BOWLS AND BOWLERS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 8 January 1931, Page 8

BOWLS AND BOWLERS

NOTES BV “SKIP”

THE HOLIDAY FIXTURES

With' the glorious weather that prevailed during the Christinas and New Year holidays, howlers in South Taranaki, as elsewhere, had a real feast of bowling. i Boxing Day saw the Hawera Park Club make their annual visit to Waverley, and they report having had a beautiful day on the green there. The Park were successful by a considerable margin on the day’s play and, combined with real Waverley hospitality, a. more pleasant Boxing Day could hnrdlv be imagined.

As previously stated in these columns, the surroundings of the Waverley green are unique and pretty; their green is a good one to play on. and visitors are more than repaid for the distance they may have to travel to get there.

CONY I LLE DISAPPOINT HAWERA

Something went wrong with the internal arrangements m connection with the visit of Gonville, Wanganui, to the Hawera Club on Boxing Day and they failed to put in an appearance. A progressive pairs tourney was. therefore, arranged amongst the Hawera members and a thoroughly enjoyable, us well as a strenuous day’s bowling was enjoyed. 0. W. Hoslick turned out to be the winning load with four wins nmU one loss to Ids credit, while L. .J. Bull and A. E, Stone tied for honours in the skips with five wins each. They sportingly decided to play twelve heads in a singles match to decide it, and after a good contest. L. J. Bull proved the winner.

Five games of eleven heads is a solid day’s bowling in the broiling sun; still on a line green and with the holiday spirit, everyone admitted they enjoyed the day immensely.

PARK WIN SYME SHIELD

New Year’s Day saw the contestants meet on the Hawera green for the Syme Shield competition, and for the first time since the shield was donated by the late Mr. Geo. Syme in 1921-22 the Park Club captured the trophy. It was a beautiful summer’s day, and many complimentary remarks were made by the players on the excellent state of the green, and undoubtedly on the day, the best team won. The Manaia-Opunake combination did not turn out quite as strong as was expected, their only win of the day being against' a fairly weak Patea team by 98 to 61.

First Round

Hawera made no mistake with their win over the Manaia-Opunake rinks by a clear cut win of 115 to 48, which is a “Bradman effort'’ right enough. It. Hicks won from Sinclair by 31 —9, J. Foy won from J. Wilson by 26—12, Robb won from Andrews by 21—19, while M. Squire made no race of Christie to the score of 37 —B—certainly8—certainly very big scoring in a four-rink match.

The Park gave Patea almost a big a. defeat, and won in a most convincing manner by the big score of 103 to 59.

Smith had Grant thinking all the way and won by 28 —18, while Mason made no race of Paterson by 31—13. The “devil’s” number was no good omen to the Patea skip. Quin won well from Glenny by 25 —12. and Colman and .J. Bonrke had a good go, the Park skip winning a good game bv 19—16. It was very evident after the first round that, the Park and Hawera Clubs were to light, out the issue as they were certainly very much stronger than the two outside clubs J and this contention proved corerct.

Second Round

The- Manaia-Opunake oom'bination proved too good for Patea in the aggregate by 98 —61, although bad it not been l'or tile landslide of Grant against Andrews, the scores would have been much closer.

I The other three games were very well contested, especially those of Sinclair and -I. Bonrke which finished i up 21—18 in favour of the former, and Christie and Paterson, who fought out a very tine game to finish up 18—16 in favour of Christie. Glenny went down to Wilson by 30— 19, and W. Grant slipped very badly : against Andrews to the total of 29 — 8. As a matter of fact Grant had three solid defeats on the day. and it looks as if lie is not so good as former seasons. “Bill” is a great favourite on the green, and whether be wins or loses, lie is always the same—a gentleman.

Tlit* game wliioli actually decided the fate of the shield was the Pa'rk-Ha-wera match in this round, and from the start to the finish the issue was in doubt. (Join aitd It. Hicks had a , real set to, the veteran winning a good game by 23 —2J in the finish, Fo v and .smith’s game was full of incident, the former winning by 2d—lß, while Mason defeated Robb by 2d—l7 and Column won from M. Squire by 23 —19. The ('olinan-Squire contest were actually the last to finish. and the issue was in doubt until Squire had played his last bowl. He tried to save the game and the aggregate by a difficult trail for three or four, and although he played a very fine shot he was unsuccessful. Park thus won in the aggregate by 87—-84. and in some quarters Squire has been credited with the loss, which is very unfair of the critics. It so happened that the total scores were very close, when they were finishing, and no doubt interest was running high; still no one skip can accept the blame for four rinks being beaten.

It would be a very different thing if one skip had gone down on either side by a big margin, but such was not the case and Park won the game in a meritorious manner. Third Round. Park, having two wins to thencredit, were in the best position, and their win over Manaia-Opnake in this round was practically a foregone conclusion. The coastal clubs put up a solid resistance, but were beaten in the aggregate by 84—62.

Mason defeated Wilson by 23 —16, (Jnin won from Christie by 24 —11, .-mitli won a good game from Sinclair by 22—19, and Column, the hero of the former round, suffered a very narrow loss at the expense of Anrdewx by Hi Id. Ilawei'ii bad a very easy win over Pa tea- on the total four rinks by 112 — (56. Squire won his game from J. Pourke by 30—16, Foy won from Glennv by 24—16, Hicks won from Paterson by 24 —20, and Robb won from Grant by 34—14. The Park are entitled to the congratulations of all on their perform-

ance. They have been knocking at the door for some time and now that they have their name engraved on the handsome shield they will no doubt prove hard to take it away from.

WA NG AN U l TO URN A MEN T

On very keen greens, and amongst rinks of hlgn-ciass calibre, the two Hawera Club rinks who competed in the Christmas tourney at the river citv put up a very good performance. They both won six games and lost three in their respective sections, and with an ounce of luck probably both of them would have won one more game to qualify for post-section play. Canning. Winks, Townsley, Cbrkill (s) and Asliton, Maslin, Adamson, M. Squire (s) were the links competing, and although they were not actually in the firing line at the finish they did very well. For some time past, Hawera rinks have patronised the Wanganui Christmas tournament and it is certainly up to Wanganui to send a rink up to the South Taranaki tourney at Easter time as a return compliment if nothing else.

M ANAW'ATU PAIRS TOURNAMENT.

The Pa,tea pair, P. Roiirke and O. Sheahan, are entitled to the warmest congratulation of the local howlers, on their very fine win in the New 1 Year pairs tournament held at Palmierston North.

There were 36 pairs competing, in three sections of twelve, and pla-y consisted of two days of three games of 21 heads per day. Bonrke and Shcalk an went right through section A without, a loss, and their game against Ramsay, of Palmerston North, which was tlie’ir sixth consecutive win, was full of incident. Ramsay had 'not lost a game t.p to this, and they fought out a. great, duel. No Jess than nine heads were binned v consistent and accurate driving, hut the Patea. pair proved too- solid on the dra w. On .Saturday last, Sheahan elected to lead in the final game and Bonrke skipped, and this alteration ol places nearly brought about their downjail. Their opponents, Alien and Weniinm of Feiliding, had a, fair lead on the 16th head, but Sheahan’,s leading was too good in the end, and Patea won the final in the finish by 20—17. Critics in the, Manawatu, who ought to know, openly .stated that it has been many a long day since a better final bad ’ been played - there. ODDS AND ENDS.

It has been, so often said that “alter all. the game’s the game,” and yet it is really surprising to witness deliberate ■■points” being worked during a game of howls. These little acts of meanness are very noticeable to the onlooker at times, and a bowler soon gets a bad name for it. Cribbing a little with the measure is perhaps one of the most common and most despicable of tricks. “Edging” a, bowl with one s loot and bringing it a, little closer is another miserable: point, and a player who uses unstamped and untested bowls against his opponent is just about as bad. During the Wellington Christmas, tournament recently, very severe measures were dealt out- to officers and rightly so too, One fuFl rink game had been played, (Adams v. Doherty') and Adams actually won by 30— 12 from his worthy opponent, but a protest by Doherty against Adams for using unstamped bowls reversed the position and Doherty was awarded the game. There a,re rules laid down for the good government of the game the world over, and if a, bowler doesn’t conform to those rules, then he is entitled to the punishment lie deserves. Bowling is a clean game, and perharos the only known game, where professionalism does not enter into it, and it might act as a warning to some to know that the various centres and the Dominion Bowling Council are deteimiiuut to .stamp out certain illegal practices that are gradually creeping into the game, more especially during 1,0 urn aments where the tension is p.erbaps greater than in ordinary club matches. It its a. surprising fact that so lew bowlers conform to the strict rule that “one foot at least, shall be within the boundary of the mat when delivering a bowl.” ' The habit of being off the mat when their bowl is delivered has .grown on them until it is a matter of course. It is a distinct .breach, and after one warning, a bovrfl .so delivered nr.iv be declared “burnt” or “dead.” and this rule is being watched rigidly now. Local bowlers take note l for the forthcoming Dominion and Taranaki Gentry tournaments. A very fine idea, has been in operation in the larger centres for the past year or so, and that is during the winter months to get the players together once a month and give blackboard' lectures on various types of the game, and a reading of the rules of nowls. It: cannot but do good, especially to the younger players’, and is an idea which in a v well' be tried out in Hawera. There are. no doubt, some good exponents' of the game in this town who would undertake the, work of the blackboard ‘lectures, and tile reading of the laws of the game should be an easy midi yet important feature. Local bowlers are reminded finally that the entries for the Taranaki ("('litre open tournament will close with tb<' secretary at New Plymouth on Frilav the nth inst., at 8 p.m.