SOME NOTES ON THE PLAY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9642, 17 January 1903, Page 4

SOME NOTES ON THE PLAY.

From the Wellington and Palmerston j paner3 we take the lollowing notes of the , play at the bowling tournament : — ' t Gisborne secured an easy win over Auckland, the latter having lost their form of the previous day, while the Gisborne men were playing well under the direction of the veteran Ponsfurd, the score being 11 to 5 on the eleventh head, and the game ending m Gisbome's favor by ten points. Wangamti had a battle royal with Gisborne, the game being close right to the finish, and the play being of a very high order — indeed, all the games on the old green, which was playing splendidly, were well up to tournament form. A game to which the public looked witli especial interest was the PalmerstonGisborne match, which, unfortunately, was drawn to take place on the worst rink on the greens, and consequently the play was not so accurate, but for local reasons it was watched by a larger crowd of spectators ; m fact, it almost monopolised public attention. Additional relish was added to the game by the fact that these clubs are particularly keen rivals, and that on the game really rested the supremacy of the B section. Gisborne started wellj and got 4 m, but Palmerston wiped this deficit off m two heads, and landed themselves m front on the next, and then maintained their lead, which at one time was as high as ten. The erratic nature of the green, however, made every head a great uncertainty, and either side was just as likely to score 6 as 1. a far:t which naturally contributed to the excitement, which was worked up to a high pitch. Every good shot was loudly applauded by the gallery. At the fifteenth head Palmerston had a run of bad luck and Gisborne began to creep up, but some good shots by Drew and Mowlem's consistently good play brought matters right again, and they continued on their unbroken course of victory by 27 to 16. Palroerston is thus the only club that has so fay not suffered a defeat, and yet they liave not met any of the weaker rinks. The Auckland-Palmerston gtime was a surprising and an exciting one. Auckland waltzed off with a big lead, the score being Auckland 10, Palmerston 2. on the tenth head. The Palmerston men were playing badly, and the game looked the greatest certainty m the world for Auckland, as 'at the twelfth head Palmerston were still seven to the bad. Their play then began to improve, and they slowly forged ahead until they passed the Auckland score at the sixteenth head, and Auckland only scored on one head afterwards. The game ended with Palmerston seven points to. the good. The local men, were loudly cheered for the uphill fight they made. The surprise of the seventh round was undoubtedly the defeat of Palmerston by Whataupoko, as it was expected, after the local men had' pulled off the Hastings match m the morning, that they would have no difficulty for the remainder of the seven rounds. The unexpected, however, happened, as it often does m bowls, and while Whataupoko played a magnificent game on a rough and treacherous green, Palmerston never settled down to the long heads and uncertain drawing, and they were behind from the very first head. The match was a very exciting one, because almost every shot altered the state of the game, and whenever Palmerston played a good bowl, some Whataupoko player would come down and cut it out amidst cheers. Palmerston's hopes began to revive_ at the twelfth head, when they got five m, but the improvement was of short duration, and Whataupoko went on scoring to the end, finally winning by 26 to 15. This game has placed Whataupoko on a level with Palmei-ston, so far as losses are concerned, i Kaiti-Pahiatua was a close game. The losers, as m so many other games, rushed away with a good lead, which, however, they could not maintain. Whataupoko recorded their highest score against Carterton, piling up 36 to the Wairarapa team's 6. For the greater part of their game 'm the eighth round Gisborne had a pleasant time with Ponsonby, from whom they ran away m the easiest of fashions. Up to the seventh head Ponsonby had not scored, while Gisborne had . been notching eight. Then the luck changed, until Gisborne got a five m on the eleventh head, and from this time the result was never m question, Gisborne winning by 21 to 14. The closest game of the ninth round, and one of the best contested m the tournament, was that between Dannevirke and Whataupoko, who had inflicted the first defeat on Palmerston. The teams were running neck and neck right up to the nineteenth head, when Whataupoko got a lead of four by a three-score. Dannevirke only succeeded m adding two singles to their total, and the game ended by a majority of two for Whataupoko. It was a hard fought out game throughout, and the bush team stuck pluckily to the Poverty Bay men, who are a great combination. In the Dannevirke-Gisborne match the former showed their true form. The game was characterised by good play on both sides, and some excellent drawing shots were laid. At the twelfth, head the scores were : Dannevirke 12, Gisborne 15. In the next head the former added four to their score, Gisborne responding with two and three m the next two heads. Dannevirke, however, by real good play, scored seven m the next 'five heads, bring■ing their score, up to 23. In the last head Gisborne increased its score by one, the game thus ending m a well-deserved win for the southern men by two points. Whataupoko, who inflicted on Palmerston its only defeat, was beaten by Wanganui by the good margin of nine points. Whataupoko did not get into form till the end of the game, and their success m the final heads availed them nothing. The excellent work of Rodwell ,the Wanganui skip, Vras chiefly responsible for the club's success. , Newmarket put up the big score of 28 against Haiti's 13, the northern men being altogether too good for the veteran Witty's team. New Plymouth-Kaiti was a fairly close game, the teams being only separated by five points at the finish. It was a dingdong go. The Whataupoko-Ponsonby match was another good go. The play vacillated from side to side from the beginning to the end. In the final shot the Whataupoko skip took out the lying shot and gave his side three, and thus won the' game by the narrow margin of one. Gisborne ran Thorndon very close. On the twentieth head Gisborne put m four and wanted two to win. Thorndon were lying one hi the concluding head, but the attempts of the Gisborne skip to dislodge the Thorndon bowl failed, and the game ended m favor of the Thorndon men by three points. Some excellent draws were made by Gisborne, especially those of Gaudin. Considerable interest was taken m the Feilding-Whataupoko game. Feilding led by two m the final head, and the Whataupoko skip, failing badly m an attempt to save his side, Feilding increased its majority to five. • Following were the positions of the leading teams for Mr D. J. Nathan's points medal yesterday morning: — New-

narket, 266; Wellington, 255; Pa.lmcr- < ton, 239; Hastings, 231; Napier, 215; ' ul, 198; Ne-wiown, 193; Feiklng, 189 ; and Whataupoko, 188. The visitors were entertained at a. social j n the Theatre Royal on Thursday night. Mr J. W. Witty and the Hon. J. C;umill ' .vere amongst the speakers, and Messrs SidehoUmn a.nd Mnssey contributed to the nusical programme. The visitors are being mast cordially entertained by the local bowlers, and great satisfaction is expressed at the. treatment they are receiving. The ladies of Palme-reton are most assiduous m their efforts to entertain the wives of the play2vs, and m dispensing afternoon tea at the green. A pleasant feature of the tournament is the almost entire absence of "driving." The players have carefully abstained from abusing this shot m the game, find there is a consequent absence of that "lyddite" which was so objectionable at Auckland Jiree years ago. The question of players using bowls with less than the regulation bias has , cropped up several times during the J course of the tournament ; m fact, a. member of one losing team declared that their opponents' victory was due to their , using "straight" bowls. Mr Mentiplay ' referred to the matter on Thursday even- ! \ ing. He advocated having all tournament' ', bowls tested by Alcocks, who had a ] special table for the purpose. It was most unfair that bowlers should be allowed to play with narrow drawing bowls. Bowlers m Scotland were now using a much narrower bowl, said Mr Mentiplay. Mr G. J. Scott spoke even more plainly. Ffe characterised the using of No. 2 bowls • by some of the bowlers as an infringement nf the game and "disgraceful."