BOWLING.

Shannon News, 22 November 1929, Page 4

BOWLING.

The Cambridge Independent says:— “It is said that some bowls are so near the standard bias that moisture on one half of the bowl will make it illegal. This is no exaggeration, and the pity of it is that we have official bowl testers who are encouraging ‘pokers’ in every way. When one gets his bowls tested and stamped, if "they draw a few inches more than the standard bowl, it will be suggested that the owner'will be playing under a severe handicap with bowls drawing so much. Result: Player gets them sand-papered and probably ruined. It is very evident to players Who take part ,in tournaments that there are bowls carrying the D.B.A. stamp that could never pass the test. One will be told, ‘ they are backing ' them. ’ This is sheer nonsense. If a light bowl is ‘backed’ it will ‘wobble’ all the way up, while a.'heavy one will straighten up in from three to six feet after it leaves the hand. We have players on our green with an imperfect delivery, whose bowls take very little green, but the reason is obvious. ‘Boomerang,’ the bowling critic, writing in the Sydney Referee, stated that in the final of the Rotorua tournament the bowls played by the lead and two of the Hamilton rink would not have passed the test. Every club should have a standard bowl and if bowls seem narrow, one should not waste time looking to see if they carry the stamp of the D.8.A., but put them down the chute. This is the only test worth while. It is more sporting to lose a game playing with big drawing bowls than to win playing with ‘pokers.’ ”