pulled the game out of the fire and turned defeat into victory with two wonderful last bowls. From start to finish this great game held (he spectators spellbound, as first one and then another of the players altered the fortunes of a game that was evenly contested throughout. Being, the final, there was no time limit, and it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that each of the 21 heads yovidod a complete game in itself, so keen was the competition.

MID-WEEK BOWLS Following are further results of midweek matches played in Wellington last week:— Woburn (Hansen, Ching, Lee, Rowley) v. Victoria (Herron, Clark, Ward, Jamieson), 27-14. Woburn (De Clifford, August, Mulholland. Jones) v. Victoria (Tatham, Boyes, Yardley, King), 17-23.