BOWLING

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8609, 20 December 1913, Page 11

BOWLING

(Notes by “Skip.”) Tile heavy rain which has been experienced during the week has made tho greens almost unplayable, and, at tho time of writing it is doubtful whether tho fourth round of the pennants will lie played this week. On Tuesday night tho Wellington Club’s lower green looked like a pond, hardly a blade of grass to be seen, and it was remarked by one or two of tho old members of that club that they nover remembered seeing anything like it before. The majority of bowlers aro now looking forward to tho Centre tournament, which take splaco on January Ist, 2nd, and 3rd. Altogether there are sixty-four rinks entered, which means a total of 256 bowlers. Providing the weather is favourable o most enjoyable timo, should bo spent on tho. various greens.' On Tuesday' night the "draw took place, ond now tho. arrangements are well in hand. The greens to be played on are "Wellington, Kelburno, Thorndon, Newtown, and Victoria. Tho Australian bowlers have now definitely decided to leave Sydney for Auckland on January 21st. Arrangements have been made for them to play in Auckland, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. They aro expected to be in Wellington about _ February 9th, and arrangements will he made to suitably entertain them. Several of the clubs are busy on off days, in playing rink games to find out which rink_ will represent their respective club in the championship, which will bo played on the Wellington green on March 11th. Last week the Johnsonvillo Club played a game, when Turner (s) beat Manson (s) by 21 points to 15, which came os a bit of a surprise to the latter’s supporters. In a singles game Petrie, of tho same clubj beat Ferguson by 20 to 10. T\he Kelburno Club are busy just now in their pairs competition, whicn has excited considerable interest in the club. Tho leading skips are Marquis, with three wins to his credit, and McRobie, with three wins and a loss. The honours for leading aro divided between Hoadowcroft and Hutchings. The Te Hiwi Club have also played several "rounds in their pairs competition, and at the present time the sections are at a very interesting stage. It would be a very hard matter to try to name tho winner amongst those entered, but at the present time Houlds’worth, as lead, and Benzie, skip, have the most wins to their credit. At the present tim6 several bowlers are talking seriously about the Dominion tournament, which takes place in Dunedin early in January. In all probability there will bo a goodly entry from Wellington clubs. The Island Bay Club has already made up two rinks, and Thorndon, Wellington and Newtown are to be represented. --From Newtown, it is understood that exchampion W. Wylie has made up a strong rink, having as his No. 3 George Prince, also several times an ex-champion. Last week the Otaki Club had as visitors a couple of rinks from Wellington but, unfortunately, the weather conditions were against b ?^ er ®v. and tho city representatives had to content themselves w,th ,°“® Cl ßowk;rs in jX that has been in evidence. Both Hutt and Petono greens are in the uink of condition. Petono is the fositer of the two, and is P. ro^: of tho best playing greens in the Wei lington province. Bain has prevented the dubs from netting off their club games. At Butt pfog?JL has been made with the singles ■competition for the Wilford cup, and the semi-final stage has been reached. Jie-frs Hill, Birch, Parker, Treve L hick, Nicholson, and Bollard are the w'-miere of the respective sections, and in tno semi-final Nicholson deteated Bitch by 22 to 13. , In tho open pairs Davidson and Barlow beat Parker and Johnston, Ai-20; and T. C. Dawson and Treadwell. 23—13, the latter beating Parker and Johnston, ea —l 9 Colo and Nicholson bea., Hogarth and Dawson 19—9, and Birch and Morris beat Seymour and Yates 22 21, and Hodgins and, Cudby 23—19. In the club pairs competition Davidson ond Jones beat Hogarth and Shearer •x s 15 and Seymour and Holland 20—15 , Simpson and Cudby beat Upton and Yates 19—17, and Norris and Barlow beat Hill and Bishwopth 10—13. Skipping a te&m against Thorndon T. B-. Jones was in form, and was well supported by lids team. C. Jones, playing for Thorndon, won one or two heads against O. Stevens by lucky shots. On one occasion a shot well out on the wing was struck and rolled into shot, thus doing Stevens out of several. Tho decision of the Petone match selection committee to give other than the club’s recognised skips a chance at skipping teams in friendly matches is a good one. Petono has a considerable number of good bowlers in their ranks this season, and when in form several of the rinks will take a lot of beating.