NOTES ON PLAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22004, 10 January 1935, Page 12

NOTES ON PLAY

RAIN AFFECTS GREENS DRAWING MUCH ASTRAY PILFCINGTON PERFORMS WELL WYATT'S BRILLIANT LEADING The first game yesterday commenced with greens holding after rain during the previous night. A strong breeze quickly dried the surface and made conditions extremely tricky for the contestants. Many noted leads, who were? regarded as the finest exponents of the drawing department, looked hopelessly astray under the awkward conditions. This was particularly noticeable in the drawings of Loveridge, 1?. A. Pilkington's load. His work in this direction contrasted very vividly with that of four years ago, when he simply smothered the jack with bowls in the final game, head after head. Nevertheless, the Hamilton skip was ready for the emergency and, instead of playing the green, ho dexterously played the bowls, that is, he worked his partner's short bowls close to the jack. It was, indeed, clever handling of difficult conditions and the veteran champion of many tourneys showed his brilliance as a bowler.

In the first game against Maher and Maher, of Auckland, tho champion pair of four years ago had an easy victory. The greens were holding at this time and Loveridge drew excellently. The game ended 16—8 in the Hamilton men's favour.

'J'ho next game showed Pilkington at his best as Wvatfc and Bilkey, of Pukekolie, were drawing to perfection. The leading of Wvatt was brilliant. Head after head the Hamilton skip was faced with nhots down on the change-over, but he was not to be denied the ultimate counters. He retrieved successive heads by drawing the shot dead to the jack, pressing a shot through, or cutting a shot bowl out for a counter. Jn this game Pilkington burned eight heads Much Driving In the game against Hunt and Higginbotham, of Ponsonby, expected to be a hard tussle, Loveridge .jvas very patchy in drawing to the jack. Pilkington repeatedly turned shots into the heads. There was much driving on both sides. It seemed that Higginbotham and Pilkington vied with each other in this respect, and on five successive occasions the jack flew out of the rink. The Hamilton men drew up on the board, 5—2, 16—9, 18—12, and finally 19—12. Mincham and Little (Grey Lynn) did good work. The first game against Hawken, of Hamilton, produced sound bowling by both the Grey Lynn men. In the second game against Livingstone, of Onehunga, tha noted drawing player was not in form and was outclassed by Whittle. In addition to this the Onehunga skip missed six drives. Nevertheless, it was a great game, although the total score read 22 to 14 in favour of the Grey Lynn pair. Kerns and Kerr, Onehunga, started well, both being in great form. They secured margins of 33 to 16 and 19 to 14 in their first two games. Lane and Walker, of Mount Albert, wanted three to win on the last head and got the counters.

Frost ami Hosking, of Carlton, were 1 to 15 against Atkins and Madsen, of Sydenham. They thereafter reversed the play and the final count was 19 to 17. The Carlton pair had scored 18 points while their opponents made 2. It was a remarkable performance, in which tho winners gave a fine exhibition of consistent drawing. Parkhouse Eliminated Hill and Tongue, of Rocky Nook, wanted two shots to win their first game. They lay the shot close to the jack, but. Stone, of Seatoun, forced tho shot off and ran out the winner.

Dee and Dee, Nelson, -put up tho score of 30—22 against Dunningham and Hooper, Epsom. The latter led right up to the 17th head, when the Nelson pair got a five. Thereafter tho brothers piled on the points. Oates and Stewart, Matamata, put up a fine score against Lane and Walker. Both drew splendidly and ran out the winners by 30 to S. The Matamata pair was afterwards beaten by 25 to 5 by Lawrence and Allen, of Remuera.

Kirkpatrick and Fox, Glen Edem started well. They scored 29 to 15 against Haslam. of Rawhiti, and 20 17 against Armstrong, of Pukekohe. O'Gorman and Parkhouse, Wellington, did not begin well. They were beaten by Higginbotham, 26 to 16, and Claridge, of Caledonian, 34 to 13. Parkhouse, the singles champion of 1933, was not happy on the day. He faced head after head shots down. Tn trying to retrieve he was outdrawn. He mixed his game by driving, lost tho draw touch, and was thereby outclassed. On the other hand, when the Wellington pair were shots up, Claridge cut the counters out of the heads. There was an unusual occurrence at the Auckland green yesterday. Robertson, who was playing lead for Kelly, Balmoral, collapsed just before the commencement of play. Kelly had to forfeit his first game in consequence, but a substitute assisted him in bis following games.