EASTER BOWLING TOURNEY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 622, 26 March 1929, Page 9

EASTER BOWLING TOURNEY

BIG ENTRIES RECEIVED

A COMPETITION REVIEW (By Jack High) Th© entries for the Auckland ; Centre's Easter tournament, embrac- I ins the Executive Fours Competi- ! , tion, the Easter Fours Competition and the First-year Players’ Competition, this year, can be regarded as most successful. The collective entries include 112 teams, or 448 players, showing’ an increase of eight teams over last season. The first-j r ear players’ competition is not as well patronised ae it might be, while the executive fours competition, which is the one big event designed for the purpose of bringing together the presidents and important executive officers of th© respective clubs, has only 24 entries out of a possible 45. The Easter fours competition proves its increasing popularity by an increase of 10 teams. It is now certain that the greens will be much slower than last season, for the competitions, were then played after a long period of drought, while the recent .rains have made them somewhat heavy. Nevertheless, th© surfaces are much better grassed than last year and are much better than have been at the entrants’ disposal for many seasons past. The entrants for the executive fours will have all thej' desire with the inclusion of the Epsom and Carlton greens, while the Easter fours will be played at Mount Albert. Dominion Road. Papatoetoe. Mount Eden, Auckland, Hillsborough and St. Heliers. The selection may be regarded as quite excellent and the best of the surfaces that are available. The first-j-ear j competition will be fought out at Te Papapa and Ponsonby. This competition is always one of the bright spots in every bowler’s career, whether won or lost, and the entrants will have every opportunity to repeat the pleasures of the competition as those who have learned their bowling during previous years have done.

CARLTON’S STRONG TEAM

As the Carlton Club usually does in most competitive events, this exceptionally strong club easily heads the list in the Easter fours with 12 teams. Dominion Road has eight teams, which is quite exceptionally large for this club; Edendale, Epsom. Remuera, Rocky Nook and Waitemata come with four entries apiece to try and bring the honours to their respective clubs: Auckland, Ponsonby, St. Heliers, Mount Eden and Mount Albert, three each; Grey Lynn. Ellerslies, Manurewa, Pukekohe, Rawhiti, Stanley and West End have two each; single entries are in from Hillsboro, New' Lynn, Onehunga, Otahuhu, Takapuna, Te Papapa, -while a visiting team hails from Ngaruawahia.

The teams from the Carlton Club include some very fine combinations: one in that famous team —Clarkson, Coutts, W. Ball and W. J. Truscott—another in Whitaker, Brittain, Gladding, S. E. Lamb. IT. C. Cla.rk head: a team including Isaacs, Stevens and T. Chapman. This is T. Chapman’.first appearance in competitions since he joined up with Carlton after being at Ponsonby since the inception of his bowling career. Duffin also heads a team as he did last season when he got well up in the post-sec-tional play. G. Hosking, a successful skip, has some good support in Wright, Pollard, Warren. The team Dickson. Overy, T. Mountain, C. Mountain, is now coming forward in most tournaments. The last event that was entered by this young team undoubtedly proved that it had the right qualities for success. It is good to see junior players aspiring to the higher bowling honours, for it is only in these tests of strength that bowling can be thoroughly learned. F. M. Ritchie ; comes forward again this Easter with j a good team.

Auckland’s three teams are not the best that the club could put forward. Nevertheless, they are quite good. C. Muston, who was successful in winning the champion rink bowls competition a few weeks ago and .reached the fiQal stages in the Easter fours a couple of years ago, has a good team in Ure, Duncan, Brackebush, and should do well. Williams, Mason, Bourke and Fletcher are also good players. J. F. Bailey heads a team comprising C. Allan, H. Allan and J. Davidson, which reached the postsectional play last Easter. Ellerslie has two teams under T. Macklow and F. Osborne, which are capable of giving a good exposition of bowling. C. H. de Launay. who skipped a team that won the Easter fours competition some two years ago, captains Lamb. Bruce and T. R. George. George also won this competition in 1925, so that the combination should prove of more than passing interest to those who follow the course of these great tests of bowling in the Queen City of th© North. Mcßeath, who has figured largely in tournament events of recent date, has taken a team out with the champion of the club —Jenkin —as No. 3. It is a good chance for him to show the actual qualities he possesses at the skipper’s end as well as in the front division, as he did during the Christmas tournament.

GREY LYNN TRIES AGAIN

Grey Lynn presents Us famous team—Caddy, Liversidge, Buckley, H. Whittle—which was successful in being the runners-up last season, while probably inspired by the laudable success in the recent inter-club competition, Henderson has a team in lo contest the honours. Quite a strong team is from that young club Hillsboro, in Ward, F. Wilson, J. Wilson, R. Sheath. The combination is to be relied upon for good bowling. Mount Albert’s team includes Townley, the champion of the club, and G. Clark, who was selected to represent New Zealand against Australia in the recent test match during January. The three teams from Mount Eden are good, with an excellent combination in Delamore, Daisley, Vivian, D. C. Fraser. Fraser is very steady on greens that are just a little holding; he should be well worth watching.

The Ngaruawahia team is an unknown quantitj', and therefore will prove of great interest until the first few games are played. Onehunga gives good representation in McMaster, Kenny and Gatland. All the three of these players can play the highest standard required in the game. Ponsonby is also well represented with three good teams, which should give good accounts of themselves. B. Best, A. J. Letham and Torrance on tli© skippers’ end are capable of sustaining a high reputation for good bowling. A. J. Letham has been playing good bowls for some time past, and his play at the recent Rotorua tournament shows that he is in top form at the present time.

Th© famous Armstrong, of that country club, Pukekohe, always can b© relied upon to give a good account of himself, although he has seldom been able to bring the ultimate honours home to his club. Remuera, with four teams, one with the champion of champions—L. Russell-—included at the skipper’s end, should do well. J. F. Hosking seems to be indulging In a

sort of nomadic existence as far as representation in various clubs are concerned. He has represented Ponsonby. West End. Carlton, and now appears with the Remuera Club, and with that strong player Mingins as his No. 3. The combination is capable of excellent bowling. Their progress should be interestedly watched. Rocky Nook presents Sidler, Farley, Wakerley and W. H. Keatley, the winners of the competition last Easter. The only alteration in the team is in the lead, when G. Hunt acted in this important position in the team. The club has also the team, Kayes, Tongue, Lorani, A. E. Stone—a fine young team that made good last season by qualifying for the postsectional play. Undoubtedly the Easter fours this season will sustain the highest standard of play developed in Auckland. The number of powerful teams’ assure this circumstance. The following clubs have been successful in past seasons:—Ponsonby, in 1922. 23: Auckland, in 1924, 26; Epsom, in 1925, 27; Rocky Nook, in 1925, The executive fours competition has been won by the following clubs: Grey Lynn, 1922-24-25; Carlton, 1926-27-28. The Auckland Centre Executive also won the event in 1923.