Bowls THE SOUTHERNERS AGAIN

NZ Truth, Issue 1261, 30 January 1930, Page 12

Bowls THE SOUTHERNERS AGAIN

Rinks Championship Goes To Dunedin Team

LAMBETH TAKES THE SINGLES

(From' "N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative.) "The outstanding feature of the .Dominion Bowling Association's, championship tournament was the result of the rinks competition, when two teams from the same, club met m the final.

SUCH a thing has never happened before and ls very unlikely to occur again. To pick winners at bowls is difficult. Certain rinks composed of well-known players were expected to remain until well Into the last stages and they did so. '■ , But nobody fancied either of the two St. 'Kilda Club (Dunedin), rinks, who fought out the final \as actual winners.. Of the two teams, that comprising E. S; Wilson, J. Buist, J. Dowland, and D. M. Stuart was the more fancied by its clubmates. That this opinion was justified was proved by its record. ' Of the fifteen rink games played it won fourteen; and the peculiar thing is that the one defeat was at the hands of its clubmates — a defeat which was amply avenged m the; final game. It was the only team to win , all eight games m a section. ..'... '.The victory, was popular enough, Vfor the skip r Donald Stuart, Is known throughout the Dominion as a real sport, football having been a hobby of his— on the field when a young man, and at the council table In later 'years.- \ ;;.''' '* ' ■■ *' His lead, Ernie7 Wilson; is president of St. Kilda Club, and is Secretary of the , Otago ' Rugby Union, the Otago Cricket Association, , and many other bodies, y The * runners-up 'were composed of W. •XI. Todd, T. O' Sullivan,' B. Tamblyn and Oj, G. Adess. The. first and third of these were the winning pair m the 1926 tourna.ment. Adess is. a well-known player, „ and was a' member of the last New Zealand team which, journeyed abroad. .; This Is the fifth time the rinks championship has come to Dunedin since the Dominion Association was formed In 1914' Curiously enough, Canterbury has not secured the honor at all. , Southland, too,, has not yet had a win. In 1926- D.'H;. Thomson brought up a -team whifch I'an into ;second place, and ■he was with -the- last- four or five this time, but could hot quite get there.' -The North Island did not do. so: well as was expected: The fourth round of post-section play saw Jenkin' s (Carlton), rink eliminated, and the /next, round was fatal to Ardell (Hataltai), the only surviving Northern rink. " '/'7; "' '

The pairs competition under present arrangements loses much of its interest owing to the frequent .-interruptions .to its progress. After two days' steady play those still m cannot meet for the next four days, and even then they may have to wait a day or two if their, prospective opponents are still playing iri the rinks. As the post-section games are picked Tip' at any old time, very few know how the position actually stands till the very «last. This was the case this year. ■■'.y-JX. was found, that. on Saturday, the last day, G' Gladding, and S. Jenkin (CarlHbn),' had to play H. F. Halliday and G. Cooper ',-. (Southland) , m the semi-final, the winners to meet a Hokonul Club (Gore) , for the actual decision. The Jenkin. v. Cooper contest was worth watching, especially <5n the last

few heads. At one time there fcvas a difference of 4 points, rf'ever more, and with one head to be played the Carlton men led by 16 to 14. When ' Cooper. had his last bowl to play the shot was against him a few Inches away. -On the extra head the play was just as exciting. The position being against him, Jenkin ran. the kitty to the ditch with his third bowl, and nobody could tell who was shot. Cooper got it by drawing to within a foot or two; but the Carlton man's last bowl rested on the edge of the ditch for a scorer, and this qualified the Northerners for the final.

This last game was worthy of a championship. final. H. F. Halliday and N. Burgess .'(Hokonui), were ' the opponents of the Carlton players (this time. The latter is a reverend gentleman, who plays an aggressive game, favoring the drive, but ' being able to play a nice drawing shot, too. Of the six left m from the singles preliminary games, W. Foster (Caversham), a. ..former champion on two occasions, was just beaten by P. .Vance (Sumner). The former did not play m his best fbrm, especially m the early stages, and made his effort just a shade late, going down by one point. F. Lambeth (Balmacewen), put out an-. Other ex-champion In J. D. Best (Taieri), winning rather easily. T. Sanders (Kaituna), met Dr. Marks (Christchurch). The latter could not settle down at all, and the Kaituna man won comfortably, and had a bye. Then "Vance and Lambeth met and. the latter's steadiness and accuracy cost the Christchurch man his first life. As Vance had already had a bye he had to meet Sanders to qualify to settle matters with Lambeth m the final. Sanders looked like running away In the yearly part of the game, but Vance overhauled him, and as Sanders went right off his game he was well down at. the finish. The final gave conclusive proof of the consistency and skil^ 'of the Dunedin player, Lambeth. A tricky wind troubled him more than it did his opponent, and Vance got away with a good lead. After seven heads the figures were 11 to 2 against Lambeth. Then the latter found Himself, and, playing good Bhots with' great judgment, reduced the gap until at the seVenteeth head the fig- ( ures were 15 all. Vance got no further, while Lambeth, who is a great finisher, added 6 and be-., came the Dominion champion. The winner has limited opportunities for play, but he has already had one or two successes at local gatherings one of them being a win In the . Dunedin Easter. Pairs. The diminished entries did not detract from the tournaments interest. The splendid weather of the last few daiys was very welcome, and it wiii be generally admitted that the 1930 tournament was one of the most successful of the series.