Bowling Notes

Free Lance, Volume IV, Issue 188, 6 February 1904, Page 16

Bowling Notes

By 'Wrong Bias.

BRAVO! George Prince, of Newtown. In spite of his game leg, and his scratch team, he has skipped his men to victory over all the Dons or Macs^— of the far South, and has returned from Dunedin with the South Island howling championship hanging from his belt. You may see it in the form of a brand new gold medal dangling from his watch-chain. The South Island bowlers, who call themselves the New Zealand Bowling Association, must be getting rather tired of seeing a foraging party trom the North swoop down at their tournament and clear the board of prizes. .Last year, Wellington made a clean sweep or it Brackenridge skippd the victorious Victoria team, Webb and Churchward collared the Pairs, and Nome Bell nobbled the Singles. This year, Prince sallied out from Newtown, with Underwood as chief mate, and veteran cricketer Alpe as lead They lacked a second man to complete their little picnic party, but they found one in E. Harroway. or Green Island, and! soon found out he was all right. He is a member of the same Harroway family whose father and ten sons in 1898 played the Pollard Opera Company a cricket match all on their little own. Green Island thought E. Harm'way wasn't good enough, however, to represent it at bowls, but it is changing its mind now. There were forty-six rinks entered when Prince turned up in Dunedin wih his party of filibustered. All the cracks were on the job • Carswell (who was a champion in Scotland before he came out to New Zealand), Hunter, Sneddon (the Lyddite drive), Sinclair, Willie McLaren, Allnutt (fresh from his triumph m Auckland), and other Dunedin worthies as well; Martin (of Oamaru), Locke (of Gore^i Yates and Porteous (of Invercargill). Defeat meant sudden death every time. Fortune favoured Prince in the fact hat all his games were played on the Dunedin and Caledonian grounds, which ran very true. He got a bye in the first round, and found no difficulty in the second round in bumping out a Port Chalmers rink by seven points. In the third round, Corless (of Dunedin), who played at the last tournament in Wellington, went down by nine. In the fourth round, Prince met Yates of Invercargill, formerly a draper in Wellington, and for some years a member of the Wellington Club, and subsequently of Feilding. Yates was, partial to driving, and it was a dingdong struggle, but Prince drew the shot with his first bowl on the 21st head, and it was not disturbed. Game won by a point. There was windy weather when Prince met, Martin, of Oamaru, in the fifth) round, and both sides played indifferently. Still, the Newtown-ites were not so bad as the other fellows, and came through with nine to the good. In the sixth and final round, Prince stood up to Sneddon, the famous driving skip, of Kaituna — and when Greek meets Greek then comes the tug-of-war. The assembled bowlers expected a very lively "go," and they lined up three sides of the green to see it through. They knew it would be played "eyes out." And it was. Newtown drew first blood for 2, and with five heads gone the game was 3 all. You see they weren't throwing any away ; and Sneddon's blood wasn't up to boiling point just yet. But, he got to work soon after, and burnt the Bth and 9th heads. Driving now became the order of the day, and Newtown and Kaituna both got a 4. With 12 heads gone, Kaituna was' 11 to Newtown's 9, and with 16 heads gone 13 to Newtown's 12. In the 17th head. Prince, with a clean drive, took the jack into the ditch, and scored 2, and in the 18th head Underwood ran the jack, and scored 3. Prince burned the next head but Kaituna got the shot The 21st head started wih Kaituna two behind. They were lying these two when Prince, took up his first bowl. He made a splendid drive, and. wicking on a bowl in front, got the kitty, and ran it on to three Newtown bowls. Sneddon, with one bowl to play, essayed to rake, but his bowl went wide, and the game resulted in favour of Newtown bv 20 points to 15. The Newtown men speak highly of the camaraderie and jolly good-fellow-ship of the Southern bowlers. Mr. R.

T. Wheeler, jun. (chairman of the executive), was a host in himself. He is a general favourite, and was piesented at the smoke concert with a gold-mount-ed stick for himself, and a diamond biooch for his excellent wife. And the send-off the winning Newtownites received at the Dunedin railway station — it fairly broke them up. "Just fancy," says Piince, "a hundred of Dunedin's business men lined up- at the railway station at 11 a.m. and singing "Wull ye no come back again?" Prince says he will. By the way, Newtown has been three different times in semi-finals for bowling championships, but this is the first time she has come out on top. Down South, in 1901, Blyth, Price, Bary, and Prince (s) tied on the 20th head in the semi-final with the rink that won, viz., Barnett, Gibb, Bishop, and Wood. Wulhe McLaren, who was playing magnificently, won the Singles last week, and TJssher and Locke, of Gore, earned off the doubles, while veteran champion Carswell got away with the Consolation. Locke, a gentlemanly young fellow, and Dall, who played a splendid No. 3 for Sneddon, impressed the visitors as coming) men. Charlie Payne had played himself "dead stale" — as he phrased it — up North, and went in largely for driving. He skipped his team, however, to second place in the Consolation, and in one game he made no less than nine dead-heads. * \ -i Harry Smith's team (Osborne, Thompson, and Brunskill) has been rudely severed from the- Bush Ferns, after getting within cooey of winning them outright. They bore them successfully through six contests against teams skipped by Churchward (twice) Gibbes, Sample, Remington, andParata. In the seventh and deciding effort on Saturday they were bumped out by Ledger, Purvis, Allen, and 1 Ballinger, by 21 to 19, Ballinger drawing the shot with his last bowl. As Harry is going Home, the Emperor of Germany is sure to miss 1 the Bush Fern from has manly buzzum when they meet at Monte Carlo. * * * The Edwin Featheis have also staited to move round 1 again. This week, Neil McLean stood up with an easy mind, along with H. Smith, Mentiplay, and Churchward, to defend the coveted badges against the defiant challenge of Sample's braves. He had iust beaten a Victorian team skipned by Bary by 20 to 11. In the absence of Sample the command devolved upon Veitch, and, with the assistance of Remington, Thompson (who played a rattling game) and Clark Johnson, he won the Featheis by 22 to 19. Neil's drives didn't come off. Ballinger, with a team, consisting of Geddis, Parata, and Berry, was the next challenger, and, with Sample, in charge of the holders, and Nome Bell playing substitute for Veitch (down with influenza), the match came off on Wednesday afternoon. It was a capital contest, and Ballinger arrived on top with 22 to 21, although the holders bagged 1 5 in the 20th head. Bell comes next on the challenge list * * *■ A Victoria rink, comnrising Kitto, Baggett, Anderson, and Varcoe, made a vain struggle on Wednesday for the Hill Pins, which look so well in the ties of Charlie Hill, sen., Andy Hamilton, Tom Bush, and Nome Bell. But they failed to clutch them. The game was a procession, and the last six heads fell to the Pin Champions after this style 1-1-3-1-4-4. Score 32 to 11. Bush was in great form, and made things delightfully easy for his skip. •* * vc Tom Brown, of Ponsonbv — every bowler knows Tom — was an enthusiastic spectator of Newtown's champion win in the South Island championship. His heart was too full for words when the last bowl went up, but he pushed a neat little parcel into Prince's hand. It contained a case of pipes. Piince has been, smoking ever since. The members of the Wellington Club who took part in the recent tournament at Auckland were entertained on Thursday last by Mr. Wm, Gray and several other old members. There was luncheon in the naviiion, and afterwards there were stay-at-home teams ready to enable the champions to show r their paces. Lockie's rink won by 3 points in a tussle with Churchwards, but Ned McLean and his men went down by 29 to 17 to Russell, Knapp, H. Smith, and Bush (s), while Haybittle and Veitch polished off Berry and Ballinger by 23 to 12. Victoria, in a four-rink match, on its own green, has passed out Petone at 100 to 72. Page beat Carter, and Scott beat Henry, but Gilmoui was too good for Redstone, and Fraser did some plumbing on little Mack.