BOWLING

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17574, 1 December 1928, Page 19 (Supplement)

BOWLING

THE GAME IN GENERAL. GREEN AND PAVILION GOBSIP. i (By " Toucher.") Howdon Shield Competition. Last Saturday saw the four section winners found in the first round of the champion rinks competition for the Ilowdcn Shield. These were Claudelands (Carter), Hamilton East , (Lymburn), To Awamulu (Metcalfe), and Thames (Adamson). In its game against Hamilton (Pilkington) .Carter's Claudelands team swung together very well, and earned its success, notwithstanding that with a little more luck Hamilton should have had additional points to their credit. Chapman performed well, but Pilkington and the remainder of his team play much better bowls than they produced that day. Hamilton East, despite a bad start in which they were down 10 —1 after the sixth head, eventually drew away to win 21—17 from Stewart, of Matamata, who had the same team with which he won the Shield last season, except that Were played lead in place of Oates, the latter of whom is this season in the other iMatamata rink engaged in this competition. Ngaruawahia (H. McFarlane) looked like beating Te Awamutu (R. Metcalfe), when 19 heads had been played, as the board then showed 19—14 in their favour. However, Te Awamutu evened up with a five on the twentieth ,and won 21—19 with a brace on the next. There was really very little between the teams at any part, as Ngaruawahia's advantage of Ave points referred to above was all gained in one of the preceding heads. Second Round Arrangements. As many local players do not appear to be clear on the point it may not be out of place to recapitulate conditions for the second round of the Howden Shield competition. All rinks entered are still " alive " so far as the possibility of winning the competition is concerned. For the second round games the draw will be made in January, and the nu-tches will be played on. February 2, 16 and 23. On March 2, section winners in the first round will play section winners of the second round, to see who goes iato the finals, which will be played at Hamilton on March 9 under the two-life system. If any team wins its section in both the flrst and second rounds it goes into the final automatically, without having to play on March 2. Smith-Clarke Shield. The Hamilton rink (Andrews, Kemp, Robinson, Chapman) which recently won the Smith-Clarke Shield from Metcalfe's Te Awamutu team, has to defend possession to-day against a Frankton Railways team skipped by Yeaman. Taupiri Gn&on Opened. The opening of the new green at Taupiri last Saturday was attended by a number of Hamilton and Cambridge bowlers, including Mr R. N. Pilkington, representing the Dominion Council, and Messrs -Meredith, Wycherley, J. Pdckett and S. 11. James (president) of the Centre executive. Mr Hill, president of the Taupiri club, welcomed the visitors and, after speeches appropriate to the occasion had been made, Mrs Hill, wife of the president, threw the gold jack presented to the club by Mr Prickett, of Hamilton East, and the green was officially declared open for play. Visitors. Mr G. Hosking, of Epsom, was a visitor at the Whitiora green last Saturday, and participated in play as skip of a rink against another club rink. A party of Huntly bowlers, Messrs Turton, Watson, Leonard and Seccombe, visited Hamilton East for a roll-up at the week-end. Seccombe, who has only recently, taken up residence in Huntly, puts down a nice bowl, and one would judge him to be a decided acquisition to the strength of Huntly. The Retort Courteous. Most New Zealand bowlers have no douht heard the term " A Maori " applied to a bowl purposely dropped short to block the other side from driving. It is related of an enthusiastic native player at Rotorua that on one occasion, playing third, he was instructed by his skip to " put in a Maori," and duly blocked the drive as

ordered without comment. A little later, when directing his skip from the ' head! he got his own back. "Te head : all right; you put in a 'pakeha,' stop him drive." Be Up! Skip (instructing his lead on a heavy green): " Now then Blank, drive one up here as near the kitty as you can get it." Selectors (From Another Angle). " Rejected " writes: "Selectors as a class may be entitled to all the sympathy and assistance indicated in a note on the subject in this column last Saturday, but some of them seem to have queer ideas as to how it may be got. I have known selectors who used to openly lament, in season-and out of season, that with the material available they could not possibly pick good teams. This may or may not have been true, but anyhow we all used to become rather ' fed up ' of hearing it so often, and often felt inclined to class such selectors with the recruit who complained that everyone else in the

regiment except himself was out of step. If selectors talk like this is it any wonder than their work is not 'appreciated? Bowlers are only human after all." The Little Things. One of the many great, differences between most bowlers who aim at achieving enviable notoriety at the game, and other men who reach the high places in sports or those things by which livelihood is earned, is that those others pay full attention to small things (writes " Forehand" in the Australasian). The average would-be bowler is superior to that uninteresting practice. Too many bowlers waste time and opportunity in endeavouring to obtain superior places in teams to those allotted to them by discriminating selectors, and in efforts to play skipper's shots before they are well on tlie may to mastering the shots • which are necessities for the purposes of a captain. I have seen many champion bowlers during the last quarter of a century, but I have never seen one who " iust haonened" to earn, t

his honours. The absolute fundamental of every game of bowls is the casting of the jack. There can be no play until it is thrown and is on the green in a proper position. There are many bowlers who consider that necessary procedure to be of negligible importance. Any old place is good enough for the jack, in their estimation. It may go where it lists. They can draw to it at any length and on any hand. But they are wrong: wrong in each of these particulars. Even the best bowlers have favourite lengths. Consequently they are less dangerous —it. is comparative only, certainly, but they are less dangerous— at some lengths that at others. Careful and competent, opponents soon learn what that length is, and try to limit play to it. Without anility in. .iajjk-castine

this cannot be done. Every experienced bowler has seen games lost by careless or badly performed throwing of the jack, and ambitious bowlers are being reminded constantly of the facts. Yet very, very few leaders practise the art. In its place and time jackthrowing is as important as shotdrawing when that is required, and it is an undoubted fact that a leader who cannot throw a jack with a reasonable amount of certainty discounts materially his value as a bowler. These comments apply with equal force to the singles player.-