BOWLING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 49, 3 April 1914, Page 2

BOWLING.

NOTES ON THE GAME. There is practically no evening play now,.and. the end of the season is well in sight. With the passing of the Easter Tournament will come the closing of the greens, and the preparations for top-dressing. CHAMPION-OF-CHAMPION RINKS. Those who saw the semi-finals and final of the chanipion-of-champion rinks saw good play, with occasional weak spots. The form of the players varied very much indeed, from brilliant to poor. lii the semi-final the Opawa rinlc (skipped by Walter Spiller) met the Canterbury team (skipped by Rohayne). The scoring was small until well through the game, when Ronayne, with a drive When Opawa were lying two, cut out his own shot and left his opponents five. It was a hard luck shot, as Ronayne's bowl cannoned off a front • bowl and did the .damage. Spiller drew another shot, and made six out of-: the head. It was a very handy score, at that time of the game, with only three or four heads to go. Canterbury tried hard to wipe out the deficiency, and with the last head to go wanted two to win or one to tie. The head produced a remarkable finish. Ail Opawa bowl found the kitty, and lay touching it. Then a Canterbury bowl came up, and also lay touching the kitty. Ronayne was faced with the proposition that he had to shift the bowls to have a chance, as a "tied*" head would have left him still one down. His first drive missed, but his second got the head squarely. The results were remarkable. Both the touchers were driven off, but the kitty remained where it was —an apparently impossible happening. Ronayne was left with the shot, but Spiller, with his last bowl, won the game with a very nice drawing shot. Sunnyside had only a fair game with Sydenham, but the Suniiyside four were not playing the fine game which they played the previous Saturday. The heads were usuallyagainst Brackenridge, and he had to keep on playing yard-on shots or driWsi With the last head to go he still had a chance of a four to tie, but he missed carrying the kitty by a fraction of an inch, and Sydenham won by five points. The final was scrappy at the first. The rink was an end one, and was not as keen as the . others, 'tiie players consequently finding some difficulty in getting the strength and the width. On the first rhead a; dispute arose which illustrated championships shpTild be Wateh6d." Opawa were lying four Mice shots near the kitty, and M'Gallan had to shift something to save. He missed with his first bowl, but his ; second took the kitty on a yard or two. It was then found that a Sydenham bowl had been removed from the green by a player in the next rink, under the impression that it was a The Sydenham players contended that the bowl was net burnt, and the weight of testimony from spectators on the bank was in their favour. The only thing to do, therefore, was to allow Opawa to score the one shot which was x undisputed. i The game .proceeded with varying fortunes. Spiller was playing a very fine individual game, and his men were leaving him plenty to do. It was not until the thirteenth head that Sydenham got in front, and there was a tie on the eighteenth—l2 all. In the nineteenth Sydenham got a three, and in the twentieth a two. The last head was a very fine one, M.'Gallan playing two'brilliant drawing shpts, taking the shots from his opponent eaSh part of' the ganije- Hadfield -had played a very sound gamfel as third, getting some excellent shots in when they were wanted. M'Gallan played some beautiful drawing shots, notably oue on the edge of the green wheu an opponent's jack bowl in the ditch was lying shot less than a yard away.' * Sydenham has done exceedingly well in the centre champion of champions competition this year; } A Sydenham player, A. 'Jack, won the Maddison trophy, and thdjelub rink has the champion event. ; That is a good record for any club. 1 1 - , . PENNANT MATCHES. The pennant, matched have' languished somewhat during- the past few week?, probably on,account of the centre champion fixtures. The long-delayed match Christchurch v. Opawa is to be played on Saturday. The present, position is that St.. Albans Club is leading-with four wins and one loss. J, Should- phristcliurch beat Opawa on Saturday,. 'Christehurcli will still have to beat Kaiapoi to tie with St. Albans. .•r' • ', > - THE TOURNAMENT. Entries for the Easter tournament are coming in slowly. .So far. there are 38 rinks, but the secretary (Mr D. E. Wood) hopes that this total will be increased to 48 by the time the entries close to-mor-row. There were 45 rinks' entered last year. The doubles Jiave shown up much better, there being 71, as against.'64 last year. The draw will take place on Monday evening. The following are the Visiting rinks entered up to ;date: — Kia Toa (Timaru) ; P; O'Hagan, R. S. Griffiths, De-vvar, ,and W. Coe (s) ; Dunn, Wilson, J. W. Soutar, and F. 11. •Kissel (s). ' * ' Timaru :,W. Seddon, J. Dewar, , R. Orwin (s). Tcmuka: Scrimshaw, Bilton, M'lnnes, T. Edwards ;(s),. Ashburton: Robi-lliard, W. Lane, T. Clark, A. Lane (S) ; Pi~"Cookson, H. C. Piercy, S. Madden, F. Holley (s). UNITED CLUB. In the President's Doubles the filial now lies betweep M'Cullough and Davis and Woolf and Jamieson, the former pair having beaten Mercer and Stark this week. In the Handicap Singles Christie lias won the A section, Phillips and Braekenbridge are equal in the B section with 4 wins and 1 loss; in the C section Woolf has 5 wins, Thompson 4, and Stark has won the D section. If winners are not fouhd foi*. the B and C