BOWLS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2721, 16 March 1916, Page 9

BOWLS

CHAMPION PAIRS TOURNEY. Tlie Wellington Bowling Centre's champion of champion pairs tourney was played on the Newtown Club's green in perfect weather yosterday. The green, with perhaps the exception of A r o. 7 rink (which liaa wido and narrow hands),' played extremely keenly, and as a result tho play was on tho slow side. One game in the second round, that between Wellington and Thorndon, took 3} hours to play, which-.is probably a record for a pairs game in Wellington. The first round was characterised _by wido margins in the scores. Hataitai only managod to score 9 points, whilst Wellington piled' u]> 35, and Upper Hutt only scored 11, whilst Newtown put up 85.' Kelburn and Victoria also had comparatively easy wins. The play reached the semi-final at about 4 p.m., and tho result of these games left Newtown and the winner of tlie Welliugton-Hutt game to play olf the final, which will ho played on tho same green at 3 o'clock this (Thursday) afternoon. Tho players and visitors (who were numerous) were thfc guests of tlie Newtown! Club at morning and afternoon tea. The following are the results so far: — First Round. Te Hiwi (Wiggins and Shallcrass) beat Khandallah (Weight and Dumbell), 22-14. Newtown (Sexton and Wylie) beat Upper Hutt (Benge and Greenwood), 35—11. Eastbourne (Marquis and Powell) beat Lyall Bay (Raven and Burgess). 23—13. Wellington (Dixon and Hill) beat Ha. taitai (Claridge and F. Laurenson), 35 —9. Thorndon (Peterson and Parata) beat Johnsonville (Petrio and Turner), 26— 11; Lower Hutt (ICeir and Hendry) beat Petono (M'Ewen and Melhuish), 17 —12. Kelbunie (Manly and Dall) beat Karori (Gregg and Crawford), 29—13. Victoria (Bolton and Snaddon) beat Seatoun (M'Girr and Green), 29—16. Second Round. ■ Lower Hutt beat Eastbourne, 24 —16; Victoria beat-Kelburn, 21—8; Newtown beat To Hiwi, -24 —14. Wellington 'beat Thorndon, 19—16. Semi-Final. The semi-final resulted in a splendid, game between' Victoria and Newtown. Contrary to 'expectations, Bolton and Snaddon put up a' great game against Sexton and Wylie, though the latter were playing well up to form. Chiefly

through Bolton's accurate play, Victoria took the lead early in the game, and maintained it up to tlie fifteenth head, ivhcn the score stood 16—15 in favoiir of Victoria. On the twontietli head Newtown had a lead of one point only, 21—20. The light by this time had failed, and owing to a thick moist sea fog which swept over the district at about 6 o'clock, the green had stiffened up considerably. In senii-darlmess the last head was fought out keenly, and as the result Newtown was able to count three shots, thus winning, 24—'JO. The game between Lowor Hutt 'and Wellington was a curious one. Both Kcir and Hendry (Hutt) wore in great form, arid for six heads Dixon and Hill wero unable to score. When the . score was 15 —a in favour of Hutt, Wellington beeamc aggressive, and for seven heads Hutt did not notch a point, but Hill only managed the stiff climb in singles, and when the closed down .at tlio finish of' the cightetfnth head Wellington's score had reached 11, whilst Hutt was 17. The tlirr-e' final heads of this game will be played on tlio Newtown Club's green at 2 p.m. to-day, the winning double'to play off with Sexton and Wylie (who look like the winners).