THE SPORTING WORLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 23 November 1938, Page 11

THE SPORTING WORLD

Variety of Pars from Here and There By, "ERA"

• Christchurch Gains | Tennis enthusiasts in Christchurch J should be assured of some excellent exhibitions in ranking list matches and the senior men’s competition this year, comments a Southern writer. C. Angas has held No. 1 position on the Canterbury ladder for some years now. but his supremacy will be seriously challenged when A. D. Brown, the Dominion champion, arrives from Auckland. Angas has held the advantage over the younger man at Wilding Park previously, but this year Brown has the added advantage of a season of English experience behind him. New Zealand Bowls The game of bowls was first introduced in New Zealand when Scottish residents met and formed the Auckland Club in 1861 Ten years later the Dunedin Club was founded and before another club was established at New Plymouth in 1895 nine additional clubs I appeared in the South Island. In 1886 these 12 clubs formed the New Zeaj land Bowling Association, but opera- '■ tions were chiefly confined to South j Island clubs, which by 1906 had inj creased to 40. | When the Northern Bowling Associj ation of New Zealand started in 1891 it comprised only eight northern clubs, and Nelson and Blenheim. In 1935 affiliations totalled 208. with a membership of 10.280. The southerners could boast of only 150 clubs, with 5858 followers. Prior to 1913-14 there were three : bowling associations in New Zealand, j but during that season they amalga--1 mated to form the Dominion of New | Zealand Bowling Association, the name being subsequently changed to the New Zealand Bowling Association. To-day there are 22 centres and 368 clubs. with a membership of over 17.000.

Practice is Essential. One of the causes of low scoring in cricket is the poor footwork and crampj ed stance of some batsmen, especially ! when trying to deal with tricky spin- ; ners. That world-famous player, W. | H. Ponsford, retired from club crickj et in Melbourne recently, and took over ; a coaching position. When asked to state | the golden rule for aspiring cricketers, j Ponsford was emphatic:— I “Practice—practice—and still more ; practice. The young player cannot have too much, especially early in the sea- : son. He must have some natural abil--1 ity in the first place, but assiduous prac- . ; tice will work wonders. [ “Next I place correct footwork —the j secret of batting.” : As a matter of fact, both things go j I together, or almost together. By con- ; stant practice which brings success and I then confidence in its wake, the batsman learns to hesitate less and less, un--1 til the time comes when he acts by inj stinct. The occasion prompts the action. The good player, profiting from rei gular practice, forms a habit of correct < decision in playing back and forward, i Each ball is naturally and instinctively | dealt with by appropriate movements j of the feet and arms.

Boot to Meet Backhouse Prospects of a great meeting at Dunedin cn 14th January are in store, as V. P. Boot, the Empire Games half-mile champion, who recently visited Nelson, has accepted the Otago Centre's invitation to compete, and thus the public will be afforded the opportunity of seeing in action three of the greatest middle-dis-tance runners in the British Empire, as Boot, Backhouse, and Theo Allen proved they were in that category by their showings in Sydney. Backhouse and Boot, who finished second and third respectively in the mile, both got inside J. E. Lovelock's British Empire Games record for the mile, and it is over this distance that they will meet at Dunedin, while on the first appearance on 4th January Allen will measure strides with Backhouse over the half-mile. Boot is due to leave for Sydney shortly after his appearance in Dunedin in order to compete in the New South Wales championships, so that he should be near top form when he runs here. The tour of the Australian athletes promises to be the highlight of the season locally. The Open Golf Title The winner of the New Zealand open golf championship. Arthur Darcy Locke, was born at Germiston, Transvaal. South Africa, on 20th November. 1917. He won the open and amateur championship of South Africa and was leading amateur in the British open in 1936. He turned professional early this year and his best performance was his success i ll the Irish open championship from a strong field, which included T. H. Cotton. Winners of the open title since the 1919. —E. S. Douglas. 1920. —J. H. Kirkwood. 1921. —E. S. Douglas. 1922. —A. Brooks. 1923. —A. Brooks. 1924. E. J. Moss. 1925. E. M. Macfarlanc. 1926. A. J. Shaw. 1927. —E. J. Moss. 1928. —S. Morpeth. 1929. A. J. Shaw. 1930. —A. J. Shaw. 1931. A. J. Shaw. 1932. A. J. Shaw. 1933. E. J. Moss. 1934 —A. J. Shaw. 1935. A. Murray. 1936. A. J. Shaw. 1937. —J. P. Hornabrook. 1938. A. D. Locke. Women Tennis Players Members of the Australian women’s lawn tennis team passed through Auckland recently on their return to Sydney after making a tour of the Continent. Great B.itain and America which lasted seven months. The team comprised Mrs H. Hopman. Miss Nancy Wynne. Miss Thelma Coyne and Miss Dorothy I Stevenson.

Interviewed on arrival, the team manager, Mr W. H. Walker, of Sydney, said tne trip had proved fairly exciting on account of the travelling involved. The team had played in France, England. Holland, Wales, Germany and the United States, and, although no major titles had been won, the members had done as well as expected. Both Miss Wynne and Miss Coyne were young players—Miss Wynne was 21 and Miss Coyne celebrated hei 20th birthday during the tour—and he had no doubt that the experience would prove most valuable. Their best performances were in the doubles matches and in several tournaments all-Australian finals were contested. A particularly good showing was made in the Surrey championships, where all the members of the British Wightman Cup team competed and where Misses Wynne and Coyne defeated Mrs Hopman and Miss'Stevenson. 6-4. 6-8. 6-4. Mr Walker saw little of the Australian Davis Cup players until both teams competed in California, but he spoke with enthusiasm of the performances ol Hopman in the Pacific Coast, Californian and Pacific South-West championships. Describing Hopman's victory over Budge, and his success, partnered by Schwartz, in >les Vnatches against Budge and Mako and Quist and Bromwich, Mr Walk r said he had never seen him play so well. ”He thrilled the crowds with brilliant. brainy tennis.” he said. "The cabled reports you received in no way exaggerated the merits of his play, which was both an education and an inspiration to witness." Mr Walker said very keen but friendly rivalry had arisen during the tour between the two doubles pairs. Quist and Bromwich and Hopman and Schwartz. Quist and Bromwich had been undefeated in Davis Cup doubles, but Hopman and Schwartz had later won signal victories against them and against Budge and Mako. It was quite probable, he concluded, that the same pairs would be seen in action during the current Australian lawn tennis sea-