THE SPORT OF BOWLING

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1935, Page 10

THE SPORT OF BOWLING

ON AND OFF THE GREEN AWAKSNO AND WEST END WIN. STUffT-D BOWLING NEARING END.

-(By

“Running Shot.”)

Shield bowling was again continued on Saturday in glorious summer weather and the absence of any wind made play on the fast greens keen and true. To some of the older enthusiasts the intense heat in the early afternoon was very trying, and this was noticeable in their standard of play. Even to the remainder..the heat had the effect of making the players to some extent easy going, and the ‘'that will do” attitude was .much in evidence. Both Awakino and West End held their positions intact. Pantutu gave Fitzroy the surprise of the season by defeating it in a home-and-home match, and Waitara scored a fine win against New Plymouth. Gilmour Cup Competition. The mid-week Gilmour Cup competition is rapidly drawing to a conclusion and with only two more series of matches to be decided the result is already in sight. West End, which already -holds the trophy, is in an enviable position, and is practically assured of. ■winning the honours, as it has gone through without a loss, while its nearest attendant is New Plymouth, four points behind. The draw for next week’s games is:— v Fire Brigade v. Paritutu, at Fire Brigade. Fitzroy v. West End, at Fitzroy. Vogeltown v. New Plymouth, at New Plymouth. West End’s Double Win. West End scored its first double victory in tite shield competition on Saturday by defeating both Fire Brigade and Lepperton, the former by 21 points and the latter by 51. It has still to meet Awakino, which has an unbeaten record, and Urenui. These matches will be played on Saturday week and if West End wins bath it will then be op equal terms with Awakino and a replay will then be necessary. The Fira Brigade-West End match was played at West End on a green that was very keen, and during the course of play some splendid bowling was witnessed. Hartley met Douglass and the West End rink was never happy against the Fire Brigade rink. At one stage Hartley held a commanding lead of 24 to 13 on the 18th head and looked an easy winner. The rot then set in and Douglass scored consistently on all the remaining heads but one to reduce the deficit to four points, 25-21. Hartley’s men, however, well deserved the honours. Skipping a strong rink R. Boulton had a strenuous fight with street (Fire Brigade) to end even, 24-all, and the bowling on both sides at times reached a high standard. Boulton held the advantage right to the final head, but here Street came to light with a four and broke Ovens. The leads, Thomas and Pote, had a great duel and played fine bowls. The. score was a good indication of the play. Goodwin was the first to strike form in fais.game with Lobb and he .ran up an eight-point lead before the West Ender could get going. On the 11th head, however, Lobb had squared the game, and from then on he more than held his own to run out a winner by 28-20. Goodwin played a good game right through, while the two leads, Hannan and. J. Hoch, contested every inch of the way. J, Lobb is also striking top form again and his drawing was a treat to watch. Place, who played second for Goodwin-, shows distinct'promise. E. Billing, who has a splendid record to his credit this season in inter-club bowling, enhanced jt considerably by defeating W. 'Hoch 32-15. The game was fairly tight going to the 11th head with the scores 8-all. The tea adjournment saw the collapse of . Fire Brigade and on the next 14 heads it scored only two singles. An unexpected six on the last head raised its total from nine to 15. Playing at Lepperton, three rinks from. West End had little difficulty in winning on all rinks. Christoffel defeated Hellier by 34-12, Turnbull beat Peek 29-17, and Luscombe won from Newell 33-16. A feature of the Luscombe-Newe’ll game was that though the West ’ End rink proved much too strong it could not prevent the Lepperton side registering an eight against it on the 19th head to raise the score from five to 13. It’s all in the game-of bowls. Some clubs in the past have been content to send weak rinks to Lepperton. This is a mistake that should be rectified. If a bowler wants to improve in hjs play he must play against a better and more experienced trundler, and this applies to Lepperton also. The keen bowler will always appreciate coming in contact with a good player.

Awakino’s Winning Way. A. Bartlett and Northern and their merry men from Awakino fully deserve the honour of being the leading team in the North Taranaki shield competition and their handsome win against Vogeltown on Saturday gives this club its fifth successive' victory. The Northem-Caw-thray contest was a great effort and after the first eight heads there was only one rink in it. Cawthray has been Vogeltown’s mainstay this season, but Northern left him well behind to win comfortably by 31 to 21. Bartlett-Evans: This game proved a much closer contest than the scores 30-18 indicate, and neither side could find a fault in the other's defence for 20 heads. The scores were then 18 all. The Vogeltown rink then slumped badly and “Tppy” took full advantage of the position to rattle on 12 points on the last five heads and finish up well in front. Keep-it up Awakino!

Vogeltown v. Urenui. Vogeltown managed to get one leg in the double. This was accomplished by the defeat of Urenui by 101 to 39. Evidently Urenui found difficulty in fielding a team for one or two of its players were absent. For Vogeltown -T. Boulton •cored an -easy win against W. Fuller 32-13; Griffiths met little opposition from G. Fuller to win 34-13; and Short increased the team’s aggregate , considerably by accounting for Des Forges by 35-14. Urenui has yet to win it» first shield match, but when it does iV certainly be an extremely popular one. • t A Double Surprise.

Who, was the most surprised on Saturday, the winner or the loser? At any rate it was an exceedingly meritorious performance and Paritutu is to be warmly congratulated on defeating Fitzroy by 29 points. In fielding ten rinks Paritutu had .the big majority of its players in action and several of its rinks were led by young players who are being experimented with. One of these, C. Pepperill, put up a fine game against McKenzie and won 27-19. This placing of young and keen bowlers in third and skip positions ahould more than repay Paritutu in a year or two, and summed up in two words it is this—experience teaches!

Waitara 19 Points Up. Close games and keen bowling were the order of the day at Waitara on Saturday but the New Plymouth rinks were generally a point or two on the wrong side of the ledger. In a six-rink contest Griffin was the only New Ply-

mouth skip to notch a win, and that against Fuller 29-28. In three other games Papps lost to Hamlin, Higgs lost to Chittenden and. Moore lost to Antunovic by a point. The two Waitara skips mainly responsible for ’ the aggregate margin were Weir, who-scored a 10-point win against Freeman, and Cuming, who accounted for A. K. Smart by 28-21. It seems that Waitara has made its run too late. This is its third successful victory, but its .two losses' early in the season spoiled its chances of catching the leading teams, Awakino and Wesf End. “Diggers” Cup Match.

During the week-end Stratford, holder of the “Diggers” Cup, was called upon to defend the trophy against a rink comprising Hawkins, Whiting, Kelly, Pepperill (skip) ’ and' representing the paritutu Club. Stratford “diggers” won by four points. ’ The Stratford rink was a much more experienced one than Paritutu and in thO early stages.of dhe game established a comfortable lead; of 15-3 on the 11th head. This, did not dismay the visitors, however, and on the 19th head they had by good bowling reduced the margin to three points, 17-14. Visions of a probable victory faded away on the next head for Harris, the Stratford skipper, collected a five and left, the Paritutu men needing eight to tie on the last head. They notched a four and left Harris’ rink still in possession of the-cup -22-18. The holders, W. Ewing, Williams, S. Ewing, W. Harris, comprise a fine, evenly-balanced team, ’ and .will prove a hard proposition to any challenger. Visiting Skip’s Impressions.

“Running Shot” is in receipt of a letter from one of the: visiting skips who took part in the recent Taranaki open tournament and in it the writer expresses himself and his associates as more than pleased with the manner in which the tournament was conducted, and especially with the way in which the refreshment side-was handled. He says: “It was an eye-opener as‘far as they were concerned and a. course which all centre? could adept with success. What struck us most was the way in which the catering for the afternoon teas was handled by a willing committee of ladies at some of the greens- It was a pleasure,’! he said, “and one. that would be long remembered, ‘to sit down and enjoy afternoon tea under these conditions.” It is certainly a direct contrast to the rush and grab conditions which are in evidence in some centres, and North Taranaki clubs would do well to come into line with Paritutu, Vogeltown, West End and Waitara, A Pleasing Gesture.

There- is one skip at New Plymouth who though he did not reach post-section play in the open tournament is indeed as happy as those who won the event. At the last minute he was called upon to fill the breach caused by a skip’s inability to fulfil his engagement, and this capable and popular player led the rink with distinct credit. At the conclusion of the tournament he was presented by the remainder of his rink with a case of pipes for services rendered and as an expression of appreciation and the pleasure they had derived from his association With them during the tournament. More One-day Tournaments.

Since the innovation of one-day tournaments in Taranaki they have grown in popularity until at present they are looked upon as part and parcel of the season's activities. Apart from the pleasant day’s bowling that they provide they are also a decided acquisition from a financial point of view and help considerably in swelling the coffers of bowling clubs. Several Taranaki clubs have applied for fixtures this month and the following dates have been allotted by the centre executive:— Eltham Bowling Club.: Thursday, February 14. Vogeltown Bowling Club: Thursday, February 14. Okato Bowling Club: Thursday, February 21. Patea Bowling Club: Wednesday, February 27. Paritutu Bowling Club: Thursday, February 28.

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