BOWLING NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1934, Page 12

BOWLING NOTES

ON AND OFF THE GREEN SHIELD GAMES ON FAST GREENS. , NEW PLYMOUTH ELIMINATED.

(By

“Running Shot”)

The fixtures for the next round in the Shield and Gilmour Cup competitions are as follows:— Shield. Urenui v. Paritutu at Urenui.. Awakino-v. Paritutu at Awakino. Fire Brigade at Fire Brigade. , Fitzroy v.’ West End, home and home. Waitara v. New Plymouth at Waitara. Gilmour Cup. Paritutu v. Fire Brigade at Fire Brigade. Fitzroy v. West End at West End. Vogeltown v. New Plymouth at New Plymouth. Bowlers. throughout North Taranaki . were favoured with a gloriously fine afternoon for the continuation of the Shield competition on Saturday, and one and all voiced their satisfaction in no uncertain manner. Such phrases as, “What a perfect day for bowls,” “Summer is here at last,” and “There’s no excuse for bad bowling to-day, were heard around the greens, and many players were sorry when the final head was reached. In some cases a friend y / roll up was indulged in to well after 7 o’clock. West End Extended.

Most interest was centred in the match between West End, the leaders, and New Plymouth, and in a 13-rink game the former club had to fight hard to hold its unbeaten record. At the town green six West End teams found the opposition fairly weak, and amassed a. 32-point advantage, only one team being defeated. At the West End green, however, a different complexion was added to the contest, for at the tea adjournment the New Plymouth Club was up 35 points, and it was only by solid play over the last few heads that this margin was reduced to fifteen, leaving West End 17 points up on the grand aggregate. At New Plymouth Coombes (West End) was always in front of Saunders and won comfortably by ten points. He found E. May a valuable third, the combination proving too strong for the loser. The Bruce-R. Ford match resulted in a win for the former by 26-13. Ford commenced well and at afternoon tea led 12-6. The second half of the game saw a big reversal of form, for while Bruce added 20 points Ford could only notch a single on the 21st head. * The Beal-Burgess, Boulton-Moore and G. Sole-Boon matches were all won by West End skips, but in each case the New Plymouth team after being well down staged a good recovery. Sole made play from Boon up to the 19th head and led 29-10. Here Boon stopped the rot, and fighting every inch of the way, scored tvro fours, two threes, a two and a single—l 7 points-to finish only four down. A fine effort. J. Turnbull had his colours furled by H. Smart. The score was 19-27, and in Smart’s total two fives, one on the sixth and another on the twenty-third head, proved the West End skip s downfall. Two skips, Petty and Griffin, noted for their driving ability, met at West End, the latter winning comfortably by nine points after being in a commanding position all the way. Another easy victory was sustained by Higgs over ChristoSel. Higgs was first out from the barrier with a five, and at the 13th head was 11 noints in front. From this stage the scoring was even, both sides annexing eleven points, and leaving Higgs a like number of points to the good. Although Papps scored on only one more head than Honeyfield he returned a" much better score, defeating the West End skip by 24-14. While Honeyfield had to be content with singles Papps, with a five on the 16th and several threes and two, gave his opponent no chances and never looked like being beaten. A , XjUscombe had the hardest part to do when he set out to reduce the lead “Andy” Martin had compiled over the early stages. At the 16th head when Martin was 11 up and looked a winner Luscombe took command, and playing a fighting finish just failed to overtake his opponent, who won 3-up. The following trio, Billing, Douglass and Lobb, were the only skips at West End- to hold the fort, and in defeating A. K. Smart by six, J. Hill by twelve, and Freeman by five respectively, they did exceedingly well. A feature of the Billing-Smart match was that out or a total of 26 nearly half was scored on two heads—a six and a five.

Fitzroy’s Comfortable Win. In defeating Paritutu at home by 31 points Fitzroy maintained its position as runner-up to West End on the championSh, Hie latter stages of the SomertonWallis game were full of incident and demonstrates the glorious uncertainty of bowls. Somerton's team began well a nd piled up 25 points to six on the 17th head. The luck of the game then swung in Wallis’ favour, for with three twos, two ones and—an eight-on the 21st head Somerton was caught napping and just struggled home by four points. The Williams-Mills game was productive of good bowling. Williams took the first few heads and led 10-up. Mills

team then settled down and. by consistent scoring reduced the deficiency to four on the 21st head. Williams, however, took the last three heads for five and won by nine. . A game brimful of excitement and-With the scores fluctuating considerably was played between Jackson (Paritutu) and S. Smith, and right to the 21st . head it was anybody’s game. Jackson, however, finished the stronger'to win by two who has had a bad rim.'this season, scored a well-merited over J. Abbott. His third, T, Roberts, is playing good bowls this season and should soon be leading, a team himself. The final totals were 24-18. Hammond, MacKenzie afid Okey were also too good for the Paritutu skips, Adam, Fluker and Thomson, the latter three going under by five, ten and eleven points respectively. Waitara Turns the Tables.

Waitara, which was defeated in the first round by Vogeltown by a point, made no mistakes on Saturday and beat the home team by the comfortable margin of 15 points. Six teams participated, four winning, one tieing, and one losing, to Cawthray. Earlier in the season Vogeltown showed promise of better things, and looked like being a force to be reckoned with, but during the last three or four matches it has slumped badly. Of Waitara’s four wins only one was a runaway victory, Moyes defeating Bishop by 34 to 21. On the 10th head the scores were 10-all, but Moyes with two fives and a four left Bishop well behind, and won easily. , ' * A good indication of the strength of the two teams skipped by Evans and Whyte was given when after a ding-dong battle with each side taking the lead in turn, a card with the totals 21-all was returned . With one head to play Evans looked a winner, being two up, but Whyte notched a two on the 25th and squared the game. „ Cawthray was the only Vogeltown skipper to record a win, and after the ninth head when the scores were six all, he showed Hamlin a clean pair of heels, and getting solid support from his team-mates was never troubled, to win with nine points in hand. Fire Brigade on Top.

Fire Brigade again demonstrated its improved form on Saturday by accounting for both Awakino and Urenui and improving its position in the championship by four points. Against Awakmo Roch had a great struggle with Bartlett and from a seemingly hopeless position made a good recovery to lead 27-26 on the 24th head. Both teams tried hard for the winning points on the last head, but a two to the Northerner gave him a one-point decision, after a strenuous contest. The Goodwin-Jones game, however, left no doubt as to the winners, for Goodwin scored consistently and romped home with thirteen points to spare. Against Urenui the firemen had no trouble in winning both games, Hartley defeating Des Forges by 29-19, while Lowe lifted the mat with a 10-point advantage. A point worthy of comment here is the sporting spirit shown by Urenui, for although the club has not won a match this season, all members come up smiling time and again and never refuse to travel and. fulfil their engagements. Bravo Urenui! A “Bird” of a Draw.

On the Thorndon (Wellington) green during Christmas week a player played a bowl over the tail feathers of a sparrow that had flown down on to the green. Such a happening is not without precedent. Some years ago on the Wellington green a bowl ran over a sparrow and killed it outright. The shot was not a drive, but merely a draw. Creating a Habit.

One player in the singles at the Dominion tournament had the unfortunate experience of sending six bowls away on the wrong bias! This arose from the fact that to conform to the rule regarding marks on discs he had made both discs alike. The discs were altered that evening. Points to Remember.

If the sun is more than ordinarily hot, and a bowl is left lying with the small disc ut>, the bowl expands at this point, and the bias is increased—at times very greatly. # # * •

Many players are bad length exponents by virtue of the fact that they take too long a step under any conditions and all conditions. The keener the green the shorter the step—for all bowlers. # 4 # *

Any man from 50 upwards is apt to imagine that something is going to £ u a P if he stretches out, say for a very fast shot. That is why they jerk-and the jerk is fatal to direction. Balance is lost, and that also is fatal. # * *

No dumper—one who sits the bowl in his palm—can gamble on his good length, for he fails to impart that spin necessary to give “life” to his bowl. # # * *

If you know anything about mat manipulation, no block should stop you from the draw. The three-quarter block is the most effective and most dangerous.