FOURS CONTEST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26982, 18 January 1949, Page 6

FOURS CONTEST

BOWLS TOURNAMENT

CHAMPION DEFEATED

DAY OF HIGH SCORING

PA AUCKLAND, Jan. 17 The defeat of the 1948 champions, Macklow, Livingstone, Robertson and Mingins (Onehunga) by a Mangere rink skipped by Burndred was the outstanding feature of the first day of section play in the Fours event of the New Zealand Bowling Association's annual championship tournament. Mingins went down by 17 —22 after leading 17 —13 with five ends to play. Mingins was the only member of the team to show any confidence in drawing shots, but his ability was well matched by that of Burndred who had the advantage of generally holding the shot when he sent down his first bowl. Mingins won his first game against McKeitch (Mount Albert) comfortably. The weather conditions were ideal for play to-day. There was bright sunshine and slightly holding greens but some rinks in more exposed positions were a little affected by cross winds. The winning skip in 1944, Spearman (Sydenham) had two wins but was fully extended in the second game by Harrington (Greytown). The Christchurch man scored 6’s , on both the twenty-third and twenty-fourth ends to win after the twenty-fifth end by only two points. North, a young skip from the Papatoetoe club, scored an unusual win over the former champion Pairs skip, Exelby TFrankton Junction), by a single point after two extra ends. Exelby was lying shot on the twenty-seventh end but North picked up the jack with his final bowl and carried it into the ditch to notch the deciding point. The biggest win of the day was scored by Mannix (Waihi) over Greig (Epsom) in a 41 —7 victory. Several teams passed the 40 mark and in some matches over 65 points were scored by the two teams. The winner of the Singles and skip of the champion Four in 1939 W. C. Franks (Balmoral), had two runaway wins with a four containing his, two sons. Scores in Franks's favour were 44 —7 and 32—8. Pirret (Tuakau), who has reached the final in the Singles with his two lives intact, was unbeaten but stretched to the limit by Roper (Ponsonby) to win 22—21. Pirret, whose four includes his father, scored the winning point with the last bowl of the match. He had a somewhat easier passage in his second match, against Walker (Remuera), brother of the ,late Professor Maxwell Walker, one of the greatest players in New Zealand bowling history. One of the strongest fours in the tournament, skipped by Benson (Balmoral), suffered a surprise defeat by 25 —26 at the hands of McCune (Rawhiti). Georgeson (Kensington, Whangarei) scored two wins in section 16, continuing one of the most unusual runs of success scored in the tournament so far. Jenkin (Carlton), at Mount Eden, scored a sensational win over Ayson (Christchurch) by 38—25 after being down o—l 6 at the end of the tenth head. The Tolaga Bay combination, the three Crowley brothers, winners of the 1947 title, scored two wins comfortably, and Skoglund (Otahuhu), one of the last remaining two-lifers in the Singles before the swift defeats of Saturday, also came through unbeaten. Engelbretsen (Heretaunga), skip of the champion four in 1945, was untroubled to gain two wins. Section play will be continued for the next three days with two games each day. Post-section play is expected to commence on Friday.