BOWLING.

Shannon News, 17 October 1922, Page 3

BOWLING.

Invitations have been received tor the official openings of the undermentioned'clubs, and members wish;:;g to attend will either advise the seeielafy or place their names on ihe pavilion notice board: 1 Terrace -nd, Saturday, 21st, 2 p.m.; Palmerston North, Saturday, 28th, 2 p.m. The Shannon Club’s challenge tor the Dixon Cup has been accepted, and the match will be played on Saturday, 28th inst. The following will represent Shannon: Roach, Murphy, Knowles and Gagliardi. Matches so far arranged for this coveted trophy are: Levin (holders) v. Feilding, 21st October; Shannon v. winners, 28th October; Woodville v. winners, sth November. LEVIN BOWLERS HOLD DIXON CUP. FOXTON DEFEATED ON SATURDAY. The first match this season for the Dixon Cup was played on Saturday, when Levin (Wilson, Rankin, Bull and Clements, jnr., skip) defeated a challenging team from Foxton (Admore, Ball, Roore, and Nye, skip). The scores were—Levin 20, Foxton 13. A report of the match will appear in to-morrow’s issue. In many old-fashioned bowling clubs it is still considered a reflection upon a player's ability to be placed in the position of second man in a rink competition (writes G. T. Burrows in the London Daily Telegraph). In such clubs one can usually scent trouble in the air when the selection committee has compelled its labours and the rinks are announced. In such clubs, also, the inevitable result is trouble, with a trio or a quartet of disgruntled bowlers, who resent the alleged innuendo that because they are being played in second place in a rink they are considered the weakest part of that rink. It is. good to know that such views are held only in what has been charitably described as “old-fashioned clubs." In those organisations where bowlers have learned the first lesson of true .sportsmanship, the will to play for the side and not so much for the individual, one finds no such crude opinions held as those ' prevailing in organisations where players place self first and their club a very bad second. . Writing as one with considerable experience in the selection of sides for match play, one can make the declaration that a team which is strong in its second men will win more matches than one that has a w T eak second line. Surrey has won the English inter-coun-ty championship on . three occasions, mainly because she has picked strong men for the second places in each rink and because the bowlers put in those positions have gloried in the fact that they were in the side because the county could rely upon them in that position, rathqr than that their appearance in the position means that they could hardly be trusted elsewhere in the team. Not long a,go second place in < side was described as “silly second." As the game is played to-day a No. 2 inan in a rink has often to accomplish more with his two bowls than either of he companions. ;