Bowling.

Matamata Record, Volume XIII, Issue 1110, 31 March 1930, Page 8

Bowling.

HOWDEN SHIELD CEREMONY. The Matamata club held a successful “At Home ” to celebrate the club’s second success in three years in the Howden Shield South Auck- . land Champion Full-rink contest. There were a good number of presidents and rinks from surrounding clubs present, and also the president, and a rink from the South Auckland executive. The method of the afternoon’s play was to match visiting rinks against home players, and Matamata secured a creditable win on the aggregate by 120 points to 107. A pleasing part of the afternoon was the presentation of the. handsome Howden Shield to the club by •Mr. R. N. Pilkington, president of the centre. Mr. Pilkington, in a characteristic address, complimented the Matamata club on its run of successes over several seasons. He read a list of tournaments won during the present season (already published in this paper) and commented that this was phenomenal for a club with the membership of Matamata. Mr. Pilkington said he had been on the Matamata green before, but he now noted improvements which had brought the property to perfection point. It would appear that the time had nearly come to transfer the headquarters of the centre to Matamata. Mr. Pilkington then presented the shield to Mr. Egan and the orders for the individual trophies to A. Oates, J. . Green, W. Crabb, G. Stewart (s), the members of - the winning rink, | amidst cheers. Mr. W. Egan, the president of the Matamata club, welcomed the visitors, particularly thanking Mr. Pilkington and the executive officers for travelling such a long way to be present. A dainty afternoon tea was served by the ladies and cheers were given for them. The secretary, Mr. W. A. Gordon, had the arrangements for the afternoon in perfect order, and at the conclusion of play the bowlers voted the “ At Home ” one of the most successful functions of the season. The green was in splendid playing condition, and some keen games were played. Results, Matamata players being mentioned first, in each game, were:— I. Black, H. J. Buckley, J. Mclntyre, W. M. Crabb (s) 19 v. Tauranga Whiting, Gifford, Sharpe, Cronin (s) 17. McConkey, Brunton, Crickett, G. Stewart (s) 14 v. J. Prickett, Wycherley,. Frank Livingstone, R. N. Pilkington (s) 22. Swinboume, Bishop, Cranswick, J. Green (s) 32 v. Tirau —S. Bear, W. H. Allen, A. Mouldey, J. Watson (s). Fred Livingstone, H. Kirk, W. A. Gordon, W. Egan (s) 24 v. Morrinsville—E. Donaldson, B. Chapman, A. Yardley, T. Martin (s) 10. Rush, Scott, J. Pulling, E. C. Banks (s) 16 v. Te Aroha—E. and A. Bowler, Maingay, H. Peterson (s) 22 A. Findlater, Young, G. Hawes, A. Oates (s) 15 v. Putaruru—Hamilton, J. Rolfe, King, Hollard (s) 17. Notes. Crabb and Cronin had an interesting game to the fourteenth head, when the scores were within one of each other. Crabb then commenced to draw away, but the Tauranga rink got a 6 at a vital part of the game and took the lead, 17—15. Crabb, however, scored on the next three heads, and won by 19—17. Stewart led from the Executive rink to the eighth head, but Pilkington got a 3 on this. Matamata then came with a run of 1,2, 1, 1 to lead by 2. Over the latter stages Pilkington got 3,2, —, 2,2, —, 1, and 3, to Stewart’s 1 and 2. Pilkington won by 22—14. The game was a much keener one than the scores would indicate. Both the Green —Watson and the Egan—Martin games were easy wins for the, home rinks. The winning skips both played good games. Although Banks’ rink went down to Peterson by six the game was keenly contested, and was very-even to half way. Te Aroha scored higher in their winning heads and therein lay practically the difference in the scores. Oates’ team played a splendid uphill game against Hollard’s Putaruru rink. At one stage Matamata were down by 6—16. They scored from the seventeenth to the twentieth head with 1,1, 5,2, and were within one on the last. Hollard secured 1 and snatched victory' by 2^