BOWLING.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1924, Page 11

BOWLING.

_ THE CENTRE MATCHES.

f LAY IN SOUTHERLY GALE (By ‘-Toucher.’’) Saturday’s games were played during a heavy southerly gale, and it was a pity that Centre fixtures ’had to be played in such boisterous weather. Anyhow bowlers were pleased at the opportunity of a game,, for on the previous two Saturdays they were denied a game owing to rain. In the Northern Division the second round of the competition was entered upon, New Plymouth meeting West End, while Fitzroy had teams in against Waitara and Vogeltown, There is no doubt, whatever, that the gale made play very uncertain, especially on greens open to the full force of the wind, and as a result peculiar scoring at times took place. I will endeavotrr to give an outline of the various games. WEST END'S FIRST DEFEAT. New Plymouth and West End met in a home and home match, and as a result the former club came out victorious. This is West End’s first defeat this season, and these two clubs are now level for the honours. Had West End won, they would practically have annexed the Northern Division laurels, as they would have been two wins ahead of New Plymouth with three games to play. The competition, as the result of Saturday’s game, makes the contest interesting, so far as these two clubs are concerned. On Saturday West End were 21 points up on the New Plymouth green (190 to 169), but were 36 points down on their home green (170 to 206), and thus lost by 15 points. On the New Plymouth green Humphries met Washer. The West End skip got in first, 7 to 0 on three heads. Then Washer got moving, and was 11 to 7 on the Bth head, leading by 17 to 10 on the 13th head. Humphries gathered in a 7 on the next head, making matters even. On the 18th head Washer was 23-22, and then he stopped scoring while his opponent rattled up the scores, which read 34-24 in Humphries’ favour on the final head.

Potter and Lomas were 4 all on the ‘sth head, but on reaching the 13th head Potter was 16 to 9. Lomas put up a stern chase and drew level, 24 all, on the 24th head. On the final head Potter gathered in a 7, and won by that margin. F. J. Hill scored a single on the first head against Nasmith, and there he stayed till his opponent had scored 13 when the Sth head was played. On the 14th head Nasmith was 11 points up, but a five to Hill, followed by three singles, improved Hill’s position, and on the 20th head he drew level—lB all. On the 22nd head the scores were 19 all. Nasmith then got in a 2 and 1, to which Hill replied with 3 on the final head and the game ended in a draw. Beal had the whip hand of Horton right throughout, leading by 16 to 7 on the 10th head, 30 to 15 on the 18th, and eventually winning by 36 to 24. Morey had -a tough proposition in H. Fookes. He was 6 to 4on the 6th head, but there he stopped for eight heads while his opponents reached the score including a seven. On the remaining eleven heads Fookes scored a four, a two and three singles, while Morey gathered in as many points as he was able. Fookes ultimately won by 27 to 17. Lobb and Drake had a clinking good “go.” The scores were 8 all on th > 7th head, 10 all on the 10th, 1.5 all on tie 16th, and 19 all on the 23rd. On the 24th Drake got one. In the final head Drake drew the shot, but Lobb with a (beautiful bowl trailed the jack for four and won by three points. The game "bet ween Medley and J. R. Hill was also very close. Hill opened with a 5, but when the 12th head was reached the board read 14 all. On the 17th head the teams were level with 19 all, and on the 23rd head honours were again easy with 2-5 all. On the remaining two heads Hill got in a one and a two. and won by three points.

The majority of the games on the West End green were close, but two runaway victories by New Plymouth rinks decided the issue. New Plymouth won in five out of the eight rinks engaged. 'McLeod and Oliver had a close contest. McLeod led by 14 to 5 on the 9th head, but Oliver, securing a 6 and a 4. drew level, 15 all,'on the 12th head. Then the West End skip got the lead, and on the 16th head led by 24 to 18. McLeod, however, drew level on the 20th head, 24 all. Again, on the 24th head, the teams were level with 28 apiece, but in the final head Oliver was enabled to score the point necessary to win.

The game between Morey and Hurlstone provided another close finish. Ilurlstone led on the 9th head by 11 to 3. and thereafter Morey pur up a stern chase, drawing level with his opponent (17 all) on the 23rd head. On the last two heads, however, Ilurlstone got in two singles and won by that margin.

Up to the I.sth head Billing had undoubtedly the best of the game against A. K. Smart, when he led by 19 to 8. In! the remaining ten heads Billing scored but twice whfle Smart rattled on the points, including a five. When the last head was played Billing was still one point to the good, the score being 24 to 23.

•J. D. Sole had not a "look in” against Higgs. The latter piled On the points, being 19 to 3 on the 11th head, 23 to 12 on the 19th, and finished 17 points in front.

Honeyfield got going early against Johnson, being 10 to 2 on the 7th head. Then the New Plymouth skip began to score and drew level, 12 all on the 15th head. On the 18th head they were 14 all, and on the 23rd head 19 all. On the 24th Honeyfield scored a single, but Johnson, by scoring two on the last head, won by a ppint. H. Smart rattled up the points against Lee in the early stages, being 14 to 2 on the Sth head, and 23 to 10 on the 16th head. On the remaining nine heads Smart scored once only, while Lee, going for every point, was but one down when the last head was played: 26-2.5 was the score.

R. Ford led by 14 to 6 on the I'lth head against F. Newell, and on the 16th head was 23 to 10. Then Newell came at his opponent and when the last head was reached was .but one down. On the final head, however, Ford eecured two, and won by three pointe. Woollett had a runaway victory in his game against F. D. Newell, winning easily at the finish by 18 points. VOGELTOWN SCORES A WIN.

To the surprise of most bowlers Vogehown easily defeated Fitzroy by I<S2 points to 145, * margin of 37 points.

Every credit must be given the Vogeltown players, for though it is their first win thia season, they have given some of the town clubs a good run and even tied with New Plymouth some weeks ago, being defeated in the extra head. On Saturday they won in six out of the seven rinks engaged, Dickson being the only unsuccessful skip, Bennett beating him by 9 points. Wigley finished 1 point in front of Jury, Robertson beat Lister by 14 points, Hooker defeated Hammond by 16 points with a two-to-one score, Edgecombe had o points to the good against Okey, Evans had 3 points •to spare against Allen, while Townsley vanquished McNeill by 7 points. This defeat puts Fitzroy out of the running for the honours in the Northern Division. WAITARA’S NARROW DEFEAT. Seven rinks from \Witara journeyed to town and played Fitzroy on the latter’s green. They almost scored a win. so narrow was the margin. Fitzroy scored 165 points to Waitara’s 164. Fitzroy won in three out of the seven rinks, and it was Al/bott’s defeat of Fox by 13 points that gave Fitzroy the honours. Evidently the Waitara skip did not take to heart the advice tendered last week to skips in contests of this nature. The other Fitzroy skips to win were Beadle and Dingle, both of whom won by a margin of two points from L. Sampson and Young respectively. For Waitara Telfar beat Ken nell by .5 points, Fuller was 4 points uj> on Smith, and S. George 7 points ahead of Williams. Murray and Nosworthy played a drawn game.

POSITION OF CLUBS. The position of the various eluhs in the Northern Division now stands as

PLAY IN THE SOUTHERN DIVISION. I have to record the third tie in Centre matches this season, the most recent being that when Patea and Hawera B met on Saturday in the Southern Division. An extra head had to be played, and this was won by Patea by 1 .point. Each club won in two rinks. For Patea, Elliott beat R. Hicks 'by 2 points, and Christiansen beat Foy byi 10 points, while for Hawera Hulbert and O’Gorman were the successful skips, the former beating Patersbn by 1 point, while CGorman beat Williams by 10 points.

A NOVEL COMPETITION. A cup has been given by Mr. Stan. •Smith to the Fitzroy Club for a somewhat novel competition, which will be continuous. The whole of the members of the club have been arranged in positions as leads, seconds, thirds and skips las the case may be. From these rinks may be made up to challenge the- holders of the ci’ip at any time on two days’ notice, but members competing must play in the position allotted to them. This is somewhat on the lines of a challenge comlpetition. held by the Gie'borne Clu’b, where the inemibers are 1 divided into star and non-star ■players, wherein each challenge rink muet comprise at least two non-star players. These games are generally a source of great enjoy-, inent and tend to encourage the less proficient players.

Points Pl. W. L. For. Ag. New Plymouth 5 4 1 1 :U>4 1269 West End 6 4 1 1361 1276 Fitzroy <> 2 4 1218 1297 \\ aitara 05 3 723 736 Vogel'town ... 5 1 4 7 83 821