BOWLING

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18349, 29 December 1927, Page 11

BOWLING

NOTES FROM THE GREENS

By

"Toucher."

PLATING TO KITTY. LEARN BEFORE TRYING TO WIN. There is much more in the game of bowling than appears on the surface, and the beginner is sometimes apt to think he has mastered'the fine point of v the game, and indeed all the points when he can lay a shot alongside' the kitty. ‘ Learn to play before playing may • seem silly pdvice, but it, saves endless trouble later, as “Trundler,” of the “Auckland Star” points out in the following article. “As anticipated, when it was' found that there was a reasonable chance of daylight-saving coming into force this year, the feature of this season is the record number of new members join-, ing the various clubs, determined to take advantage of the improved facilities for enjoying the game. Largely on this account the office of the club coach will be no sinecure this year, for those who take their responsibilities seriously will find their spare time fully occupied in giving tuition to all the .beginners, and they will envy the parent club of the city, where this duty is very wisely divided between six , officers. “All coaches seem to have their own style, just as all individual players seem to develop different characteristics, even if they try to copy the style of the same person. “Just when the coaches are in the throes of giving their initial lesson a little book opoprtunely arrives from Australia, entitled, ‘Learn How to Play.’ This is apparently quite contrary to the. objective of most beginners, for they generally think they must, first aim at winning matches, but the argument is very logically worked up

by instructing how to lay the ' mat, and he then devotes over two pages to instructions on- throwing the' ja.ck. Most beginners have a profound contempt for both these operations, and too often they are not corrected by the coach. The tendency is to concentrate on putting the bowi on the J&ck, and if this is accidentally done at about the twentieth delivery .their cup of happiness is complete; tiiey have learned the game of bowls, and know just as much as those who have been playing for twenty years. Nothing is further from the truth, for it usually takes some years for a beginner to find out how little he knows, and it is false kindness to encourage him in the belief that he has mastered the game in the first lesson, for it makes it almost impossible for him to "learn anything, and also fof the Match Committee to handle him. Beginning at the Beginning. “The veteran bowler who gave the writer his first lesson insisted that if he could learn the correct delivery in two years he would be very lucky, and after learning that much it would be quite time to ‘begin’ learning to put the bowl oil the jack. Unfortunately, nearly every beginner, if left to himself, will put the cart before the horse, and in trying to cultivate whi does not matter at first—drawing the shot—he ruins his chance of cultivating what is far more urgent and important. a good delivery. “So Mr Duncan, determined to take things in their proper order, goes right back to the beginning,, and shows how > the mat should be laid. By the way, i he states that the -usual size is 3ft by ISin, but the Australian rule says it. must be 'not less than 4ft or more than 4ft 6in in length and 18in wide, neither more ncr less.’ The New Zea- , land rule makes the, mat not more than 48in long nor more than 18m wide, nor less than/36in long and 15in wide, | and this is one of the many instances where the Dominion representatives at the proposed conference in Melbourne could, very gracefully agree to accept the Australian measurements; in order to bring the rules into line, without doing harm to anyone here.

Throwing the Jack. “Mr Duncan initiates his instructions on this point by making the startling assertion that ‘in learning to throw the jack you will determine y'our future style of play.’ This will tome as a bombshell to many beginners here, and |to veterans, too, for hundreds seem to I harbour the impression that to take any care over throwing the jack is quite beneath their dignity. Many do not trouble to ‘deliver’ it at all, but pitch it so carelessly that it first bounces half a dozen times, while it is a matter of perfect indifference to them whether it finishes in the next rink, in the ditch or only half-way up. “How many matches are lost through the sheer inability of a careless lead to throw the length directed by the skip! Mr Duncan does not need to add that a skip should always throw back a carelessly thrown jack which finishes out of bounds, for this could not very well happen if beginners followed his instructions.

“The Ashfield tutor gives no quarter to crouching or stooping. ‘Keep the body perfectly erect.’ he savs, and his words will be echoed in New Zealand, ior there is universal condemnation of any but the perfectly erect stance in the Dominion, where practically all. the best players assume this attitude. Supported by photographs, he describes most minutely the various movements in delivering a jack. \ "One point- is worth mentioning. Mr Duncan describes stepping forward with the left foot in the orthodox way. and then swinging the right arm forward with the* jack ‘at the same time making a second step.’ Later on this is emphasised in these words: ‘Release your hold on the jack after you have made the first step, and simultaneous with your commencing the second.’ Now, quite an argument has raged round this very point, for it seems to infringe the rule of both countries, requiring the rear foot to be on the mat at the moment of delivery, while reference was recently made to a movement in England to make the rule still more explicit, and require the rear foot to be firmly implanted on the mat. “A lot of people maintain that a certain Dominion champion skip lifts his right or rear foot before he releases his bowl, and there was a good deal of chuckling when last season’s champion of champions appeared from a photograph to be doing this, both players thereby incurring the risk of a ‘burned’ bowl.

“Mr Duncan must be left to reconcile his ‘simultaneous’ second step and the release of the jack with the photograph he publishes, showing a bowl already released about six inches, with the right foot still on the mat. Most people will reckon it a physical impossibility to step forward at the very same time as releasing the jack or bowl: the release must come first, and therefore if a player once stands with his feet on the mat there is no danger of being penalised through what seems to be an optical delusion.

Other Point* Emphasised “The author urges the importance of following through with at least three paces, if not more, carefully watching the curve of the bowl until it comes to rest. Some may question the value of this action, but it seems to be on.

all fours with the ‘follow through’ in golf. It is all very well to say it makes no difference to the. stroke, whether the club follows through or not, as both direction and strength are- already decided at the very moment of contact between the club and the ball. This may be so, but the point is that neither direction nor strength can be accurate unless the contact is merely an incident .in a long and perfect swing. And so in bowls; when once the bowl is delivered, it makes no difference whether the player takes three steps forward and watches his bowi, or whether he turn round to light a cigarette. Btit accuracy can only be secured by treating the actual release as one, part of a movement, which commence from the erect position and ends with' two or three steps forward from the mat, and Mr Duncan seems to lay very grAat stress on the necessity for the greatest care in the whole process, each being equally important in obtaining a correct delivery.” Commenting on the Dominion tournapient, to be held in Christchurch early next ;:;onth, “No. 3” in the “Dominion,” states that the number pf entries from Wellington is not as large as in former years. “Wellington’s record of entries in these coptests,” he adds, “is a very good one. During the last four bowling 3-ears, which covers a complete cycle of the tournaments geographicalK', Wellington has been represented away from home by 58 rinks, Christchurch by 44 rinks, Auckland by 24 rinks, and Dunedin by only 20 rinks. It was to be expected that Wellington should head any such list on account of her central geographical position, but, viewed from the same angle, Dunedin's showing is a poor one compared with that of Auckland. Dunedin, I am inclined to think, has never quite got over the merger ,of the old New Zealand. Bowling Association in that of the newly-constituted Dominion Bowling Association. Either that or something else prevents the southern city—the original home of bowling in New Zealand—from being adequately represented at Dominion tournaments, when they are held away from the Edinburgh of the south. The tournament commences in Christchurch on January 10. Singles will be played first, then pairs, and lastly rinks.”

The poor scores of the New Zealand rinks in the test matches against Australia at Melbourne emphasise the fact that under the system of only sending away teams which pay their own expenses, it is impossible to secure a very strong combination. In some quarters there has been a good deal of adverse criticism of . the council for agreeing to the test match proposals, and this appears to have been justified by the results. As there is no “gate” from bowl ing matches and the only income that the governing bodies obtain is from levies, it does not appear likely that the New Zealand Council will be in a position to pay the expenses of representative, teams. The custom of teams visiting other countries taking part in friendly games only seems the better arrangement. , Some bowlers, especially those who have played for years, develop bad habits. One.of, these is for a bowler to .address some remark to the opponent when the latter is about to deliver his bowl. It might be a habit without ulterior motives, but it certainly appears to be done in order to distract the opponent. Another irregularity is for a bowler, after delivering his shot, standing to one side, but in yiew of the opponent, instead of retiring to the rear of the mat after delivery. In view of the fact that these irregularities were practised by a bowler of many years’ experience, it leads to the assumption tha.t it is time for the D.B.A. to direct that penalties will be inflicted for what might be considered “suspicious practices.” Z'Z a jj A correspondent asks for a ruling on the mat rule, apparently to settle an argument as to what it allows and what it does not (writes “Trundler” in the Auckland “Star.”) The latter probably deserves the most attention, and umpires should take no notice of those who sarcastically remark that people are now getting too particular. The moment a player infringes the mat rule he damages the green, and he should be given no quarter whatever, for it is hard enough to make a green stand up to legitimate wear, without subjecting it to the abuse caused by breaking a rule which was framed to protect it. (1) What a player may not do is to shuffle forward on the mat until most of his foot is on the grass, only the heel being on the mat, the result being that when he leans forward his heel rises and he is not touching the mat at all. (2) He may not stand on the side of the mat, in such a position that -when, he delivers his bowl no part of his foot is touching the mat except his big toe. What he may clo is fairly* well described in the rule, for it requires that the player, “at the moment of delivery, must have at least one foot on the mat &nd wholly within the boundaries of the mat, such foot to be not less than three inches from the front of the mat.” This rule is not perfect, for it does not prevent a player standing with his left foot in the middle of the mat, and his' right foot extended behind it, digging into the grass and scraping it about for a few- moments, as a certain well-known player invariably does. The English rule is very superior to the New Zealand rule in . that respect, for it insists on the “rear” foot being on the mat, recognising that the foot that goes forward can do no harm, and the time the Dominion Council make an alteration in this rule they . could absolutely protect the green by adopting the English wording.

The concluding stages of the section play' in the pennant competition have now been reached, only a few of the matches in the sixth round, which was postponed from December 17, remaining to be played. Last Saturday the matches in the seventh and final round, which had not been played previously, were disposed of. A fair number of the matches, in the sixth round have also been played already. The following table shows the present positions of the teams in the competition:— Section A. Wins Losses Edge ware 5 1 Sumner 5 1 Lin wood 3 2 Opawa 3 3 Sunnyside 2 3 Kaiapoi W.M.C. 2 4 Aulsebrook's 0 6 Section B. Canterbury .............. 5 0 Sydenham ........ 4 0 Linwood . - 4 2 Christchurch 2 3 Edgeware 1 3 Rangiora • 1 4 Papanui 0 5

Section C. Beckenham fi 0 New Brighton 4 1 Linwood 4 2 Opawa 2 3 Canterbury' - 1 4 United 1 5 Rangiora . 1 4 Section D. Sumner 5 1 Edgeware 5 ' 1 Christchurch 4 2 1 3 Imperial 1 4 Shirley 1 *5 * One match undecided. Section E. Canterbury 5 1 Kaiapoi 3 1 Edgeware 3 2 U nited 2 3 Sydenham* 2 3 Linwood 2 4 Kaiapoi W.M.C 1 4 Section P. St Albans 4 1 Paparua 3 2 Christchurch 3 2 Beckenham 3 3 Papanui 2 3 Sydenham 2 3 Spreydon I 4 Section G. Shirley 6 1 St Albans _ 5 1 New Brighton 3 2 Cashmere 2 3 Sumner ' 2 3 Canterbury 2 3 Heathcote 2 5 Sydenham 1 5 Section H. United 5 0 Linwood 4 1 St Albans ... 3 2 Kaiapoi 3 2 Opawa 2 4 Beckenham 1 5 Belfast 1 5