Bowling Notes

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 150, 22 December 1938, Page 25 (Supplement)

Bowling Notes

MANY ENTRANTS

DOMINION TOURNEY!)

NOTES ON COMPETITORS

As the Dominion annual tourney on {his occasion will be held in Auckland aext month, naturally that centre is providing the largest number of competitors, including the seven players Who represented the Dominion in the Empire Games in Sydney last February. Maxwell Walker (Auckland) is the only man except Harraway (Dunedin) who has won all three championships, his years being 1915, 1919, and 1923 in the singles, 1927 In the pairs, with Arthur Brackebush as^lead, and 1932 in the rinks, supported by K. S. Macky, L. J. Keys, and C. de Launay. On this occasion Walker will have with him H. T. Gillies, H. Luke, club president, and G. H. Woolley. G. A. Deare (Carlton), winning Dunedin club-skip in the 1931 Dominion rink championship, and runner-up a «year later to Maxwell Walker, won, as a member of Lower Hutt, the Wellington champion of champions pairs competition in 1935, with Barton Ginger as lead. The latter will be with P. McWhannell (Hataitai) in the rinks and pairs. A. H. Benefield tSt. John's, Wanganui), who had such a sensational win in 1927, will again have H. Rowling and J. F. Wight, who were with him then, but A. G. Toop will be No. 2. Arthur Parsons (Ponsonby), the Dominion champion rink skip of 1923 (when Alec Smart, of New Plymouth, virtually fought him single-handed in the final) has with him F. Carbines, F. Brown, and J. Roffe. J. A. Nash (Palmerston North), president of the Manawatu Bowling Centre, and the champion.skip of 1915, will be in a Palmerston North rink, the personnel of which is Owen Colquhoun, S. Bayliss, J. A. Nash, T. L. Arnott. It is an interesting fact that only twice has an Auckland rink won in the six previous tournaments held in the northern city, namely, in' 1923 with Arthur Parsons,, and again in 1935 with H. Whittle (Grey Lynn), who beat F. Livingstone (Onehunga) with an apparently impossible drive. Whittle was two down on the board and two or three down on the head. This he turned to four up. and then drew another to win by three—lß-15. A crowd of Grey Lynn supporters rushed the green,, thrilled by the totally-unexpect-ed but spectacular victory, and carried Whittle to the pavilion shoulder high. Keith I. Cross, the English singles Champion, who is in section L, will meet E. V. Sutherland (Onehunga) at Remeura, and one of these will then have to play C. R. Ingram (Wellington), the 1917 winner. As "Trundler" of the "Auckland • Star" points out, a good gallery is assured at the Auckland Club's greens, where in, section H there is the only meeting of two players who have won the.Auckland champion of champions honour, W. X., Keatley (Rocky Nook> and E. H. Henderson (Remuera), now playing for Paeroa. One of these in the next round will meet L. L. Macey (Remuera), the Empire Games champion pairs lead. By the third round three of these will play the three survivors from C. P. Cross, of Cosham, England, Harry Clarke, Dominion champion bf 1927, and three times Auckland champion of champions, .Arthur Parsons, 1923 champion rink skip, and four times centre singles champion and twice champion of champions, and Phil Skoglund (Wellington). In the first round in section U at Epsom W. Bremner (West End), twice Dominion champion skip, and Spearman (Sydenham), Dominion singles winner of 1937, will meet. It may be mentioned here that W. Hadwin (Lower Hutt), who is also playing in the singles, distinguished himself at the 1937 tournament by getting into the closing stages of the singles com- " petition through beating Bremner, Hadwin then went out to J. H. Mingins (Ponsonby) who lost to Spearman in the final. Mingins will be in section R at Mount Eden, where Maxwell Walker will also play. With any luck they may meet in the fourth round. R. T, Harrison (Sydney), the wellknown Australian player and bowls writer, will be in section E at Balmoral. There he meets J. T. North (,Te Awamutu) and possibly Peter McWhannell (Hataitai). With McWhannell in his best form, this would be a game worthy of close attention. A. E. Neilson (Karori), who has been indisposed of late, has improved very much in' health and will be able to take his place as No. 3 in W. Gilbert's rink. Neilson will lead for Gilbert in the pairs. CENTRE HOLIDAY TOURNEYS The programme of the centre Christmas fours and New Year pairs tournaments, to be played on city ami suburban greens, and New Year fours, to be played on Hutt Valley greens, has ,; been distributed to competitors. It is neatly and conveniently got up. The entries for the Christmas rinks tournament, 46, are four more than, in last year's fixture, and ten more than in the 1936 tourney. As a comparison, it may be mentioned that 66 rinks have entered for the Auckland Centre Christmas tourney, but that centre has a much larger number of players to draw upon. There is a large number of good rinks in the four sections of the local centre's gathering. In section A, to name a few combinations, are found -,T. Adams (Karori), J. E. Widdop (Kelburn), G. H. Noad (Lyall Bay), and F. J. Jones (Island Bay). Jones's rink will be skipped by J. B. Lawrie, Jones playing in the third position. Section B has undoubtedly several strong combinations, and the rink that works its way through that section will require to play first-class bowls. The section has skips of recognised calibre, as, for instance, W. Fielding (Hataicai), J. R. Smith (Kelburn), P. McWhannell (Hataitai), P. W. Smith (Thorndon), J. M. Hale (Island Bay), T. T. Skoglund (Wellington), H. Watts .(Victoria), and A. Needham (Karori). Section C, too, has a number of good fours, skipped by J. B. Reid (Lyall Bay), F. Hazelwood (Lyall Bay), E. H. Baker (Lower Hutt), J. H. Newson (Wellington), S. Ingram (Victoria), C. W. Hart (Carterton), and J. A. Martin (Hataitai). Section D will be another difficult section to win, as it fttcludes rinks skipped by such first-rate players as H. L. Brighting (Hataitai), L. M. Naylor (Thorndon), J. Brackenridge (Lyall Bay), O. Silbery (Petone), and S. A. Johns (Eastbourne). C. P. Cross, the English visitor, has charge of a Wei-

A.S, "By Kiwi.'"-

lington Club rink. He bas won a number of local open rink tourna-! ments, and his progress in the Christ- I mas tournament will receive spec- j ial attention from spectators. It would J be an interesting coincidence if Brighting and Naylor were to win their way through to the final, as they did last year, when Brighting won. The situation would be a piquant one, as Naylor is going to Auckland as BrigMing's third player. Given good weather, the tournament should be productive of many good games. It will serve as a trying-out ground for those players who are taking part also in the Dominion tourney at Auckland next month. There are 44 pairs in the New Yeat pairs tournament, and with the talei?< offering the play should be well worth watching. For the New Year.fours, 21 entries have been received. The attention of competitors is called to condition No. 2 as follows: —"Bowls to be stamped and marked. . All bowls used in the tournament must, bear the recognised test stamp of the New Zealand Bowling Association —D.N.Z.B.A. (1932) —or subsequent stamps, and a permanent distinctive mark, other than a number, on both discs : of each bowl. The r kip will be held responsible for seeing that all bowls played by members of his team are stamped in accordance with the rules. . Bowls not complying with these rules will not be permitted to be used in the tournament." Greenkeepers' Social Club. The application of the Greenkeepers' Social Clud for financial assistance from the various bowling clubs was discussed at the last meeting of the Wellington Centre. The consensus of opinion of the delegates present was that the establishment of the greenkeepers' club would have a good j effect, as it would result in their i gaining a practical knowledge of the j game as players, and co to understand what bowlers look for in a green as, regards surface conditions. It was] decided to invite bowling clubs to consider making a nominal donation towards the funds of the greenkeepers' club. The greenkeepers propose to have a singles competition amongst themselves. Unplayed Pennants Round. The fourth round of the senior and junior pennants competition which could not be overtaken on Saturday last, as the rain had made the greens unsuitable for use, will be played on a date yet to be decided on by the centre authorities. Wellington Club. The rainy weather has held up play in the Wellington Club's competitions. Those who have actually nlayed and won their third-round games in section A of the singles are D. Christie, J. H. O'Donnell, D. Spiller, who eliminated E. E. Stonebanks after a close finish, and K. Swiney, who won against F. Edwards, gn section B those who actually played and entered the! fourth round are C. J. Cooper, who won against A. F. Spille*, L. R. Hamilton, who eliminated Phil Skoglund j by 18-17 after tieing on the twentyfirst end, A. J. P. Brittain, who eliminated F. Smith, and T. T. Skoglund, who eliminated F. Edwards. In section A of the pairs competition those ] who have made ?their way- into the j fourth round are'B. Thomson and McCorkindale, who now meet P. and T. T. Skoglund, E. A. Liddle and F. Edwards, who meet Taylor and Brittain, and J. J. O'Gormcn: and T. Fiddes. In section B J. Ross and F. Ross are in the fourth round, no other games having been played in that section. There are 70 entrants for the Blundell Cup handicap singles, the highest allowance for which is 8. Giving the Jack Away. An interesting discussion took place on the Wellington Bowling Club's green when an open rink tournament was being held there recently. It was on the question of whether a lead who wins the toss in the first or extra end or ends should give the jack a\«^. Two experienced skips said they tWnsidered it bad policy, to hand the jack over in such circumstances. As one of them remarked, "Why toss the coin at all unless for the purpose if possible of gaining the. right to throw the jack?" Two other skips were, however, equally emphatic that it was good strategy to give the jack to the enemy in such a case, as by doing so one secured the right to play the last bowl of the end, often a valuable advantage, as they had found from their own and others' experience. Another player said that during that day's play his rink, for which he was lead, won the toss, but he handed the jack to his' opponent, who threw a short head, which the latter's skip captured. He continued to do so for sevtral ends, as his side kept the jack and the short end on a fast green suited his style of play. The result was that the short-end expert skin won the game. Of course, the answer to this is that a rink* anxious to win must adapt itself to all lengths; but while this may be so, bowls is such a peculiarly tantalising game, so full of unexpected variations, that if is not always easy for a side to strike the right note, although the opposition may have picked up and kept hold of the winning tune. When playing on a strange green it pays at times to let the opposing first player rdll the jack, so as to gauge from its run some idea of the strength of the green. Island.Bay Club. Although the heavy rain of Saturday last caused the cancellation of the pennant matches the elements were Sufficiently kind to permit the holding of a very successful one-day fours tournament during the weekend. The greens were in excellent order and the eighteen teams competing had an enjoyable day's sport. At times the weather gave the players some anxious moments, but the day remained fine and steadily improved, the final being played under perfect conditions. The games were keenly contested, and Hataitai provided the winners in a rink consisting of Fox, Josephson, Wilson, and Kershaw (s), the runners-up being a rink from Karori skipped by Adams. The win of Jim Kershaw, who minds the money bags' of the Wellington Bowling Centre, was a popular one. Favourable comment was made concerning the manner in which these weekend fixtures are managed and generous praise is due to Mr. Ernie Gallagher, \ who spares no effort in securing the entries and completely spoils his own day's pleasure by his assiduous attention to the duties of host to the visiting players. Island Bay Club is fortunate to have the assistance of "Lofty" and others of his ilk. | In the Centre Christmas tournament the club is represented by four rinks, and in the New Year pairs by four pairs. The twenty-first anniversary oneday fours tournament abandoned on December 8 will now be held on Thursday, January 26, when it is hoped that a four from every club will enter.

Members are eagerly looking forward to the eight fours annual match with Khandallah, to be • played at Khandallah on Anniversary Day.