ON THE GREEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 316, 29 March 1928, Page 8

ON THE GREEN

Bowls and Bowlers

“HAIL THE CHAMPION” It has always been accepted that ; the fundamental requirements of all . participants in the game on the : green are, to be a bowler first and a player afterwards. In other words, no matter how gifted a player may be, he must also retain the fullest expression of sociability and good-fellowship, in addition to adroitness and outstanding ability in the game. This may be termed the basic code of bowling. In this respect, Mr. H. C. Clarke, the new champion of champions for the season 1927-28, has proved beyond all measure that he complies wholly with these qualifications. To the bowlers of the Queen City of the North who have had the pleasure of coming in contact with the new champion of champions, it will be appreciated that they have come into touch with a cheery personality, reminiscent of his late father, Mr. S. 1. Clarke, well-known in Auckland a few years ago, and his brother, Mr. Fred Clarke, late of the Auckland Club, and prominent in journalistic circles in this city. On the administrative side of the sport, Mr. H. C. Clarke has always lent a willing hand. When a member of the Rocky Nook Club, he occupied nearly all the official positions, excepting those of secretary and treasurer, and as delegate to the Auckland Bowling Centre, was elected last year to a position on the centre executive, and latterly as selector to that effective body in bowling administration. This year he joined the Carlton Club, and has worthily contributed to this club’s list of winnings, by adding those of runner-up to the championship singles of the Dominion, and the champion of champion singles for the Auckland Centre. THE LUCK OF THE DRAW By bad luck in not drawing the “bye” at the close of the seventh round in the recent champion of champions tournament held last week, the honour of becoming the ultimate victor, or at least becoming the runner-up in the competition, passed James, the Edendale champion, by. Such is the luck of the game. This statement sounds somewhat involved, but it does not present near the complexity that faced the centre executive on Wednesday of last week. The facts are as follow: Three players were left in to contest the eighth round, with one life apiece, and these bowlers had to be paired off. To decide who was to have the bye, the three names were placed in a hat —Walker, James and Clarke—and one drawn out, and the other two paired off. Clarke was the fortunate one. Hence Walker met James, the latter being defeated; Clarke met Walker, who was then defeated, and Clarke became the champion of champions and Walker the runner-up. If, however, James had had the good fortune to draw the bye instead of Clarke, he would have been in the final game, and at least would have been the runner-up for the champion of champion competition 1927-28 season. Hence it is that a bowler needs to have, sometimes, an element of good luck with him to be in a final of a big competition as well as being a champion exponent of the game of bowls. It might be advanced that all bowlers join in wishing James better luck next time. His success in this great bowling trial was exceptional; he deserves congratulations from all bowlers in the Auckland Centre for his praiseworthy effort. THE INTER-CLUB PENNANT FINAL

The final and deciding round of the largest bowling competition that was ever held in the Dominion was played on Saturday last between the Carlton and Ponsonby Clubs. The weather was fine and the greens fairly keen for this great trial of bowling strength between the two victorious clubs, but a raking, gusty wind swept the greens, making play very uncertain. This circumstance was as the players involved looked forward to contesting the great final under conditions which would test the teams' ability to the maximum strength. However, both sides met the same conditions and the final scores show that there was little between four out of an aggregate total of 472 in favour of the Carlton Club and six and a-half games to five and a-half, which is wonderfully close going for such a big contest. Some notable wins were in evidence. McKeown, Farrow, Gibson, Chapman had a very fine win against Holland, Mountain, Watson, Lamb, 31—11; also Mackay, Elliott, Wrightson, Laurenson v. Nield, Millar, Russell, Hilton, 15—29. The Carlton Club by this victory maintains its high reputation for com r petitive play. The club has done exceedingly well this season, with still some good tournaments to be completed. The Carlton men are always to be found in large numbers in the concluding rounds of most tournaments, even if they do not actually win the final game on all occasions. This was particularly noticeable in the Christmas tournament, when almost every team left in seemed to be wearing the familiar gold and black of that club. “THE BENDIGO BOWLS’' Added to the list of centre fixtures this season will be the full rink competition for the Bendigo Bowls, which were presented by Mr. H. M. Leggo, when he was in Auckland a few weeks ago. The date fixed for the 'event is April 21. One of the provisions laid down was that the competition was to encourage a champion of champion rinks competition. It is hoped that the clubs in arriving at the special rinks that are to represent the respective clubs will take seriously into consideration that Mr. Leggo suggested that the teams should be selected from the usual club grading and “not be all skips.” In this respect, the Epsom Club has undoubtedly shown a clear lead. All names of the available players were placed before the full committee. Eight skips were selected and the balance carried on with the threes to fill the thirds’ positions, and so on, carrying on the surplus to the lesser positions. This gave eight excellent rinks, and they were drawn to contest the final champion rink. Only one exception was made. The famous team, Lamb, Gratton, Wilkinson and de Launay, was left intaet, although seven teams have had the opportunity of displaying superiority to that combination of bowling strength. It is understood that most clubs are selecting the respective teams to represent them. If the competition is to be a success it should be contested properly by finding the champion rink ii\ each club, and sending it on to find the champion of champion in this event. The centre executive should draw up the necessary binding conditions. If they are not laid down, clearly, the initiation of this fine contest is likely to prove a failure. No effort should be spared to make this tournament as classic a bowling contest as the champion of champion singles competition. THE PAIRS TOURNAMENT The pairs tournament commenced on Monday in beautiful bowling weather. Unfortunately an extremely heavy shower of rain stiffened up the greens on the second day. Last year's winners, Kissling and Ryan, are being watched with close interest. The final will probably be played to-day on the Mount Eden green. Incidentally the Remuera Club has selected Ryan to skip its team in the Bendigo Bowls’ competition.

THE TEAMS LIST SATURDAY’S MATCHES The following teams have been selected for inter-club bowling matches on Saturday: Epsom v. Auckland.—At Epsom: Fox, Gunthrop, George, W. Wallace; Jansen, Hall, Mcßeath, Johnson; Parkinson, Sansbury, Tanner, Gladding; Harris, Penn, Blakey, J. Wallace; French, Gray, E. Richmond, Kendall; Furnell, A. G. Clarke, Jenkin, G. Braithwaite; Tingey, Hayes, Morison, Butland; Wynott, J. H. Braithwaite, Nash, McCowan; Hutchinson, Reid, Hetherington, Bridges; T. Wallace, Lawrence, Wilkinson, A. Taylor. At Auckland: R. Clark, Hill, de Launay, Bruce; Slater, Harrison, Grattan, C. Lamb; S. Hardley, Ongley, tnglis, Greening; Gouk, A. Wright, A. Jones, McGregor; Peak, Foote, E. Jones, Burton, Standin, Waddingham, Parsons, Ramsay; Newman, Morton, J. Wright, Paget; Whitehouse, J. Harrison, Boyne, Wheelan; Veale, C. Jackson, Hazard, F. Richmond; Yearbury, Dowding, Dunlop, Smith. Veterans, at Epsom: Freeman, Were, Westwood, Laud. First-year players, at Epsom: Gribble, Wiseman, Miller, Hooper. Auckland v. Epsom.—At Epsom: Harding,. Ansell, Bailey, Brackebush; McDougall, Tracy Inglis, Hardie Neil, Lyell; Howard, Hardy, Duncan, Fraser; Dario w, Rocke, Davidson, McCrea; De Renzy, Esam, Woolley, Clarkson; Blades, Kretchmar, Steele, Hodgson; Barclay, W. J. Campbell, Prime, Robertson; Ward, F. Whittaker, Walker, Bourke; Simpson, Daniel, Moir, Hinton; Mohr, Linder, D. Harvey, J. Newell; Newbegin, Aloon, Jas. Carlaw, Gilmour; Dadley, Williams, Matheson, Israel. At Auckland: Treacy, Messenger, Fletcher, Hewitson; Forder, Bush, Osmond, Nicholson; Carr, Rawlinson, Wyatt, Perrett; Plummer, Commons, Prime, Graham; Beaumont, Alexander, Muston, Keesing; S. Gray, Myers, Atkin, Mason; R. Wilson, John Carlaw; Scantlebury, H. R. Allan; Forrest, Frost, A. D. Gray, Hood; Lamb-Harvey, Munro, Devereux, D. Campbell; July, C. Allan, Kirk, G. J. Mackay. , _ _ Otahuhu v. Mangere.—At Otahuhu: Dawson, Kimber, Pinkey, Pearce; G. E. Whitmore, Trevena, Goodwin, R. B. Todd; F. Davis, Robinson, Ogilvie, Williams. At Mangere: C. B. Whitmore, Barrett, Whyte, F. Davies; J. Todd, Martin, Gorrie, Sykes; Moss, J. Gardiner, Hickson, Murdoch. . _ . Devonport v. Rocky Noo£.— —Davies, Flynn, Woolcott, Koefoed. Te Papapa v. New Lynn.—At New Lynn: Thursby, Fallon, Allcock, Donnell; Paterson, Watters, Thorpe, Speight. At Te Papapa: Angus, Johnson, Dawson, Marks; Harriman, James, Simpson, Bridge. BENDIGO GOLD BOWLS The following teams will represent their respective clubs in the Bendigo Gold Bowls competition on Saturday:— West End. —F. Wise, J. Clarke, A. Thomson, W. Bremner. Remuera.—W. Crawford, Young, F. Saxton, E. E. Daniels, Rev. Ryan. WEST END CLUB The following teams will play in the semi-final of the percentage fours on Saturday:— Parkinson, E. Darby, White, Brookes, v. Hedlund, Irwin, Draffln, Thomson; Cato, Cox, Haig, Worsfold, v. Raynes, Knox, Plummer, Wynyard. HENDERSON CLUB Following is the draw for the Henderson Club’s tournament, to be held cn Saturday:— SECTION A F. G. Blackwell, H. A. Buscomb, McAllister, G. Scarborough, J. Mingins, J. James. SECTION B R. S. Higginbotham, J. Gardiner, J. Rowe, Hosking, J. Franklin, A. Poole. There will be five games of 11 heads in each section, and the final will be of 21 heads. Play will commence at 9.30 a.m. sharp. PUBLIC SERVICE TOURNEY FINAL MATCH TO-MORROW Tlie final game of the Public Service bowling tournament, which was to have been played this afternoon on the Epsom green, has been postponed until to-morrow afternoon on account of the fact that W. J. Johnston, of the Lands and Survey team, will be engaged to-day in the final of the champion pairs tourney of the Auckland Bowling Association. THE MANUREWA CLUB

FULL RINK TOURNEY The Manurewa bowling green presented a busy appearance yesterday, on the occasion of the club’s full rink tournament, when a dozen teams, representing clubs from Onehunga on the North, and Buckland on the South, participated. The green was in first-class condition and some very enjoyable games were played. A feature of the tourney was the success achieved by a team of first-year players from Onehunga, skipped by Whellam, who divided the honours with Hewitt, of Buckland Club. Results; First Round.—Hewitt (Buckland), 9, v. Westbrook (Elierslie), 14; Fawcett (Manurewa), 12, v. Graham (Clevedon), 4; Osborne (Manurewa), 13. v. Duder (Clevedon), 14; Whellam (Onehunga), 10, v. borbes (Manurewa), 6; Fowler (Manurewa) 6, v. P. Rae (Buckland), 14; Taylor (Elierslie), 18, v. Pegler (Manurewa), Second Round.—Rae, 13, v. Fawcett, 5; Bowler, 5, v. Westbrook, 14; Osborne, 9, v. Hewett, 19; Duder, 7, v. Forbes, 9; Graham, 16. v. Taylor, 3; Pegler, 10, v. Wellham, 13. Third Round.—Rae, 8, v. Duder, 16; Fawcett, 6. v. Fowler, 11; Hewett, 13, v. Pegler, 10; Whellam. 10, v. Graham, 12; Forbes, 9, v. Taylor, 7; Osborne. 7. v. Westbrook, 11. Fourth Round.—Duder, 6, v. Pegler 12; Fowler, 8, v. Osborne, 15; Whellam, 9, v. Rae, 4; Taylor, 6, v. Hewett, 14; Graham, 10, v. Forbes, 14; Westbrook, 11, v. Fawcett, 4. Fifth Round.—Graham. 18, v. Pegler 7; Taylor, 11, v. Duder, 5; Whellam, 18, v. Westbrook, 5; Rae, 10, v. Forbes, 15Hewitt, 9, v. Fowler, 8; Fawcett, 11, v! Osborne, 5. Semi-final.—Forbes, Westbrook, Hewitt and Whellam tied with 4 wins and 1 loss each, and five heads were played, which resulted: Forbes, 3, v. Hewitt, 4; Westbrook, 2, v. Whellam, 6. Owing to the light failing, the final was abandoned, and the prize money was divided between Hewitt’s four from Buckland, and the team skipped by Whellam, from Onehunga.