BOWLING TOPICS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 31, 6 February 1935, Page 4

BOWLING TOPICS

.(By

The Skip.”)

Senior and Willis Shield matches will be resumed on Saturday, the draw being: Wanganui v. St. John's; Wanganui East v. Kapanui; Gonville v. Wanganui West. Wanganui West haw. three wins in the Willis Shield so far. The round postponed owing to the races and ladies’ cricket last Saturday, will be played on the first vacant Saturday, February 16 Last Week's Tournament. The Centre open pairs and .'ingles tournament whicu were played last week did not draw very good entries, [ in fact the entries were very disappointing, especially in the singles, which only drew lb entries. Judging by remarks heard “on the bank, ’’ quite a number simply forgot all about tne tournaments and were sorry they did not enter. The standard of play in both tournaments was excellent and helped to make up for the small entries. The winning pair, Watson and L’rwin ( of the Kactiui Ciub, well deserved j their win, although they had to fight hard in the final game against Stewart and Hutchins of the Wanganui East Club. The Kaetihi skip is a modest chap ;

and his Happening to be coming to Wanganui on holiday in any case was the cause of his combining with Watson in the pairs, L’rwin modestly agreeing. The genial “ Wally’ ’ Watson seemed to imbue his skip with his enthusiasm and keenness and they made a jolly good combination. As mentioned in these columns last , week, a xeature of the singles tournament was the line play of several of < cur younger playeA. One of these young players, W. Baxter, of ihe Wanganui East Club, proved to be the winner and he thoroughly deserved his win. His line de livery and steady play was an object lesson to all and drew favourable com- I ment from many well-known skilled : players on the bank. In the final game with Watson, of Kaetihi, Baxter was up against another | steady and more experienced player, ' but he showed fine restraint and judg- i ment in playing the correct shots. ( Baxter's future bowling career will be watched with interest. Othes young bowlers whose fine play 1 caught the eye were Fletcher, of Wanganui East, who was one of the three section winners, and Cook, of the Wanganui Club, who did remarkably well t to tie for winner in his section, defeat- ] ing Broadhead in the first play-off and being narrowly defeated by Fletcher I in the second play-off for section win-’ net. • • « • i

Contrasted with the Dominion tournament conditions, in which all section winners or those tieing for section winners in the singles, went through to post section play, whether they had five wins and no losses or three wins and two losses, the conditions of the Wanganui tournament were much more satisfactory —that is, finding the absolute section winner. In the case of the Dominion tourna ment all those who went into post- • section play still held two lives, whether they had been unbeaten in section play or had tied for section winner with two losses. This is a point that the Dominion executive should alter in future championships. In the writer’s opinion, the absolute section winner should be found in sections where the leaders have three wins and two losses. This method is adopted in the rinks games, while in* the pairs championship only actual section winners go forward. The local tournaments proved thoroughly enjoyable to the participants ?nd the Centre had made good arrange ments for the games. The time limit in the pairs was too short and should be increased from to 2 hours next year. The absence of markers on the Gonville green was an unfortunate happening, due to a misunderstanding. Otherwise everything ran very smoothly indeed. The greens were keen and the weather exceptionally warm. Probably this accounted in no small degree for the failure of some of the older * ‘ cracks’ ’ to come to light. The conditions demanded a very careful delivery and the younger players were more able to do this and stand up to the extreme heat. Bank Echoes from St. John's. After a few weeks without notes on the various club competitions the following summary will be of interest: — Club Full Kinks. —The leading skips

are: Moffatt 7 wins, 1 loss; Parkes and Michie 6 wins, 2 losses; Harris 4 wins, 1 loss; Falconer 5 wins 2 losses, ••Threes”: Bourne and J. Smith 6 —2; Toop and W. Gordon 5 —2. “Twos”: O. Cathro 6 —2; Gibson s—l;5 —1; Bar row man 4 —l. Leads: Downey 8—0; G Smith, .Mackay and Kendrick 6—2; Hodson s—l.5 —1. A Pairs.—The seventh round draw and the lives of the pairs are: Upton and Harris (3) v. McMillan and Stout (2); Baxter and Scrivener (2) v Rhodes and Clinkard (1); Gilbertson and Glover (1) v. Howling and Me Kenzie (1); Murch and Wight (1) v J. Smith and Gordon (1). B Pairs: Only two pairs remain in the competition, both having three lives, Holland and Bird and Hay and Braddock. C Pairs: Dennis and G. Harris are leading with three wins and one loss. Three of the four others have a chance of equalling this performance. A Singles: Glover, Broadhead and Scrivener have three, lives. Stone; Michie, Toop and Herd two Jives and Hewetson, Falconer and Benefield one life. B Singles: C. S. Brown, Fleming and Baxter have three lives. Bourne, Wallace, W. Cathro and Leigh have two lives, the latter % one round behind. The one-lifers are Carrad and Peppeß with Harle, one life, one round to play. C. Singles (section play): McChesney and B. Armstrong are leading with five ■wins and one loss, each having two games to play. Colts’ Singles: This section are not getting their games off and the Match Committee will be stirring them up won. Handicap Singles: Two games —Kirkwood v. Beswick and Leigh v. Benefield —are holding up this competition. Amies, Baxter, Leigh and McMillan, are the only three-lifers at present. Ferns: Bon. Armstrong’s team have played four games and won three. Glover’s and Clinkard’s teams have played and won two game%

Gordon Pair.': The pairs undefeatei after the first two rounds are Bird am D. Armstrong. Howling and Benefield. G. S. Brown and Falconer, Pepper and Herd, J. Smith and Harris, Elliot anc Murch. The races and ladies’ cricket match i kept many members away from the green last Saturday, those who did attend playing Ferns, Gordon Pairs or I practice games. The Bannerette team—G. Harris, <>. Cathro, Kidd and Pepper —failed to w in their Bannerette match with Gonville although they put up quite a good fight. Leads Take Notice. Many a game is lost through a player being “forced off his hand.’’ It is not a good plan to change the hand unless the position absolutely demands it. This golden rule applies particularly to leads, many of whom get stage fright when an opposing wood is seemingly in the draw. The chances are usually ten to one against hitting it. Even if the bowl is moved, the way is opened for other members of the team. Bare Patches.

►Some greens are showing bare patches because of the very dry sea son, and the ends in particular have suffered. It is surprising to note on how many occasions players lay the mat, indifferent as to whether the bowl can be sent smoothly on its journey. There is plenty or space on the green, and an extra foot or two may mean all the difference between a sweet delivery and the unsightly wobbler. The Strollers. Those gentlemen who, when the ends are being changed over, walk up the green in a leisurely, all-over-the-place manner more often than not fail/ to realise how they are holding things up for the people in the next-door rink. The proper thing to do is to keep to the- middle line oi the rink when changing over and perform the movement quickly, for to a player on the mat in the next rink it is very disconcerting to have his field of vision filled with the spectacle of his neighbours meandering about. More often than not a player who puts a bowl away while people are walking up the boundary of the next rink on the hand which he has played will find that he has gone narrow, the reason being that he has been put off taking his proper green. There was one glaring instance of this sort of thing last Saturday, when a player, normally a splendid lead, went as nar-

row as a rasher of bacon because a player in the next rink had “got in his eye” when walking up the rink boundary. If players will persist in forgetting the people on either side of them, the only thing for players on the mat to do is to wait until tne procession is over before delivering their bowls. Hints to the Number Three. This player to achieve the best results, apart from the actual playing of the shots, must have implicit confidence in his skip, without which, unless the shot looks right from the mat, failure is certain. He must be able to exercise sufficient self-control not to interfere with his skip’s first bowl, unless of course asked for advice. Jt is a most common practice for a third when meeting his skip on changing ends, to suggest this that or the other. 1 suppose it is all right for some skips, but to say the least it is a poor compliment to pay the man who is studying not only the game, but the play of his opponents, and has made up his mind, or should have, before leaving the head, what shot he is going to play. Apart from this aspect, why let the other side know what you propose to do? Now for a word of advice to a third player when asked what the position is by his skip. Jf you have the slightest doubt about who is lying the shot, tell him its a measure—nothing in my opinion is so disconcerting to a skip to find, after playing a careful, or perhaps a guarding shot, that his opponent has had the shot all the time. On the actual play of the third man, he should be able to play all the shots called for in the game. If 1 were asked what shot this player failed in mostly I should plump at once for position bowl—and I should at once admit also it is the hardest shot—for often there is no guide, other than the skip’s direction, and no bank applause. How often have we seen a perfectly built head ruined by the opposition just for the want of that good guarding shot or well placed bowl on the head.

Concerning Driving. This player (No. 3) should, in addition be equipped with the necessary fireworks of the game in the form of fast shots. He should to my mind be the driver of the rink. In Scotland he is termed the driver, not a player who is content to sacrifice accuracy for pace, but able to break up a head and still have control and the feel of his bowl. If f were to let myself loose on the subject of driving 1 would probably ! have these notes consigned to the waste paper basket. However, 1 feel, unless something is said my object is only half achieved. 1 have heard it said repeatedly that such and such a game was won by driving. Well, a game may be, but a tourney in good company never. Don’t misunderstand me and think I condemn driving; without it the game would be at best a milk and water proposition. But to see a bowl bounced not bowled up tire green like a three-legged stool, looks rather like using a sledge-hammer to drive a tack. I admire the player, be he third or skip, who sends up a clearly delivered fast shot, but only uses that shot as a last resort. I, like lots of players, learnt the error of my ways years ago, and say with every con fidence—practise the running shot if you wish to improve your game.

An Unusual Occurrence. During the course of one of the games in the Dunedin v. West Harbour match at Ravensbourne on »Saturday last a head to which about seven or eight bowls had been played was burnt in an unusual way. A heavy gust of wind started the howls and jack on the run, and they all finished outside the boundary of the rink. In another game in the same match a bowl which had been just about 9in. immediately be I' hind the jack started to move, and travelled about nine to ten feet, finishing outside the rink. This left the other side in possession of four shots.