BOWLERS AT HOME

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 4, 5 July 1928, Page 9

BOWLERS AT HOME

DEFEATS IN WALES VISIT TO SALISBURY OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 2nd June. Tho New Zealand bowlers' week in AVales was ii disastrous ono so far as tho games arc concerned. Two victories in nine engagements compares very badly with the record of the '1921 New Zealand team, whose live matches resulted in three good wins and two losses. Cardiff, in the opening match, and Bridgeud, towards the end of the week, were the two bright spots of the tour in Wales, so far as the greens are concerned, and strangely enough, the visitors won each by sixteen shots. A further coincidence is that in 1921 the New Zealand team played Cardifl and scored 129 shots to 115. , The 1928 team was at Sophia Gardens again, playing Cardiff, and the result was 129 to 113. l Still further, in the match at Swansea, the home side scored 151, the exact score made on the same green by tho home team when they played the New Zealanders in 1921. At the Kettering Lodge Club the New Zealanders- played Northamptonshire, the result being a draw of 124 shots each. Details (New Zealanders mentioned first): J. Hutchinson (Dunedin), IS; F. Wright (Kettering Lodge) 21; A. J. Parker (Auckland) 18, F. Mitchell (Wellington), 32; J. Grant (Oamaru) 28, W. Goldsmith (Northants) 15; T. Horton (New Plymouth) 23,. G. S. Bull (Wellington) 12; J. D; Sole (Now Plymouth) 27, F. Monks (Northampton West End) 18; J. Carson (Auckland) 10, F. Stratford (Kettering Lodge) 26. Totals: New Zealand 124, Northamptonshire 124. For tho iirst time on their tour through England.and Wales the New Zealanders were unable to finish a match owing to rain, this taking place at the Leicester Club in the engagement with Leicestershire. Seven ends only were played when the match was abandoned, the rain and heavy waterlogged green making it impossible to continue. The scores were 39 and 34 in favour of Leicestershire. BEDFORD BOROUGH. The New Zealand team beat Bedfordshire at the Bedford Borough Club by 130 shots to 112. Details (New Zealand mentioned first): —A. J Parker 26, H. Gale 13; G. G. Adess 17, P. Neil 23; J. Grant 28, A. F. Conisbee 15, T. Horton 18, P. J. Ward 22; J. Carson 24, C. H. Huckle 19; J. D. Sole 17, W. J. Mariner 20. Totals: New Zealand 130, Bedfordshire 112. Oxfordshire entertained the New Zealanders on the Merton College ground, when the conditions were of a very unfavourable, character. The county made a good start, leading at the end of the first five rinks by 31 points to 27. In the next five, however, the visitors got well ahead with 70 points to 46, and finally won by 117 points to 103. The New Zealanders were beaten by Warwickshire at Coventry by 140 shots to 95. Tho visitors were down on all six rinks. At Salisbury the match with Wiltsliiro 'ended in a draw, each side scoring 12G. Play throughout was fairly even. At "the end of tho first five ends the scores stood 31-35 in tho New Zesilandors' favour. Wilts made a good recovery as tho game proceeded, and at the tenth end were leading 69-tiO. An equally praiseworthy recovery was then made by the Dominion visitors, who at tho fifteenth end were leading by' six shots, the scores being 91-97, There was little to choso between the teams towards the close of the game, and tho drawn result gave pleasure to both sides. Scores (Wiltshiro mentioned first): —: • J. Linseott 22, Parker 20; J. Millar 14, Grant 22; E: J. Case 22, Hutchison 28; H. E. Parker 29, Adess 15; N. Heath 23, Doherty 16;. C. Macdonald 16, Sole 25; totals, Wiltshire 126, New Zealand 126. WELCOME AT SALISBURY. The visitors were welcomed by the Mayor (the Hon. Lady Hulse), at Salisbury. At the luncheon the chairman, Mr. John Tudman (president of the Wilts Association) proposed the toast of "Our Visitors from New Zealand." There was something more in those meetings and games, he said, than the mere winning or losing of matches. The associations of the game took a short cut to the heart strings. He cherished very happy memories of tho few hours spent in the company of the New Zealand team iv 1921, with the Canadians in 1924, and the Sou£h Africans in 1926, and he was sure that day would add to that record of happy recollections. Mr. J. W. Hardley, responding, said they were sons of the Empire, and were bound to those in Britain by blood ties which could never be severed. They ( were members of the race of tho free born, and they were proud to meet their freo born brothers of England ut Salisbury. Their main object was not to play bowls, but to prove to all that bowling was a great game, a great brotherhood with ideals that could be treasured in every bowler's heart. In travelling through Great Britain, and passing on to Canada, and still further on through Southern California, they hoped to prove to those with vhom they came into contact that New Zealanders were men and sportsmen in the highest sense of the word. He was proud that they had the distinguished company of the Mayor. The previous day at Weymouth they were welcomed by six Mayors, but Wiltshire had gained distinct' m of being the first county to weleomo them with a lady Mayor. -New Zealand, however, was the first country to elect a lady Mayor. In conclusion, Mr. Hardley said it was his proud privilege on bch if of the New Zealand Howling Association, comprisi; 16,000 members, to convey to thorn their heartiest good wishes and greetings. LADY HULSE'S SPEECH. The Mayor, in submitting "The Dominion of New Zealand," said it. might be a small country, but it was a great Dominion. Receiving them from New Zealand brought their niiiuls back to those days when shells and not bowjs were in use, when they sent their gallant men to help England, the mother of them all. to fight for freedom for