FIRST-CLASS BOWLERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20725, 19 November 1930, Page 18

FIRST-CLASS BOWLERS.

ACCURACY IS MOST VfTAL. I TRAILING AND FIRING SHOTS. COOD SKIP BUILDS SOUNDLY.

n? .TACK o'CRKEN.

What makes t.h« first-class howler? First., accuracy in the draw t.r> the jack. I That is vital. Good howling, however, is rant entirely a matter of drawing. The fascination of the game is in the wide choice of shots that the expert player has. The way is never blocked for him. I And, because he can vary his methods, be can bring strategy to bear. Take a typical head in a smile-handed gamf'. Yonr adversary has both woods lying: near the jack, but not so near as /'to make your situation hopeless. You lave delivered one wood, which is lying • yard or so ahove the jack, and somewhat to the right. A good drawing •hot will certainly not he wasted. but it ia not the perfect shot in the situation. Many players would consider using a firing shot. "The strike," however, is often a policy of despair—especially at. guch a time a* this, where the advantage cf the adversary is not so great that there ia nothing else left to be done. The correct strategy is a backhand trailing iholi, to carry the jack away from the adversary's wood, and to yonr own hack . bowl. I, Trailing shots, played to " rest" the •jack oh to another bowl, are among the , prettiest in the game. They are as useI fnl in the rink game a-s in single-handed play—in fact, more useful, for if the adversaries make the tactical error of allowing the skip to group woods behind the Jack a single trailing shot, at the right moment can change the whole end. Calculated Conclusion. A firing shot can do the same, for that I matter, but where firing shota must 'always be "chancy," a trailing shot can hn the minutely calculated conclusion to i» well-planned head. Where pLayers can trail well the less artistic sinking shot is not so rnnch nsed. Judgment of the rnn of the green is highly important in trailing, for the jack I must be carried by one wood to the other wood. Merely to knock the jack in the ' right direction is not so effective. Strangely enough, in a rink of four it is quite frequently the second player who is called upon to bring a trailing shot | into pfay- If the leader's wood has not quite made the position that is wanted th» second player may be asked to rest ' the jack in relation to it That is why a player should stndy trailing shots as soon as he has acquired some proficiency in drawing to the jack. The player whose ambition it is to skip ■ rink must b« a master of the trailing shot, and a shrewd judge of the time {then to use it. A skip, having no one o say him nay, ts tempted to prefer the firing shot. An cmlneky firing shot, however, may give away more than a few j point#, and, as I have said, there must be an element? of Iftck in firing. f ' Excessive firing. Excessive firing s often a clear sign that the end has not been wel! built<jp. That may be the fault of the adversaries. They may have gone " jack / mad,'' and piled all their woods on to ih« jack with no thought of what the effect of a smite from the opposing skip jhrghl be. Or it may be the fault of the skip for allowing himsell! to be tiafc-manouvred by the opponents to the point where he is compelled to take the gamble of a shot that may or may not urin him points, A good skip builds soundly, rather / than spectacularly. He makes certain that there ia not going to be a "hatTo!" of points either way. In preventing tbe adversaries from piling np a /score, however, or in building the end to the advantage of his own side, he /will .try to leave room for a final shot that will settle the issue most definitely /in hit favour. And that final shot is likely to be a trailing shot to a wellfeathered nest. Men who have been playing the game for some years, and who seem to make little progress, should ask, "Am I too haphazard in my methods ?" At, times, the temptation to deliver the wood purely at a venture—hoping for the besf u rather 'than seeing any "leal reason why the best sihonld come—ia very strong. The weed for visualising the intended path of the bowl is stressed. If a more diffi-cult-feat than a plain attempt to draw to the jack is essayed, it becomes all (he /more necessary to know exactly what you intend to do, and how you will do it.