SHORT HEADS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10418, 23 March 1912, Page 6

SHORT HEADS.

NOTES FROM THE GREENS. (By "THIRD PLAYER.") Witli the notable exception of the Madtlison Trophy contest on. Thursday the past week has been an uneventful ono so far as bowling is concerned. The principal club competitions have been concluded, and the subsidiary, end-of-the-season competitions are only in their preliminary stage. The weather has been tine, and the big singles event was conducted under very pleasant conditions.

The Maddison Trophy match, speaking generally, was not remarkable for tho high standard of play exhibited by the chosen champions of the various clubs. Only three or four of the players appeared to bo in their best form, but it seems probable that the importance of the match had its effect upon tho nerves of many of the contestants. Whatever the cause it remains a fact that a great many of tho heads played were more suggestive of a colts' match than a singles championship.

K ii. Henderson, of Opawa, the winner, played consistently and steadily throughout. His drawing was welljudged, he quickly sized up green conditions, and nothing seemed to disturb his equanimity. He seldom resorted to driving, and did not burn a singlo head. He made his best display of tho day in his match against Pool, the Papatiui representative. Pool is an old, experienced singles player, expert in all departments of the game, and he certainly gave Henderson plenty of work to do, having the advantage of the scoring till the last head was reached.

D. Campbell (Ashburton), the holder of the trophy tor 1911, played in an in-and-out style, which was somewhat in contrast to tho form he has shown in previous years. He allowed Simpson (St Albans) to get a 10 to 1 lead on him in the first five heads of his first game, and then, steadying his play, won practically -as he liked. In his next round Gosset (Leeston) put up a four against him in the first head and scored in the next two. Campbell then again started to play solidly and again won easily. In his game against Borland (Canterbury), Campbell made few mistakes. Borland played badly, compared with his previous game, and the Ashburtonite had little to do to maintain a big lead. In the final against Henderson, Campbell did hot seem at all happy. He was b'eaten at drawing on several occasions in the openingheads, and seemed to lost heart, his play lacking the decision and freedom that characterised his best play in the earlier rounds. When the green grew heavier, owing to the rink falling in tho shade, and tho rapid drop of temperature, he scented slower to catch the altering conditions than Henderson. There was very little luck in tho game, Campbell simply going under to a steadier and more accurate opponent.

In the opening round Woolf (United) and Efford (Rangiora) had a really exciting contest, the scores fluctuating in a remarkable manner. The twentyfirst head saw the players tied, but Woolf made a certainty of the game with a well-deserved two, got by clever drawing, in the twenty-second bend. Dickson (Edgeware), playing carefully and with good judgment, defeated the Christchurch champion, Seager, after a really good game, which was always interesting. In his match against Borland m the second round, however, Dickson suddenly went off his form. His drawing was wild at the opening, and his play lacked judgment, and though he pulled off one or two brilliant shots and recovered form at the end of the game, his recovery came too late. James Brackenridge (Sunnyside), after easily accounting for the Sydenham representative, N. Young, met a veritable snag in W. Pool. The game was an even one nearly to the end, but Pool scored a four which put him in the lead, and all Brackenridge's efforts to reduce the margin were vain. Pool played consistently and well throughout the match, and in tho opinion of many bowlers present was better entitled to second place in the contest than. Campbell. It is, of course, unwise to base estimates on collateral form, but Henderson could only beat Pool by one point in twenty-one heads, while at twenty-one heads in the final he led Campbell by ten points. Howarth, the Linwood representative, was quite the weakest player in the competition, while H. Brown, of Dunsanuol, was badly out of form. The Sydenham Club entertained one of its members, Mr A. S. Griffiths, at a social gathering last week on the eve of his departure for England on a holiday trip. Musical items were contributed by Messrs Rowe, Throp, Mitchell, Sealan, Joll and Malcolm, and Mr Griffiths was presented with a travelling rug as an expression of the good-will of his fellow members.

The Sydenham Club is sending a team to play a rink match against Ashburton next Tuesday.

Entries are coming in well for the Christehurch Centre's Easter Tournament. Entries do not close till March 28. but there are already eighteen entries for the Rinks Match and thirtyone for the Doubles Match. There pre vacancies for n couple of players in the team for the West Coast, and Mr A. L. Parsons is anxious to hear from bowlers willing to make the trio.

The long-existing differences in the bowling world of Tasmania, are nowlikely to disappear. The northern and southern authorities have met and arranged a basis of settlement, which the south.have already agreed to, and which the north are sure to. The Tasmanian Bowling Association will bo the new body, with a president and secretary in Launceston, a vice-president in Hobart, and three delegates in each of the two centres. All inter-State matches are to be played alternately in Launceston and Hobart, and the first carnival allotted is «to bo at Laitncostcn, and tho next at Hobart. The committee will bo formed .immediately to revise the rules. This amalgamation will be of great benefit to players in tli9 island-State, and will create healthy rivalry.

I cannot help thinking that the Maddison Trophy competition would bo improved if the Centre could find some way of avoiding the sudden death principle. Of course, any departure from the present system would lengthen the competition, and doubtless it would cause some inconvenience to country representatives, but interest would certainly be added to the matches if the luck of the draw were not always so apparent. Last year Henderson and Campbell met in tho first round, and after a particularly fine fijrht Campbell won. That disposed of Henderson's chances, hut it is quite conceivable that tinder any oilier system Henderson would have ranked at least as second in the final estimate, it mi.aht easily have happened this year asm in that the Opnwa and Ashburton representatives would aeain have met in the first round, and the result would have been to cut out a player, who, an the event proved, was one of the two best players on the day. The clubs arrive at the identity of their champions by a slower system, and every bowler knows how liable the most consistent player is to r_ r o off for n frame, particularly on a strange green, and similarly how liable even an indifferent nl.-ivor is to ulay one game of strikinu; brilliance. The' Cent ro,'l think, should aim at rc'lining as far as possible the element of uncertainly, by sriviim: each of the competitors in the championship matches at least two lives.