BOWLING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 1, 2 January 1936, Page 5

BOWLING

(By

"THE SKIP.") !

lhe Wanganui Centre’s Christmas tournament was concluded yesterday. It proved highly successful and provided plenty of scope for bowlers th rough 01ft the live days oxer which it extended.

A siic-ng and gusty wind was blowing on Saturday while the final rounds of section play were being decided. At times seveial Panama hats were io be seen careering a< toss the greenr, to tne amusement of some bowlers and the chagrin of lhe owners. During the Christmas tournament the writer's attention was drawn by a pro miiicnt bowler to the breaches c-f the rules committed by those playcn* who failed 10 obscivc the mat rule, in delivering their bowls off the mat players frequently, sometimes unconsciously, infimgc the rule. During the past fc.v weeks breathes of the rule have been referred 10 by various centres, and for the forthcoming Dominion tournament the unipirer have been in strutted io sec that the mat rule is strictly enforced. Heard during section play a’ 1 lr. recent Christmas tourney; - first Bowler: 1 wonder what it would be like if everyone was on Lis game? Second Bowler: The gimc would not be woitn playing then. The mat rulvs, it is frequently observed, are more honoured in the bieach titan in the observance, livery now and then thqrc ic a flare up about the matter, an improvement is iiotvd- — and then there is a relapse to the carefree style of go-as-vou please. ’I lie main trouble lies not so much in the laying of lire mat—a privilege by the way which may ne exercised by lhe winner of the bead—but in delivering bowls off lhe mat. Rule 12 says I hat the player at. the moment of delivery must have at least one foot on the mat, and wholly within itr boundaries, such foot to be not less than three incites from the front of the mat. A# often as not, however, one will see a bowlei delivering a bowl with both his fev’t well off the mat. ft is not done deliberately, of course, but is simply 'hie to thoughtlessness The Dunedin Centre had a long discussion on this matter, and the upshot was that it was dccid'ed that at lhe Christmas pairs tournament the umpires be instructed to sec that the provisions of the mat rule were strictly enforced. It is to be hoped that something tangible emerges from the proposal that a levy be made on players ar a contribution towards a fund io finance the. cost of sending teams abroad. As things arc only men oi means can afford to take part in bowling lours, and Ixecause a man is wealthy that is not to say he is rich in bowling skill, therefore it niurt happen that many good players have perforce to stay at home because they cannot afford the cost of an expensive trip. A levy, say, of one shilling per head on the P’,ooo or so bowlers of the Dominion would in time realise a sum that would surely be sufficient to meet the expense of rending away a strong leant really representative of the bowling talent of the country,