Six Fours Still In N.Z. Bowls Championship

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 January 1948, Page 6

Six Fours Still In N.Z. Bowls Championship

FIVE STILL IN SINGLES FIVE IN THE PAIRS (P_A.) Dunedin. January 25. Post section play in the New Zealand fours bowling championship continued under the disadvantages of showers and heavy rain on Saturday morning and a difficult high wind in the afternoon, although later games were played in bright sunshine. A large crowd of spectators saw some excellent bowling in spite of the contrary conditions. Six fours remain in the championship after Saturday’s play, and there are five singles players remaining and five one-lifers still competing in the pairs. E. P. Exelby’s Frankton Junction four won its two games, and is the only undefeated combination remaining in this championship, with 11 wins to its credit. REMAINING FOURS. Players remaining in the fours championship are (skips mentioned first):— Completed four rounds: J. F. Benson, T. Hart, C. G. Maher, J. F. Birrell (Balmoral); J. Cunningham, I. W. Martin, (F. Steel, A. D. Crawford (Hokonui); F. White, J. Armstrong, J. Doyle, R. Naisbett (Runanga); and J. H. Mingins, H. A. Robertson, F. Livingstone, J. Macklow (Onehunga). * Completed five rounds: E. P. Exelby, R. W. Hawkins, J. Morris, W. G. Payne (Frankton Junction), and J. W. Turpin, P. J. Gaffney, W. F. Raphael, J. Watt (Canterbury). REMAINING PAIRS. Remaining with one life each are: E. H. Ravenwood and S. Dodd (St. Clair), A. J. Webster and G. Littlejohn (Lower Hutt), S. Garelja and M. A. Marinovitch (Gratia), W. F. Haddwin and N. MacDonald (Lower Hutt), and J. Middlemass and partner (Alexandra). REMAINING SINGLES Players remaining in the singles with one life are: J. A. Veitch (Dunedin),G. Littlejohn (Lower Hutt), F. G. Mingins (Onehunga), F. Benson .(Balmoral), and S. Marriott (Opawa). The strong Onehunga four skipped by J. H. Mingins entered the fourth round with a win of 25-18 against a Canterbury four led by T. L. Floyd. Mingins opened with a big lead of 11-1 after seven ends, and at the close of the 12th he had scored 18 to Floyd’s three. Floyd scored only one more by the end of the 16th when Mingins was 21, but Floyd won the next four to bring the score to 21-12. Fighting hard throughout the closing five ends Floyd had to be content with reducing his deficit by two points. A Runanga four skipped by F. White, who was champion skip in 1946 at Christchurch, scored a runawayvictory over a Port Chalmers family combination skipped by W. G. Love, in the third round. White won 25-15 at the end of 24 heads. One of the hardest fought games in the fourth round was between the Balmoral four skipped by J. F. Ben- 1 son and a Mornington team led by C. E. Tyrrell. The Auckland team won 30-21, but Tyrrell’s performance delighted the spectators at the dour and unrelenting contest. Benson also drew applause for some exacting drawing shots when lying in difficult positions. Tyrrell’s four played beautifully to even the score with a four at the 13th end, but Benson won eight of the next 11 ends to complete the

game at the 24th end. He scored one four in this series, but Tyrrell did the same on the last end. An extra end was necessary to decide the winner. In the fourth round game between a four skipped by last year’s champion, G. A. Crowley (Tolaga Bay), and a Hokonui Southland four skipped by A. Logan, Crowley gained the deciding point on a tense last end. UNBEATEN RECORD Exelby’s Frankton Junction four continued its unbeaten record in the fourth Round when it met a four skipped by D. Spiller (Khandallah). Exelby won comparatively easily, 2415. The only Dunedin four left in the championship after four rounds have been completed was D. Gardiner (Anderson’s Bay). He beat T. H. Watts (Beckenham) by 29-25. An extra end was necessary in the fourth round in which Cunningham's Hokonui four eliminated Hadwin (Lower Hutt). The scores were 20 all at the end of 25 heads, when Hadwin was one down, and had the last bowl to play. He tried a drive, but missed, giving Cunningham ’he game. In the fifth round Exelby’s four was much too consistent in the closing stages for Gardiner’s combination, winning by a margin of 12 points. He had won 11 games on end in the fours championship. Turpin eliminated Crowley by 2320 to save any possibility of his emulating R. Haworth’s performance in 1936 and 1937, when Haworth won the fours championship twice in succession. Play in the pairs continued while the fours were played in the afternoon. Two pairs games were decided. C. E. Tyrrell (Mornington) lost to S. Garelja (Gratia). Garelja consistently outdrew Tyrrell and after the 13th round the Mornington skip resorted to attempts to kill the ends to keep Garelja’s score down. Tyrrell had little success with those difficult tactics and the Gratia team chose very long ends in the closing stages to hold the advantage. Tyrrell won the last three of 20 ends played, but lost the game 22-13. Results:— PAIRS. One lifers, 11th round: S. Garelja and M. A. Marinovitch (Gratia) 22, C. E. Tyrrell and J. B. Kirkland (Mornington) 13; A. J. Webster and G. Littlejohn (Lower Hutt) 19, E. H. Ravenwood and I. Dodd (North East Vlley) 15. FOURS. Thinl round: F. Hadwin (Lower Hutt) 27, W. H. Barton (Kia Toa, Hawke’s Bay) 25; J. Cunningham (Hokonui) 28, W. Campbell (Beckenham) 17; F. White (Runanga) 25, W. G. Love (Port Chalmers) 15; A. S. McInnes (Temuka) 30, E. H. Ravenwood (North East Valley) 16; E. A. Cockroft (Ashburton) 30, W. H. Hampton (Granity R.S.A.) 22; J. H. Mingins (Onehunga) 25, T. L. Floyd (Canterbury) 18. Fourth round: J. F. Beneson (Balmoral) 30, C. E. Tyrrell (Mornington) 21; G. A. Crowley (Tolaga Bay( 25, A. Logan (Hokonui) 24; J. W. Turpin (Canterbury) 26, G. Jolly (Leith) 12; D. Gardiner (Anderson’s Bay) 29, T. H. Watts (Beckenham) 25; E. P. Exelby (Frankton Junction) 24, D. Spiller (Khandallah) 15; F. White (Runanga) 23, A. S. Mclnnes (Temuka) 15; J. Cunningham (Hokonui) 22, F. Hadwin (Lower Hutt) 21; J. H. Mingins (Onehunga) 23, E. A. Cockroft (Ashburton) 18. Fifth round: E. P. Exelby (Frankton Junction) 30. D. Gardiner (Anderson’s Bay) 18; J. W. Turpin (Canterbury) 23, G. A. Crowley (Tolaga Bay) 20.