SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

Mataura Ensign, 30 January 1915, Page 2

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

eftIOKET, WAR AND COUNTY"COMPETITIONS BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH COPYRIGHT. P»B WHITED PRESS ASSOCIATION LONDON, Jan. 28. The Advisory County Cricket Committee has decided that there jsliall be no county competition in 1915 but if the war is ended each county shall arrange its xu’ogramme. BOWLING. Notes by " Kitty.” The fine weather of the past lew day s has been taken full advantage of by members of the Gore Club, and the club’s green has. presented a very mama ted scene during the last few evenings, The club’s competitions have advanced appreciably since last week, and another draw in the championship &‘ng(cs ill probably bo made this evening. Only a few games remain to be played, but in the cases of two players neither has yet played a game in this competition. Unless some good reason can be given by players for holding up a competition unduly, Mr Craig (who has been given charge of the club’,a competitions) will be quite justified in crediting such players with a loss, a course which he will no doubt follow unless the remainder qf the games, are got off expeditiously. The singles games have been reisjjonsible for the usual crop of surprises, notably the wins of Loutitt and .Stevens (two of last year’s, colts) over Harland and Low.. Both the lastnamed are excellent drawing players but were caught on an off night. Harland at tire top of his form easily ranks among the best drawing players on the green, ami Low has. been showing capital. form recently. Praise, however, is due to both Loutitt and Stevens for the fine games they played, both showing the form of veterans.

lii the novices’ singles the greatest surprise was the defeat of Fitzgerald by Kay. The former lias ‘been playing well of late,'and the game was looked upon'as a good tiling for him. Kay started with a handicap of six points, and his opponent was only able to reduce this by one. The second trial game played on the Gore green on Thursday evening in order to select a rink to represent the club in the shield rink competition! at Invercargill on Wednesday next resulted in a very easy win for Stewart’s rink (Cox, Anderson, Frobarth and Stewart, s) against Perks’ rink (Baldwin, Bay, Brown, Perks, s). The evening was a perfect one for play, but the losers neycr appeared to get properly going, Baldwin being the only one to play up to form. . Another match was set down for Friday evening, the probables being Baldwin, Bay, Brown and Stewart (s) and the possibles Cox, Anderson, Frobarth and Perks (s); but the wet weather caused this final trial to be abandoned, and the following rink has been selected; Baldwin, Bay, Brown, Stewart (s). The rink is a, strong one and should do well, but will be up against strong opposition in the opposing rinks. Stewart, who will skip the rink, has on present form probably no equal among the Gfore) players. AJ stronger rink could no doubt have been selected, but probably a number ol players whose claims entitle them, to consideration were unable! to get the necessary leave to make the trip. The selected players will carry with them the best wishes of their clubmatefl 1 , as a win for the Core representatives means securing final possession of the trophy. .... The wniter understands that it is the intention of the selector to select a totally different rink to represent the Gore Club in the Hamilton Onp contest on Wednesday, February. 10, but the final selection will not 'be announced until some time next week, No valid objection can be taken to the selector’s action in this respect, a« the club at present possesses a. considerable number of players, of even calibre whoso plav merits consideration. The Hokonui Club commenced! it s competitions on. Thursday evening. So far two games of singles have been completed—viz., Mackie (20) beat Blaikio (14) and Wylie (22) beat Kirkwood (20). Other games are in progress. The Hokonui Shield Rink for Invercargill will consist of Blaikie, Mac Gibbon, Cullen and Tutty (s). The rink is not considered' a very strong one, but some of the club’s leading players are unable to make the trip, and it must not ho forgotten that the club’s selection is very limited this' season owing to the comparatively small number of playing members. It is rumored that the Hamilton! Clip rink to represent Hokonui will be Mackie Leishman, Martin and Tatty (s). These players comprise a fairly solid quartette who can be relied upon to play a strong game, especially as the contest is to take place on their own green. Im this respect I think it would be a wise move on the part of the Gore selector to announce liis' selection early next week to enable the players chosen a few evenings in which to practise on the Hokonui green. An invitation was given to the Hokonui representatives last year by the Gore dub to practise on the latter’s green prior to the contest, and no doubt this courtesy will be gladly returned by the Hokonui Club this season. In connection with, the shield; rinks from the ''"Eastern District, players should make a point of wearing their clubs’ uniforms. There is far too. much laxity in tills respect by local players when competing in important matches.

The Gore Club was thoroughly extended in its match against Wyndham on Wednesday afternoon, the play of the latter’s representatives amply bearing out the truth of the reports relative to then improvement this season. 'Brown's rink ('Baldwin, Harland, Anderson and Brown, s ), which was generally considered a strong one, like many other good things failed to materialise and was soundly trounced by Walker s rink (Robt. Wilson, B. Drummond. White find Walker, s) to the tune of 24 points to nine, The Gore players were all quite oh their game, while on the other hand the Wyndhaifl rink to a man played well, the load (Wilson) in particular playing a capital’ game. Berks’ rink (Cox, Graham, Day and Perks. , s ) had an easy win over the rink skipped by Williams (Lindsay, Densem, McKcrrow, Williams', s), the Gore players putting on 30 to their opponents’ 13. The Wyndham rink \vas considered by the Wynd.li.ani players to be the weakest of the four rinks. representing the club, which probably account® to a certain extent- for the difference between the scores. Graham and Perks were the mainstay ol the Gore rink. Froharth’s rink (Graeve, Townsend, Lock, Frobarth, s) made a; poor start against Beehy, Mackay, Little and Murphy (s), the Wyndham players haring notched nine before Gove opened their scoring account. The latter th,en made, a forward move ami reduced the lead to four by the time the ninth, head was completed’. Wyndham again drew "away and when 15 heads had been played had scored 20 points to Gore’s 11. the last six heads resulted in Frobarth and Co. adding six to their total t(i Wyndham’s two, the latter thus finishing five to the good. .Stewart added to his already solid iecord this season by defeating Drummond’s rink (Richards, Porter, Hunter and 'Drummond, s-y by 25 points to 12. The Gore players (Low, Henderson,' Craig and Stewart, s) all played soundly after they got accustomed to the green. Up to the ninth head the game was closely contested, Wyndham at this stage being nine points to Gore’s eight; but the latter then drew' away and improved their position as the game in ogrossed. The Wyndham Club deserves hearty congratulations for the capital state m which; it has got its green, and more especially as the work of attending t.o it is carried out by the players themselves. The liberal topdressiiig to which it was subjected this season has greatly ‘benefited it, and the green is now one of the best in the district. This no doubt largely accounts for the improved standard of play in the sou thorn township. The final of the citizens’ doubles on the Gore green, between Ray and Lock v. Ibbotson and Cox, resulted in an easy win for the latter. Both pairs received liberal handicaps, and the backmarkers were unable to make up the leowav. A. gratifying feature of the game’ is that two colts (Ibbotson and Rav) participated' in the final. tinder tjio now conditions in which the Gore Club’s contests are being played—viz., 21 points—a big handicap of, say, 10 to 12 points gives the scratch men or the men who are perhaps two or four points behind scratch very little chance of overtaking the. limit men. In the writer’s, opinion the limit men ought to go the full journey and all handicaps 1 be arranged behind ■scratch. This, I think, would' be found much more satisfactory hy the player®. SHIELD RINK COMPETITION. The following is the draw for the Shield Rink competition to he played on, 'Southland' green; on. Wednesday, commencing at 10.30 a.m. :—lnvercargill plays Bluff, Mataura plays Northend', Gore plays To Rangi, Southland plays Hokonui.