BOWLING NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 132, 1 December 1938, Page 31

BOWLING NOTES

DOMINION TOURNEY

WELLINGTON ENTRIES

GOOD REPRESENTATION

Entries for the singles, pairs, and fours championship competitions in the New Zealand Bowling Association's annual tournament to be held in Auckland, commencing on January 9, close in that -city tomorrow. Judging by the quality of some o' the players offering, it would appear that the Wellington centre^ will have good representation. As far as can be ascertained, iocal entries for the fours championship are as follows:— . Hataitai Club.—J. Norrie, W. H. Fletcher, Barton Ginger, P. McWhannell (s); A. B. Chartres, Dr. R. A. Shore, L. M. Naylor, J. Brighting (s). Karbri.—W. Morton, H. L. P. Dyett, A. E.. Nielson, W. Gilbert (s); W. FishefV A. Parsons, W. Thorn, H. D. Field Xs). . Kelbum.—W. Spence, L. C. Forgie, W. E. Hay-Mackenzie, J. R.,Smith (s); J. L. Morgan, B. A. Marris, M. Routley, T. Gray (s). . , Lyall Bay.—C. Stewart, C. Bell, G. Noad, J. M. Brackenridge (s); L. Hall, L. Bruce, J. Tppp, J. B. Gauntlett (s). Thomdon.—D. A. Herbert, J. M. Gibson,^ F. J. White, M. J. Casey (s). Victoria^ —C. "Watts, J. Hamilton, D. Munrb, H. Watts (s); L. Smith, R. Campbell, S. Ingram, "W. N. Tucker (s); A. Pritchard, J. W. Martin, W. Ross, G. P. Middletoh (s). Wellington.—W. Hadwin, T. T. (Pete) Skoglund, P. O. Skoglund, Phil Skoglund (s); C. R. Ingram, A. Fletcher, K. I. Cross, C. P. Cross (s); T. A. Katterfeldt, G. Duncan, O. C. Cox, A. F.| Spiller (s). Of the entrants, C. R: Ingram (Wellington) won the Dominion singles title in 1917; and J. M. Brackenridge (then Newtown, now Lyall Bay Club) was the New Zealand singles champion i in 1921, and the champion pairs skip the following year. In 1933 he was No. 3 in L. M. Naylor's Lyall Bay rink which won the Dominion rink championship. Brackenridge has gained many centre honours. On this occasion, L. M. Naylor (now Hataitai) is No. 3 in Brighting's four. M. J. Casey, Association vice-presi-dent and centre president, has charge of a Thorndon four which should give a decent account of itself. C. P. Cross, the visiting English player, who is skip of a Wellington four, will have his son, K. I. Cross, the English singles champion, as his lead in the pairs. I S. M. Stone (Seatoun) has not enter- j ed a four combination, but will play in the pairs, with G. Hayden as his lead. R. Campbell (Victoria), No. 2 in W. N. Tucker's four, is an ex-member of the Onehunga Club, where, it is understood, he played as No." 3 in Frank Livingstone's club" rink. D. Munro (Victoria) of H. Watts's rink, was formerly hon. secretary-, Terrace End (Palmerston North). It is understood that J. H. Brown (Upper Hutt) has entered a four; and that there will be also another four from that club. ENGLISH . VISITING BOWLERS. Since their arrival in Wellington from Sydney on November 23, the English singles champion, K. I. Cross, and his father, another prominent Home bowler, have been in active touch with the Wellington Club, of which they are members. They intend to visit a number of other lodal clubs whilst here to gain a more varied renewed experience of New Zealand greens before playing in the Dominion annual tournament in Auckland next month. On November 24 they took part in the Khandallah open tournament in a Wellington Club rink as follows:—X. I. Cross, C. P. Cross, Phil Skoglund, T. T. Skoglund (s). The four won two games and lost the third. A newspaper caption, "English Bowlers Beaten," conveyed quite a wrong impression, as neither of the English visitors was in charge of the rink, and its actual skip blamed no one but himself for the loss of the third game. It rarely happens that, as in this case, a rink is composed in the following order: son and father and father and son. GREENKEEPERS TOURNAMENT. A meeting will be held tomorrow evening in the Victoria Bowling Club's pavilion by local greenkeepers to consider the inauguration of an annual outing, to include a one day's fours tournament. By holding this tournament, it is thought that greenkeepers, in addition to attending to the preparation of greens, would be disposed to take a keen interest in the playing side of the game and f s6 obtain a better idea of what is actually required by bowlers in regard to surface conditions. Greenkeepers in Sydney and Melbourne for many years have had their annual bowling competitions. Dominion Greens. "Boomerang," the well-known .bowling writer in the "Referee, >} Sydney, recently wrote that, "Time was when the greens of Ashfield and Sydney generally were the admiration of all visiting Victorians. In 1906 they were seen at their best, and it was a \common thing to hear, 'My word, you ought to see the Sydney greens; they are superb.' But even Chris. .Rigney,. chairman N.S.W.B.A.'s greens committee, will admit that now the boot is considerably on the other foot. Victorian greens, and those; of the Dominion, are among the best in the world. On our Sydney greens today players are merely grasshoppers, and the convincing grounds fodder until late in July." This year the pennant season in Sydney started in October, but "Boomerang" claims that perfect greens in Sydney are only got in July, August, and September, because there is no couch to water or grow woolly. He is certainly right in his praise of Victorian greens, as anyone who has, for instance, played on Middle Park, Carlton, Victoria, and other • leading greens will agree. New Zealand players from their own experience can say whether "Boomerang's" remarks about Dominion greens are justified. Mr. Rigney, to whom "Boomerang" refers, is a strong advocate of the use of brown-top grass on Sydney greens, and where his instructions have been rigidly followed as to its growth, good results have been gained. The Rose Bay. Club, for instance, has a beautifully covered brown-top green, which a recent visiting member .from that club to Wellington reported is playing well. There are a good number of nicelyrunning greens in Adelaide, all of which, with'perhaps only one exception, have electric light installations, enabling play to be allowed at night. This Is the best part of the 24 hours, being without the heat of the day, and, as no dew vfalls, the greens are dry and fast, Summer heat in Adelaide will at times reach 100 degrees in the shade for days on end. The Brisbane greens have not been generally good for some years, but the Queensland Bowling Association, with the aid of Mr. Paul Maggs, honorary green expert, is gradually getting them into decent condition. Booroodabin green is exceptionally good. Other!

outstanding greens are Clayfield, Annerley, Coorparoo, and East Brisbane. N.Z. Team for Great Britain. At the last meeting of the executive of ths New Zealand Bowling Council, held at Auckland, it was resolved to accept the services of the Sports Travel Company to conduct the Home tour next year. Instructions were directed as to length and nature of the tour desired, and centres are to be informed of details and nominations invited when arrangements for the transport involved are completed. Burned Jack. The laws relating to burned jacks and bowls, although quite clearly expressed, are not easy to recall quickly, arid accurately even by experienced players who do not make a close study of the laws, and incidents occur from time to time bearing out this fact In a game recently at Waihbpai a moving jack struck one of the Waihopai players, and straight away all concerned had agreed that the jack had been burned, and that the end would have to be replayed. Law 53 (a) is however, quite definite on the point, as it states that, "When the jack while in motion is burned by one of the players, the opposing director may allow it to lie where it comes to rest or declare the end dead." In this game the non-offending director's side was lying two or three shots at the time, so it paid an expensive price for its lack of knowledge of the law governing the case. Distinctive Disc Marks. The inclusion for the first time of bowl-testing regulations and conditions in the Laws of the Game is a decided improvement, as a perusal, enables players to know where they stand as regards test requirements. Before bowls are offered to a tester for testing and stamping it should be seen that the requirements of regulation 5 (d) and Law 28 have been complied with, viz.: "That all players' bowls must bear a distinctive mark of similar design, permanently engraved, apart from a number, on both discs of each bowl. Bowls which are in use and which, bear a distinctive mark on the large disc and a number on the small disc will be sufficiently marked to comply with the regulations if the numbered disc is permanently engraved with the owner's initials, or with a design similar to that on the large disc." Height of Banks. Law 2 enacts that "banks surrounding greens shall not be less than nine inches above the level of greens." It would, however, have tended to uniformity of practice if the maximum height of banks had also been determined, as differing height levels may be seen on greens. The position now is not satisfactory. On one green a toucher or a kitty may be driven against a" bank and be alive, yet on another green with a lower bank, a kitty or a toucher driven over the ditch at a similar height as in the other case may have to be declared dead, as after striking the face of the bank it did not rebound on to the green or fall into the ditch but went over the top of the bank. Then a club's green may have two terraced banks, as is not unknown in Wellington, in which case the lower bank would be regarded as the top limit. Queensland Bowling Team. Writing recently, Mr. F. C. Ker, of Childers, manager of the Queensland tourist bowlers' party to visit New Zealand in January-February next year, stated that he was finalising the of the last few members of the team from those bowlers anxious tc go. It is just possible that, as before, two players of the medical profession may be in the team. Dr. W. H. Nette, who was in the 1937 party, may come, also Dr. L. P. Winterbotham. Two or three of the centres' to be visited have offered to provide games for any lady bowlers who may be in the party. It is known that there will be at least one lady player, namely, Mrs. Miller, president West Toowoomba Ladies' Club, who is accompanying her husband, and inquiries are being made to see if there are others. On Saturday, January 28, the Queenslanders will spend the day at Paekakariki as the guests of Sir Charles and Lady Norwood at their seaside residence. A game of bowls on the local green will be a part of the day's programme, which is^ being arranged to provide the tourists with a welcome change from the fixed strenuous itinerary. On Sunday, January 29, the party will visit the Eastbourne Club's green in the afternoon and may play a number of rinks. World Tournament. The most important event in the annals of lawn bowling in the United States of America will be the world's open lawn bowling tournament, to ; be held on the greens of the San Fran-cisco-Oakland Bay district in the month of September, 1939, at the same time and in conjunction with the Golden Gate International Exposition. The aim of the promoters of the tournament is to bring together players from all parts of the English-speaking world to take part "in one of the most friendly, sociable, and, keenly competitive tournaments ever to have been experienced." Now that the American Association has been admitted into •affiliation with the International Bowling Board, it is able to invite officially teams from any part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It may be possible for some of the members of the New Zealand team when returning from their Home tour next year to go to the San Francisco tournament. It is understood that Mr. A. J. Parker, the well-known Auckland bowler, will take part in the tourney. Bowls in England. The game of bowls is going steadily ahead in England. In the English Bowling Association's membership the 17Q0 mark for affiliated clubs has been passed; the 2000 mark is coming well into sight, and two or three years should see it reached. The indoor section side of bowls is making great strides, the whole organisation growing not only in numbers, but also in scope, force, and influence. International matches are played on the Bournemouth indoor green, municipally owned, which cost £30,000 to build and is the largest of its kind in the world. Wellington Club. Good progress is being made with the several largely-entered Wellington Club's competitions. Play in the senior singles and nomination pairs games is now in the second round. The completing date in this round for the singles (both^games) is December 9; and for the pairs (both games) December 7. No fewer than 62 pairs entered the second round, a fact which gives some slight indication of the j onerous nature of the work entailed on the members of the match committee in keeping the ball rolling." The first round of the nomination fours has, been played. In at least two of these games on Saturday last the large adverse scores made the losing players realise that life has its bitter moments! However, bowlers have conveniently fickle memories for failure, that is, their own case. Mr. William Hildreth, J.P., who has been a member of the Wellington Club for the long period of forty-two years, attained his 81st birthday today, when he received the congratulations of his

many friends on. reaching that advanced age. Still healthy and strong, this hardy veteran continues to take a keen and active interest in the game, and is able to hold his own with many a good player of much fewer years. Otaki Railway Tournament. Several bowlers from Wellington, Manawatu, and local clubs met on the Railway Club's green at Otaki at the weekend when a most enjoyable day was spent. The green was in perfect order, and at the conclusion of play several warmly congratulated Mr. Webster (president) on its splendid running surface, stating that they had never played on a better green, while others considered it equal to the best of city greens. Four rinks tied for the prizes, namely, Edwards, O'Neill, and Spiller (all of Wellington) and Grey (Otaki). In the semi-final Grey was beaten |by Edwards, while O'Neill defeated Spiller. In the final Edwards had the advantage till the last head was played, | when O'Neill played a perfect bowl. I thus winning by a point. lln the Pennant matches Otaki A won one game and drew one, Plimmerton being the opponents. In the B section Otaki met Paekakariki, winning ons game and losing one. Otaki Rail-^

way won both games against Paraparaumu.

Karori Club.

There is any amount of keenness about the Karori Bowling Club's competitions, and giving zest to the bidding for honours, is the fact that now and again a surprise is sprung. The green does not by any means show the improvement expected as a result of the reconditioning work carried out after last season's early closure, and it may be that some players are affected more than others in accommodating themselves to conditions. However, there is no lack of keen endeavour.

Interesting games are not confined to those in the club competitions. Those who form the afternoon brigade -»re having their fill of good sport, and among the keenest of the regulars are two foundation members—T. Campbell and W. F. Newcombe.

Two series of games in the champion fours have left only three fours with two "lives," those undefeated being skipped by J. Dunbar, W. Cooper (who has had a bye), and M. G. Nasmith. Second round results were: Dunbar beat Needham, Nasmith beat Gilbert, Field beat Tullett, Adams beat Dixon, and Dyett beat Goodall. The "one-

lifers" are: Field, Gilbert, Dyett, Needham, Adams, and Tullett.

One of the early surprises in the champion singles competition was the defeat of W. Gilbert by G. A. Hart. The players had a sterling tussle and when the twenty-first end had been decided the scores were level, the club's prsident then taking the honours on the extra end.