CLOSE FINISHES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 157, 31 December 1931, Page 9

CLOSE FINISHES

BOWLING SEMI-FINALS

LAST GAME TO-DAY

END OF TOUMEY

Tho Wellington Bowling Centre's holiday tournament, which is ono of tho most interesting and elosely-eoutest-cd yet hold, will end this afternoon, when tho finalist rinks skipped respectively by Smith (Thorndon) and Brackenridgo (Lyall Bay) will play off on the Thorndon green. The game will begin at 2 o'clock. Yesterday afternoon's post-section and semi-final play was keenly fought and closely watched by a largo crowd of spectators. In the second round of Iho post-section play Braekenridge defeated Tucker (Victoria) by a point; Smith defeated M'Whannell (Hataitai) by 2 points; Watts (Hataitai) had a 7-point victory over Cook (Eastbourne); and Ardell (Hataitai) boat Thomson. (Thorndon) by a point on the last head. In the semi-finals Smith just scraped home against Watts, and Brackenridge gained a win over Ardell. POST-SECTION GAMES. Fighting for supremacy all the way, Brackenridgo and Tucker met in tho second round of the post-section play. Tucker opened with a 3, but Brackenridge replied with a 2, 2, and 4 on successive heads. Tucker notched a useful 6 at the fifth head, and at tho sixth they wero 9 all. By l's and 2'a tho skips scored evenly, and at tho 11th head they wero again level —13 all. Tucker added several handy scores fi"." looked like a winner at the 20th head, when he was leading 20-10. Brack- ' enridgo was not finished, however, and by steady bowling took tho 21st head with -1 up, thus evening up the score. After one dead head, Brackenridgo won tho extra head with a draw shot, and snatched victory from tho Victoria Club's hands by 21-20. In the match between Smith and M'Whannell, Smith was 6 up when M'Whannell opened his account with 1 on the fourth head. Smith made 3, 2, 3, 1 on tho next four heads, and when the Bth had been played tht Thorndon skip was leading 15-1. It appeared liko a walk-over, but a 2 on the Oth, a very handy 6 on the 11th, and a further 3 on tho 12th pulled tho game to common ground for M'Whannell, and at the 13th head the Hataitai skip was only 4 down and playing steady bowls. Smith piled on several useful scores, and led 20-14 at tho ICth head. The Hataitai rink registered another 6, the second of the game, at tho 17th head, bringing the score even—2o all. Smith scored 1 on each of the 18th and 19th, lost the 2 *h by 1, and added another 1 on tho 21st, winning out by 23-21. M'Whannell's remarkable capacity for recovery never allowed the issue to become quite certain. BAY KHTK GOES. Watts and Cook played their first gamo of the day when they met in the afternoon. Watts began confidently, and a 2, 4, and 3 helped him to establish a lead of 11-3 at the Cth head. Ho followed this with wins on the Bth, Oth, and 10th heads, and led IG-5 on the 12th. The opposing rinks shared the 14th and 15th with two each. Cook made a desperate effort to bridge the gap by taking tho 16th, 17th, and 18th, but Watts's lead was too great, and he definitely killed Eastbourne's chances in tho tournament by registeriu.. another 2 on the 21st head, winning 21----11. Thomson's game with Ardell was watched with the greatest interest, particularly in view of Thomson's, narrow victory over Lcvestam in tho morning. The gamo was hard-fought all tho way, and tho finish was most exciting. Ardell scored well in the opening heads, with a i on the third and a 1 on the seventh, iThomson keeping hii total well in hand by gaining 2 and 1 respectively on the fifth and sixt heads, and a run of 3, 2, and 1 respectively on the eighth, ninth, and tenth. Thomson gained 2 on the 12th and 2 on the 14th, tvhen he led 14-12. A 4 on the 15th head and a 2 on the 16th againgavo Ardell the lead, which the Thorndon skip reduced by 2 at the 17th head. Playing the 18th, Ard«ll led 19-16. Thomson made a valiant effort to even the score, piling up 2 at the 19th and drawing level with a single on tho 20th. There was great excitement when the skips went down with Ardell lying ono, which the skips did not alter. This gave Ardell the g;ime, 20-19. SEMI-FINALS. The semi-finals in the afternoon were played on an excellent green, which, however, stiffened up a little, as the day advanced. These rinks, too, were evenly matched, and the competition kept watchers on the bank doubtful until the last heads were played. In tho match between Smith and Watts excellent bowls wero played. Smith's generalship was a feature of the play, and the result was so close that this almost certainly had a great bearing on the final score. Even scoring was registered in the early beads, and tho rinks were 4 all at tho fifth, Smith adding a 2 and 1 and making it 74: at the seventh head. Watts got 1 at the eighth, and Smith added 2 in the following head. Watts was lying 4 at the tenth, and •tvhen Smith's final bowl failed to dislodge the jack Watts came in quietly for another, and captured five on ths head, taking the lead 10-9. Smith evened up in the following head with a perfect draw, following with a similar winning bowl on the twelfth, and taking the lead again 11-10. Hataitai 'a number two, Wells, drew the shot in the thirteenth, which his opponents couia not shift—ll all. Watts added a two at tho fourteenth and a one on the following head, when Smith narrowly failed with a trail when Watts was lying tho shot. Watts was now 14-11, and as ho and his rink were playing excellent bowls, Thorndon's chances seemed slightly under the SO-50 mark. Smith's direction, backed by the excellent play of his men, was superb.' He took tho sixteenth head with a single, but Watts got it back again in tho next- head. Watts was then threo up, with four heads to go. Smith's persistency was responsible for his gaining ono on tho 18th and adding another on tho 19th, placing him only one down with two heads to go. On the 20th head Thorndon was lying ono and a doubtful two when Wellings, Hataitai's number three, carried the kitty brick and lay the shot. Smith, driving with, his first bowl, cut Wellings's away us clear as a whistle and lay 2 up. V/hon Watts drew wide Smith sidled in with his final bowl and took 3 for tho head. Smith 17-15. In the final head Wrigley, Hataitai's lead, placed his second nicely alongside tho jack, and Briggs, Thorndon 'a number two, came beautifully inside it and parked up against tho jack for tho shot. Wellings tried to drive the Thorndon bowl out, but Cut out his own second shot, and left Smith 4 up. Smith with his last covered direct access to the jack, and Watts missed with the sixth attempt to burn the head, leaving Smith 3 up on the head and 5 up on the match, which ended 20-13. LYALL BAY'S WIN. Brnckonridgc, who w;is always a potential winner, had a keen Kruno with Ardell, whose one-point win over Thomson ridded to tho interest of tho tourna-

ment. Brackenridge began with singles on the first and second head;", and scored also a 3 on tho fourth and fifth. Ardell took the third with 2, and got 3 at the sixth, when Brackenridge led 6-5. The Lyall Bay skip added 2, 1, 2 in succession, and was 11-5 at tho 9th head. Tho leads in both rinks wero playing nice bowls, and tho supports j wero conforming to instructions in every respect. Ardell registered ono on tho 10th head, but Brackenridge got ■ two on the 11th, and then led 13-6. j Despite excellent bowling, Ardell could not close tho gap. When lying 1 up at tho 13th, ho very neatly cut away a dangerous bowl at tho back, anticipating Brackenridge's design to trail tho kitty, where lay a possible five. Brackeuridgc took tho 14th, when he was 14-8. ~-,-,, Ardell was lying 3 up on tho loth when Sherwood, Braekenridge's number three, turned another in, giving his opponent 4. Braekenridge's attempt to draw tho shot was under-: weight, and Ardell 's last bowl left 3 and a measure. Ha was then 2 down. Sherwood made few mistakes with his driving, and several times pulled his rink out of awkward positions.' Driving cleanly on the 16th head, he took kitty with him into the ditch, and his skip placed two very nicely alongsido the ditch, gaining three on tho head. Brackenridgo 17-12. Lvall Bay rink was lying the shot in tho 17th when Ardoll, after running ] ri"ht through with his first, tipped the kitty with hin second and trailed it ior a useful 2, which made him 3 down. Sherwood's accuracy was seen again in the 18th, which ho killed effectively when his opponents were lying three. Playing again, Brackenridge reversed the head and registered another throe. The position did not look healthy for Ardell, and although he won tho 19th with two, Brackenridgo took the 20th, leaving Ardell six to get to tic. The head was killed once, and a further attempt to kill it failed, when Ardell cut one of his own bowls from shot position, leaving kitty intact with Brackenridge 4 up on the head and 10 up on tho game, which ended 26-16. The scores in the post-section play and semi-finals are:— Thorndon—Horwood, Briggs, Casey, Smith (s), 23; Hataitai—Hetchor, (Jrquhart, Bennett, M'Whannell (s), 21 Hataitai—Wrigley, Wells, Wellings, i Watts (s), 21; Eastbourne —Loo, Meo, 1 Andrew, Cook (s), 12. Hataitai—Moellcr, Woollcy, Shore, Ardell (*O, 20; Thorndon —Goodwin, Gibson, White, Thomson (s), 19. Lyall Bay—Eaven, Lawne, Sherwood, Brackenridge (s), 21; Victoria —Jory, Duncan, Bolton, Tucker (s), 20. Seiui-Finals. Smith 20; Watts 15. Brackenridge 26; Ardell 10.