BOWLINGS NOTES

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 924, 28 March 1918, Page 21

BOWLINGS NOTES

By Wrong Bias

TTTF, Rink Tourney conducted on the Newtown and Hataitai greens last week, was a great success in every •way except for the "cussedness" of the weather. The thirty-two entries received were 1 divided into eight sections •of four rinks each, four sections on each club's green. Three games of twenty-one heads were played the first •day. ' On the Newtown green Sam Potter's Wellington rink was the only one to through witheut a loss. In Section A, Duff (Newtown) and Martin (Hataitai) each had two. wins, 3>ut, on the conditions, Duff having a larger margin of points over his opponents, in the three games than Martin had, was declared the winner. Similarly in Section D, Dumbell of Khandallah won, and in Section B, Brackenridge (Newtown) and Dillon <I»yall Bay) with two wins each also tied on the margin of points (12 each) so had to play off, Brackenridge. winning, by 17 to 15 after a very keenlyplayed game. The green winner was found on Saturday, when Duff's and Brackenridge's Newtown rinks faced one another in the first round of the semi-finals, and JPotter and Co. met Dumbell's rink. The scoring in the first game was fairly even till the, tenth head was played, on which Braickenridge got a 6 —15 to 6 in bis favour. With two-thirds of the game gone the score was 19 to 8. Duff's men then came to light and Brackenridge' s men going off Duff was able to •equalise, the scores at the end of the 21st head, 20-all! Manning, Duff's two, put .his last bowl on the jack, and al"though there was a yard in which to draw a second shot, none of Bracken- . xidge's rink could do it and so, when Brackenridge; in trying for a dead head, took the shot bowl clean off, he was still one down. The game between Potter and Dumliell was a run-away game for the former, whose men completely outplayed the Khandallah advance guard. The game ended 25 to .10 in favour of the Wellington rink. The final for the green between Potter and Duff was almost as interesting a, game as that betwen Duff and Brackenridge. The game was . a tie, 20-all, "with the last head played. Duff won the extra by two. It must be said that in both their games Duff's rink had the fifth player with them, and especially so in the first game against Brackenxidge. On the Hataitai green Duguid (Kelfcurn*), Spiers (Newtown) and Fountain (Hataitai) won their sections with three wins' and no losses each. Redstone and Taplin (Johnsonville) eacn scored two wins, but the former was declared the winner on margin of points. - The semi-finals played on the green •through the tunnel were between Fountain (Hataitai) and Redstone (Victoria).. The latter's rink started away first and at one stage of the game were in the lead by 14 to 2! But the steady perseverance of the home rink was rewarded and on the last head they ran out the winners by 22 to 21! A late start was made in the Duguid (Kelburn) Spiers (Newtown) game, in which the former rink won by 22 to 12 and in consequence the game for the green winner could not be finished, fountain and Co. 20, were 9 up on Duguid when play ceased for the day with five heads to go. The game finished Fountain 27, Duguid 17. The final between Duff (Newtown) and Fountain will be played on the Newtown Club's green at a later date. In a friendly match between Karori and Newtown on Saturday the for,mer •club got home in both rinks away and lost one at home and tied in the other: In his first appearance as skip in an inter-club match Levistam had the misfortune to bump up against as strong a skip as Watty Cooper of Karori. For 13 heads neither side could get away, t>-all, but from then on Levistam couldn't score, and Cooper won, 22-9. •"Selector" Bedell, of Newtown, bit the -dust to Arnold Henderson, 23-17, after

being under the whip right through the game. Out at Karon, playing against T. Spiers, by scoring 9 on the last four heads, the Bobbins, of Newtown, won by 21 to 20. Tom Powell's rink tied with F. Spiers's, 14-all, so Newtown was 18 down on the day. Not being satisfied with the result of his game with Jack Brackenridge for the Diamond Buckles on the Saturday before, Tom Ballinger again challenged the holders and again went out and this time by more points than before. Tom will surely be satisfied now that he can't win this season. W. C. Read, Downey, Syd Underwood, and Jack Brackenridge (skip) are the only players going to the Palmerston Easter Tournament from the Newtown Club. On Saturday at Thorndon there was a full green—.a goodly sight to a bowler. The semi-final champion rink game was played between Hogben and Eoaaldson's teams, and finished: Smith, A. Murdoch, Gamble, Hogben (skip), 20; Stuart, Nimmo, Spencer, Ronaldson (skip), 19. On the last head it was 19-all. Ronaldsen drew a beauty, between the kitty and the lying bowl. Hogben sent up a fast one, scattering the front bowls and wicking out the shot, leaving Hogben lying one. The winners have to meet Wilson's team next Saturday week. Two rinks were occupied by members of Masonic lodges and they seemed to be having a very happy time. One lodge won by a very small margin. A team represented Thorndon at the Hutt combine, but came back home minus the skip and very down.