BOWLING SPASMS

Observer, Volume XXXIV, Issue 24, 21 February 1914, Page 22

BOWLING SPASMS

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ROTORUA never looked to better advantage than at the present. The refreshing rains of the past week revived the greens to the old-time perfection, and the asembled bowlers were loud in their admiration of the beautiful green sward and smooth-looking surface.

Four teams entered for the Rotorua annual tournament. Amongst the clubs represented were Rocky Nook, Ponsonby, Devonport, Howick, Te Kuiti, Avondale, Hamilton, Kaitangata (Otago), Cambridge, Grey Lynn, Epsom, Takapuna, Otahuhu, Dominion Road, Mt. Eden, Frankton, ■ St. Heliers, Remuera, Hataitai (Wellington), "Wellington, Opunake, Ellerslie, Onehunga, Whitiora, Carlton, Tauranga, Hastings, and several of the local teams, being a very representative gathering at Wonderland.

The president of the Rotorua Club (Mr. S. Daneford), in a warm speech at the welcome, hoped the visiting teams to his Rotorua Club would have a royal time, and also assured the visitors that the committee would meet them in anything reasonable in the matter of substitutes for those teams wanting gaps filled up. Also that his club would provide refreshments during the day to players, thus avoiding the disagreeable ticket system that had been observed in previous years. This last item was gratifying to the hosts and guests.

In the history of the Rotorua Club their greens have not been in such perfect order. There was not a bare end or bald spot on any part of the three magnificent fawns. The whole appearance was very pleasing to the eye, and Mr. Hall, the caretaker of the gardens and greens, deserved the highest praise for his skilled work in this important department.

The assembled bowlers were invited to meet the Rotorua Club in the Parish Hall of the Anglican Church to have a crack about the coming tournament and give the visitors any information and also give visitors a chance to discuss knottty points in connection with bowling. There were sereral requests for substitutes and explanations of matters, all of which the chairman (Mr. Daneford) clearly made known. The old wheeze about dead heads cropped up, some of the drawing trundlers advocating the limiting of drives, but as the majority of bowlers recognised that these cranks were harmless and that the game as played for hundreds of years was just the game that would go on as constituted, let the feeble recommendations die out. These little gatherings are a first-rate idea and give the bowlers an opportunity to meet and have a chat and renew old friendships.

The situation at Rotorua looks like the nuts being all in one basket at the time of writing. The official team of the Rotorua Club as Brown (skip); also the Ponsonby team, Maxwell Walker; McLeod, Hasings; King, Epsom; Crabtree and Smith, Mt. Eden; Eagleton, Rocky Nook; Laurie, Carlton; Fletcher, Grey Lynn; and several other hot teams, constitute a formidable lot that one is puzzled to just put his pencil, on the ultimate winner.

The Rotorua members are all out to make the guests of their club comfortable and happy. There is nothing a reasonable man would suggest that has not been thought out. The germ of hospitality has "been cultured to some purpose, for if anything is wanted one finds "that everybody's doing it."'

The Auckland centre are somewhat disappointed at the entries for the Exhibition Tournament to happen next week. The fact of the matter is this, that 10s per player is a cooler to the man who goes into these tournaments just for an experience and who knows full well he has no chance of winning. Also we have had a surfeit of tournaments. Since Christmas there have been quite half-a-dozen, so that the entries after all are all one could reasonably expect. The fact is that taking part are players in the first flight of bowling and there will be a decidedly stubborn struggle for this coveted honour of being the first winner of the new Dominion part in the Exhibition Fours to be Association's trophies.

The following clubs are taking held in Auckland during the coming week: —Calliope, Auckland, Carlton, Cambridge, Christchurch, Devonport, Ellerslie, Eltham, Epsom, Fitzroy, Grey Lynn, Gisborne, Hastings, Kaitangata, Marton, Newtown, Mt. Eden, New Plymouth, Onehunga, Otahuhu, Paeroa, Palmerston, Ponsonby, Petone, Remuera, Rocky Nook, Stratford, Sydenham, St. John, Te Aroha, Te Kuiti, Te Hiwi, Karangahake, Thorndon, Waitara, Waikino, Waipawa, Waipukurau, West End (Auckland), West End (New Plymouth), Wellington, Wellington South, and Whangarei. Ninety teams will compete altogether.

It has been decided by the Auckland centre that the semi-finals of the Exhibition Tournament will be played on the Devonport Green and the final on the Auckland Green at 2.30. No doubt both events will attract a large and interested concourse of bowlers.

The centre should be extremely careful to pick good umpires for each green during the Exhibition Tournament. What is meant by " good '' is younger men with steady hands and who will insist on complete silence during a critical measure. It is usual to hear a Babel of voices at both sides claiming that they are sure that the bowl is in by a fraction ,etc. Also it has been the custom to fill the difficult position with gentlemen who are rather too aged to stoop and perform their office to the best advantage. Protests are very marked as a rule from interested players, and no loophole should be left to cause dissatisfaction in the future.

Competitors must remember that they have to provide their own lunches next week during the Exhibition Tournament. Morning and afternoon tea will be provided.

Cambridge are laying themselves out to make a great splash next Easter. Their tournaments during that part of the year have been pronounced successes, so to go one better will be a great stroke. Numbers of teams are already bein gformed. Don't all speak at once!

The two out of three wins for the Mt. Eden champion has caused several stumbles to prominent players. Jim Smith, the previous champion, came a cropper in the first round. Charley Baker beat him both games, and Rankin was beaten in one game by a not old player named Watson.

Another strange game was played at Mt. Eden. Watson, a young player, was playing Gatenby and at one stage the figures were 16 —3, the big figure in favour of Gatenby. Then Watson overhauled and beat him 21 —19. One player was surprised. Which one?