Whitelaw Beats Auld Sn Kensington Final

Northern Advocate, 6 January 1948, Page 7

Whitelaw Beats Auld Sn Kensington Final

BOWLING

WINNERS of the Kensington Bowling Club’s annual fullrinks tournament were H. E. G. Smith, W. J. Orr, C. E. Boel and M. Whitelaw (Whangarei).

In a splendid final yesterday afternoon, they beat J. Finlay, J. Roberts, N. Fleming and F. Auld (Kensington), 19—15. Conditions were all against good bowls, but both teams overcame the difficulties to treat the gallery to an interesting and sometimes exciting match.

Whitelaw and his team just had the edge on the Kensington rink and thoroughly deserved their victory.

Whitelaw was always in front. He took a two and a three from the first two ends, but the greatest disparity on the board was seven on the 16th. Auld reduced this to one on the 18th when the pressure was really on. Whitelaw then took singles off the next two ends to be three up coming to the 21st. Auld held the four necessary for victory when the skips changed ends, but Whitelaw saved two with his first drawing shot. Auld still had a chance when only his second bowl remained to be delivered. A POSSIBLE CHANCE tie needed to remove both of Whitelaw’s bowls, which lay alongside each other, with a running shot and so leave himself four up. Whether it was possible to take both bowls off the head was doubtful, but Auld failed to take sufficient green and lacked the strength in his shot to disturb the head. Instead he sliced one of Whitelaw’s outside bowls across to give him shot and victory 19—15.

II was a grand struggle. The heavy green and strong gusty wind made accurate bowling well nigh impossible at times, blit most heads were tight and scoring on the whole was low.

As could only be expected, there were many short bowls when the players were trundling into the wind. Outstanding player in the eight was undoubtedly Whitelaw whose form was the best he has shown in a major tournament for some time. His beautiful drawing was a delight to watch and he seldom played a bad shot. Auld. too. produced several excellent shots and turned on a sound all-round game. Both leads. Smith and Finlay, frequently earned applause for accurate shots, and Doel. Whitelaw’s No. 3, played bowls worthy of the occasion. WHITELAW STARTS WELL Whitelaw started off most impressively with a two on the first end and a three on the second. On the first. Fleming knocked kitty back to one of Orr’s bowls, and then Whitelaw himself drew another shot. A caliper measure on the second gave Whitelaw the third shot. “ Two good bowls by Finlay and a nice one by Roberts allowed Auld to hold three on the change at the third. Whitelaw drew third shot to save one and Auld opened his account with a brace.

Finlay played the shot bowl for Auld on the' fourth till Doel took it out and left his skip holding four. Auld drew second shot but Whitelaw helped him by knocking his short bowl up to score and making the score 5—3. Whitelaw held one on the fifth till Fleming wicked in for shot, 5 —4. Doel held the shot on the sixth and then Whitelaw drew two more to take three and make it B—4. Auld held one on the seventh but Whitelaw drew beautifully again for the shot: 9 —4. Whitelaw held three on the eighth, and Fleming killed the head. Auld held one till Doel trailed kitty for shot and then Whitelaw played two more counters. Auld played a beauty with his last, however, to raise his No. 3’s finger: 9 , Smith and Orr each placed a bowl alongside kitty on the ninth, but Auld himself took one out to concede one: 10— Fleming held one on the 10th and Auld added another to narrow the difference to three at 10—7. Auld held three at the change on the 11th, Fleming having played two good ones, and Roberts knocking a short one up. Whitelaw drew the shot with his first, but Auld took it out to hold one. Whitelaw’s second bowl rolled over the wrong way to leave Auld one up and make the score 10—8.

OPEN HEAD | The 12th was a very open head and j the first good bowl was a toucher by j Auld himself. Whitelaw was inches ! away with his second and the differ- ! once w r as one. i Fleming held the shot for Auld on the 13th, but Whitelaw’s second with a yard on left both teams with a toucher. Whitelaw got a valuable three from the 14th. Doel drew two, Auld saved one. and then Whitelaw drew two more. Doel again held shot on the next i head and Whitelaw added another to i make it 15 —9. j Auld held one on the 16th with I Whitelaw having three seconds. White- ; law knocked one of Auld’s bowls up to give him another counter, but saved one with his second delivery: 16—9. Smith played a toucher and placed the other a foot behind kitty on the 17th. Ciy drew another but Roberts j placed a second. Auld took the shot ’ bcwl out to'take two from the head j to make it 16—11. ; AULD GETS A FOUR i The 18th was a good head for the I Kensington team. ! Finlay played two good bowls and j Fleming did likewise to give Auld four shots at the change. | Whitelaw took one out with a drive, i Auld replaced it, and then Whitelaw ! was short with a draw shot to enable j Auld tc- get four from the end and make it 16—15. Finlay and Smith each played a toucher on the 19th and then Orr knocked Smith’s bowl up a fraction for shot. Doel tickled kitty to give Auld two shots, but*Whitelaw put a little on his first shot and followed through for the shot to make him two up with two heads to go. Smith rolled up two good bowls on the 20th, but Fleming rested one for the shot. Whitelaw then rested on Fleming for one. Auld took kitty through, but Whitelaw retained the counter to be three up coming to the last end. Finlay placed two nice bowls just behind kitty. Smith was a yard short with both of his and Orr, too. was short. The head was building up very much in favour of Auld and when they changed ends he was holding four for victory. Whitelaw saved two with his first bowl and placed his second alongside it. Auld’s only chance lay in remov-

ing Whitelaw’s two bowls, and this he endeavoured to do with his final delivery. He failed, however, and knocked one of Whitelaw’s bowls across the head to give him shot and victory: 19—15. THE SEMI-FINALS Whitelaw and Auld won their semifinal matches comfortably. Whitelaw was 10 up on ’Englund at the 7th head but did not register again for tiie next six ends and the score was 10—8 on the 13th. Whitelaw got going again with a four on the 14th and the match finished o n the 20th where Whitelaw got a three. He won 22—11. Auld went to the front against Macnay with a four on the sixth to lead 7—3. It was 13 —4 on the 101,h but Macnay closed the gap considerably on the next three ends and it was 13—10 on the 13th. Then Auld got 1,2, 2,3, 1 to lead 22—10 on the 18th and the issue was then beyond doubt. He won 22 —12. A.uld’s team played the right type of game for the conditions, being right up to the head. Macnay and company relied on then drawing powers and found everything against them. Auld’s win was clearcut. These two skips opposed each other in the final of the Kensington tournament last season when Macnay won. This is the second consecutive year that Auld has had to be content with the honour of being runner-up.