NOTES ON THE PLAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2707, 31 January 1906, Page 32

NOTES ON THE PLAY.

Bx Risksb.

« "When the rinks play was resumed at the Dunedin Green, the five teams having );hree, wins to their credit meeting one -another 'and endeavouring to come up to, fcock's mark (four wins). R. Taylor (Invereargill) met J. Lock. Moult and faeron, with three wins each, began a bajttle for another step on the ladder, in che hope that Lock would come back, and "A.. Young (Green Islaud) took on Kaituna Bolts. The buster that was blowing had .% deal to do with the playing, and instead of bowls finishing at the desired spot, or *vithin a few inches of it, the wind simply " mixed " matters, and when a bowl ceased its career the player "didn't know" what was wrong. However, all were playing a steady, heady game. In the game RTaylor v. J. Lock, the former's team got ■away 'early, and, keeping on the go, had scored 8 as the sixth head was commenced. Lock's turn came, but his team was unable to keep Taylor's score down, tnough *here was only 1 point difference at the fourteenth end— l4 — 13. Taylor in the next two ends notched a single and a 2—2 — 17-13. Taylor then had to *meet E. Moult, and again Southland got away with the lead. Wellington equalised matters at the fifth end. Then Southland steadily increased their score, and after a particularly interesting game, in which both teams gave excellent exhibitions of bowling, Southland qualified for the semi-final. > It was blowing a buster at Roslyn, and this, added to the bare green, made Dlay. ■with any certainty of being within 3ft of the' jack, a matter of great difficulty. On No. 7 rink especially was this noticeable, the Canterbury and R&ngiora skippers— Baidow and Cresswell— begging of their filayers to ''take more green.'' To take Oft of green was simply of no use. aud 15ft was the general rule. In my opinion, the -winners of the 1906 rinks have go far been confined to Rcslyn Green — George Prince and Co. I cannot, after watching closely, see anything to beat the Newtown representatives. Not only Prince, but the whole of his team are playing an almost faultless game, and the Newtown skipper, notwithstanding that his leg is troubling him, is playing a grand game. At the start of this game Kaituna got the lead, and at the ninth head had a few points to ( their favour. Then Prince's Wen rallied, and gave their captain a Dhance to improve matters, Payne in the pieantime resorting to driving;, and his last bowl cut out Newtown. Kaituna getting he best of the end. At the thirteenth lead, when Newtown were lying 3. Roberts played a bit strong-, trailed, and titty lay amongst Kaituna's bowls, but. "toith his next retrieved the position and javed a couple. Smith was ecjual to the pecasion, and cut out thJp Xewtown bowl. Kaituna securing a single. Give-and-take play ensued for a couple of ends, and jvhen the fourteenth end had been completed the scores were : Kaituna. 13 : New)own, 12. Another grandly-played end, >nd with 2 down and t"ie final end to aro, )n skips crossing, Newtown lav 3. Payne )ould see nothing else for it but to drive, (vhicb he did, with accurate judgment, and yhen Prince played his first bowl he was to come up strongly, his object »ping to spring tho jack. This he did *ith advantage, and lay 3, the jack rolling .about 4fi and ending its career amongst Newtown bowls., . Payne failed to shift it. and - Prince, taking the chances, rolled his second »owl up the green, and put in another, tett.intr 4 out of the end. It was a game /hat for consistent play on the part of Members of two teams would be hard to peat, and while it may be said that Kailuna. were somewhat unlucky, the New|own team really played a sterling game, Ind scored a wcll-faught victory. Lock v. Wilson. — A win for Roslyn, Gore lever beinsr able to get on the way. T pas surprised to find the Gore team fall /way in the manner they did, and their Irery ordinary play" had the effect of eausng Tom Lock to " play a long way below lis best ; lie did not show any of the >rilliance all bowfers know he is capable of. At the ninth" end Roslyn had registered 14 to Gore's 7. Every member of Wilson's team Dlayed a telling game, and Matheson's leading was all that could be wished for. the veteran seldom failing to get within reasonable distance of the iaek. Gore ultimately succumbed, and Roslvn became eligible to conte a <^ the sectional tio —Hancock, Prince, and Vv ilson,— and those ff&tnes were played on Kaituna during the tefternoon. At Kaituna In the fifth round Keast "'(Caledonian) undertook to lower the colours ' of Ham (North- End), but the southerners were never extended, and got home rather -easily— l7— ll. Bentley's team then met Ham and company. A ■ gra'ridly-fought game was the result, and the issue remained in doubt right up to £he last end. whore, Ham lyine. Bentley with his last bowl endeavoured to draw, and failed. Had_ he attempted to burn the end the result xniehb have Jjeen profitable to Dunorlin. The last bowl from the Dunedin skinner was gtronpr enough to have " damaeed North End. but was wide. Invercargill thus won their section. For the Ros'.vn sectional ties— I-T-inooc-k (St. Cair) v. Prince (Newtown), Wilsoa '

(Roslyn) a bye — the three teams journeyed to Kaituna in the afternoon to play to a finality, one hour being allowed to decide which rink should qualify for the semifinal. For the first few ends Hancock's men appeared to hold their opponents and made the ends difficult for Prince, while Hancock himself was equal to anything asked of him, and at the third head was sto Newtown's nil. In the next end Pope and Roberts alternately lay and cut out one another, and when skips crossed Hancock lay 1. Strong bowls on the part of the skip 3 resulted in Prince getting 2 out of the end. For the succeeding couple of heads Newtown scored, and the scores were : St. Clair 5, Kawtown 4. Splendid driving and drawing by Roberts and Prince gained another brace for Newtown. From thence onwards Prince gradually forged along- and eventually won, the St. Clair team being unable to stop the victorious Newtown combination. Prince then met Wilson (Roslyn). Roslyn got 2 at the first head, but the succeeding end gave Prince 5, Wilson failing to get both his bowls up. In the next end the first Newton bowls were wide of the mark, and Prince was left to tackle an end where his opponents were lying 5. Failing with his first, he trailed with his second bowl — a remarkably fine piece of play, — and Roslyn only got a single. Thenceforward it was plain sailing for Newtown. and they ran out comfortably. Ham (North End) v. M'Donald (Green Island). — For the first four ends in the game to decide which rink should contest the serai-final, M'Donald got successive singles, and, Ham/ lying, the Green Island skipper trailed and lay 3, but Ham saved and Wallace took the mat, and the heads successively resulted in favour of North End. Green Island team, however, had retained their form, and time after time they piled in their bowls, and left such difficult and sometimes scarcely possible openings that North End found their work cut out to get in an occasional ''saver."' But M'Donald showed rare form, and Ham did not appear to be in such " buckle" as on the previous days, while Wallace (North End) also was not so certain of his bowls. Taking the Green Island team as a whole, they showed much better bowling form than any other combination taking part in the tournament. Every shot was watched with great interest by a large crowd of bowlers and others, and every lelling bowl was loudly applauded. After the game had reached the half-way stage it was evident that unless some unforseen event happened Green Island would succeed in knocking out the great Invercargill team, and they ultimately succeeded in getting so far ahead of their opponents that Green Island only had to be " up" to win. At St. Kilda in the fifth round Waimato (W. Coltman) met Kaitangata (Jas. Hislop), and a fairly even game resulted. It may be said that Kaitangata's position in the rinks contest was a surprise, but there is no doubt that the weather has upset the calculations of many. Still, the Kaitangata team played a fine game, and in beating Wairnate put in a good performance. Kailangata then pulled out to try conclusions with Lawrence (H. L. Darton). and to the ordinary bowler Darton's team would appear to have a big hold over Kaitangata, but the reverse proved to be the case, and. after a small-scoring game, Kaitangata became the representative to contest the semi-final. Waimate (W r . Coltman) met Dunedin (J. Johnson) in the sixth round, but Waimate were stayers, and although Johnson got away with a substantial lead, Coll man and company hit out, at the tail end, and Dunedin being unable to stem the tide, were rather easily beaten in the end. Caledonian Green played lively in the caily part of the day. Wellington (Hamilton; v. W. Gee (Canterbury): Very easy \ktoiy for Wellington, ','atircrbury. a 'ter getting in a 4- at the fourth <?nd. failing to hold ihe opposition. W. M'Donald (Green Island) v. »S. Manning (Chrisiehurch) : At the 'ninth head scores were equal ; then Christchtu'ch went ahead till, at the twel£<fi end. they were 4 up. Green Island rallied, and, holding the northern team, got in 3, 1, 1. 3. and the game finished: Green Inland, 15; C'hri«tchureh. 11. Green Island then met Wellington (N. Bell), but the latter wore uuable to hold thp suburbanites, and M Donald and Co. thus qualified to meet Ham, and decide which of the two teams I North End and Green Island) should contest the semi-final. — Rixks— Semi-fixal. — Kailangata (Hislop) v. M'Dcnald (Green Island). — Early in the game Kaitang;aia demonstrated their ability to give the victorious Green Island team a good fight, and were even with their opponents at the conclusicn of four heads. The Kaitangata team started off steadily, while the Green Island men .seemed to have lost their accurateness of an hour previous. Hislop was particularly deadly, and every bowl had a mark. When the ninth head had closed Kaitangata. were 13 to Green Island's 4. Green Island then put in a fine end, and. when skippers undertook to improve or otherwise, were lying 5 ; but Hislop was imperturable, and came •out of the ordeal with 1 to the good, after playing two of the most brilliant bowls of the meeting. He well deserved the hand-clappingr which followed. Kaitangata continued to make headway, and Green Island in the end had to give way to the representatives oi the country club, who, it must be said, pla3 i ed a really brilliant game. R. Taylor (Southland) v. G. E. Prince (Newtown). — This was probably one of the greatest games ever seen on any of the Dunedin greens. Although it was commenced late in the evening many of those who had witnessed the afternoon's play waited to see the result of the game between the two teams enumerated above. It was confidently expected that the game would be a well-contested one, and so it turned out. Possibly the best way to gi\e bowlers at a distance 'onw idea of the score it will be advisable to publish the caul, which is as follows: —

It will be seen from tfcp above that no chances could be taken on either fide, aud the members of both teams, knowing this, endeavoured to make every bowl count. Excepting in one instance — nearing the end of the game — vrhop Newtown badly wanted a bowl within a foot of kitty, no bowls were wasted. Wiley, mistaking a sign from Prince drove, and was wide. But Roberts, who had many times saved the end throughout the day. and was really Prince's Mascot, burnt the end, and Newtown got another life. Taylor's men. as well, gave their skip little anxiety. It is worthy of mention that both Taylor and Prince showed excellent form, and. while Prince drew and wrested with remarkable pieeision. Taylor also was resourceful, " and when, at the sixteenth end, lying 1 and requiring 2 to tie, he played back-hand on to a bowl slightly in front and gained his object, the spectators loudly applauded his great effort. It was perhaps a bowl in a thousand, and. under the circumstances, it was a wonderful performance. It is unnecessary to enumerate the doing 3 of the various members of the rinks, but if I say that, with few exceptions, the bowls sent down were well played. As will be seen from the. table above an extra head had to be played, and this resulted in Newtown seeming 2. It was a bad end for Taylor owing to the fact that, tnough he had back bowls, to spring the jack and score was problematical. In the play-off at Dunedin green between Moult and R. Taylor to decide the section winner the time limit accounts for the small score on both s»ides. for Moult burnt three ends. At the last end lay when skips changed, and Moult improved, but Taylor was on the kitty aft-er drawing a beautiful shot. Moult drove and lay, and again Tayk>r drew and won. ' A noteworthy feature in the Doubles was the prominence of C. J. Wood and H. Gunthorp. On the first day they won their five games, and ve=>torday hed the misfortune to run against Barnett and Davis, one of the strongest pairs seen out. However, Wood and Gunthorp put vrp a more than creditable performance in running such a gieat player as Barnett undoubtedly JS to a clo*? finish, only beinor beaten by 8 couple of ngiuts. The defeated pair have only been bowling for two seasons.

Ist end 2nd end 3r'l end 4th end sth rad 6th end 7th end Bth *nd 9th end LOth end Llth end L2th end 13th end [4th end .oth enci L6th end L7th end • * • • Taylor '.' 1 1 3 1 o \\ 6 1 ".'. 2 2 • • Pi nice, o 4 1 a i 4 2 2