ON THE GREEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 860, 2 January 1930, Page 10

ON THE GREEN

Bowls and Bowlers

(By

JACK HIGH.)

j Indications are that the bowlers* ! evening at the Scots Hall on Saturday night in honour of the Canadian visitors will be a complete success. It is satisfactory to believe that it will be so. for the venture is somewhat in the way of an experiment. The centre executive has long had in view the inclusion of the rank and tile of bowlers in the entertainment of the many visiting parties of bowlers, but there has been some hesitancy from the fear that the experiment might not be successful. However, now that the precedent has been established, the centre executive will be heartened to extend this class of gathering in future, and it is understood that further develop- | ments along this line are already con- | templated. Those bowlers who have I not yet obtained their tickets for Sat- ; urday, may do so by applying to their respective club secretaries. Rain, wind, sodden greens and heavy bowling—all the adverse conditions that made for a most trying trial of bowling strength—assailed the contestants in the nine rounds of section play for the champion banner of Auckland. The patience, skill under these conditions, and adaptability of the entrants were tried to the very utmost. Indeed, it may be said with accuracy that never in the history of this popular annual contest have bowlers faced such a consistently gruelling time throughout the sectional rounds. The seventeenth annual test will long be remembered for this one reason. The teams that came through are to be commended for their play and the fact that six wins qualified for the post-sectional rounds acids further interest to the tournament. One of the most interesting teams that came through the A. Section was Hunt. Hill. Conway. W. Best of Ponsonby. Best's work on the heads was most studious, and quite a revelation in the question of conducting this finishing work in the art of bowling. He frequently gave away shots to obtain safe positions, and the manner of his. drawing and. pressing shots marked him as a player who was well worth watching for a fine exposition of the game on the green. Hunt, a .iunior player as lead, did excellent work, while Conway as number ther-. was of great assistance to his team. E. B. Wright, the winning skip in the first year of the annual tournament — 1913—showed that with the passing of years his play had lost little of its brilliance. His bowling was outstanding by the execution of the. difficult trailing shot. In this delicate work he accomplished some telling advantages for his team. Cowell again figured as number two in the team and gave strong assistance. It is quite some time since a team figured prominently in tournaments from the Dominion Road club, and the club’s presentation in Yeoman, Fisher, Dennison. Lay land was fully iustitied. Arthur Yeoman, the club’s popular secretary and able administrator °f the centre’s finances, directed his bowls with the same marked abilitv that he directs the finances of that fine body. Walter Dennison, a past president and champion of the suburban club, was equally supporting, while A. R. Layland, the reliable and steady skip, showed rare ability in extricating his team from many an awkward position.

A mead of praise can be accorded the Grey Lynn quartet including Puddle, Hawke, MacCullay, Purdie. In this tournament Purdie figured in bowling in the Queen City for the first occasion. He hails from South Auckland and comes with a fine reputation for his exposition of the game on the green. Puddle and MacCullay gave excellent support and the team contested every game consistently. Purdie is certainly a fine acquisition to Auckland bowling.

Clarkson, Coutts, Ball, Truscott fully maintained the excellent reputation by coming through the D Section in the lead. Crawshaw, Ivoefoed, White, Wright showed that they had lost little of the ability which won them the banner last season. Mackay, Duncan. Campbell, Muston, the only Auckland team to come through the section play, put up a great fight although not coming through with the final honours J. Wakerley, the winning skip for the annual event way back in 1916, supported by Yeo, Chambers and Roylance, did excellently, coming through the section play with eight victories to tlieir credit.

The Carlton team headed by Carter did well to qualify. Carter hails from the Kelburn club, Wellington, and fully justifies his acceptance into Auckland bowling as a fine exponent of the game. Irving Clarke, has again figured prominently, showing his steady progress in the game. W. Ure. heading a young team, made a creditable showing in the early part of the tournament, although not coming through suffi-

iciently to qualify. He is to be praised for the fine team work he developed. ! however. W. Jen kin. of Rocky Nook! was another skip in the B Section and proved that lie could conduct the play I of a team with much success. * * * 11. Clarke, of Carlton, did wh .t was expected of him. The team was strong; and everything in favour of the combination's success. Clarke is increasingly earning a place in the front rank for his rink work, and it looks likely that he will attain equal prominence * , in team work as he has done in singles play. Whittle s team’s success is certainly outstanding in the section play, coming through with nine wins to its credit. It was expected that the Grey Lynn team would make a good showing. and like the Carlton combination headed by Truscott. the members have been playing together for quite some time, showing that they understand each others qualities of play to the fullest. Parsons, de Launay and Russell, just qualified for the post-section nlay. but did not survive through the following day. The record tournament to comment © today establishes another milestone in bowling development in the Queen City. It is fitting tl at the club, with the largest playing space of any club in the Dominion, should stage such an event. The spacious and picturesque grounds will certainly provide a fine scene of bowling animation. The club is to be warmly congratulated on the staging of such a fine event. No fewer than twenty-one teams found their way into the post section rounds* on Monday—it may be men- . tioned that the record number that has qualified was 26. and that was some years ago. The participants found an altogether different set of conditions for this interesting stage of the tournament. Sunday’s fine day had keened the greens up considerably and the well-kept and splendid surfaces a’ the Carlton Club gave the required possibilities for excellent bowling, benc-e good bowling was the order of ' the play. At the close of the day the follow,- | ing teams found a place on the bank:—Purdie (Grey Lynn). Best (Ponsonhyi. Russell (Remuera), Dick (Grey Lynn i. Gifford (Dominion Road), and by ti.«close of the following day four teams under the following skips were 1» :; in the contest for tie final honours with one life: —E. B. Wright (One- J| hunga). Parsons (Ponsonbv). Whittle 1 (Grey Lynn) and Carter (Carlton) In the game eliminating .Tonkin's f rink of Rocky Nook, the Carlton lea in -k had a difficult proposition. The Rocky j Nook men got away with a comfortable lead and maintained this advantage right up to the final head. But the Carlton men played more consistent bowls. Carter shone out for his most | accurate drawing and he was well supported in this respect by Mitchell and Holmes. On the twentieth head the scores were: Rocky Nook 16 and Carlton 15. On the final head. Lundon drew a toucher. Mitchell drew a sec- yj ond shot, which Carter added to by 7 drawing a third shot. These three shots were left undisturbed and the • Carlton men therefore ran out winners by two points. * * In the game between the rinks headed by E. B. Wright (Onehunga) and Whittle (Grey Lynn), the Grey Lynn team got away with a good margin of points and a lead was kept throughout the game. Whittle’s me.i were remarkable for steady play, which kept the Onehunga men busy on the defensive. Throughout the game the standard of play was exceedingly high on both sides, and the issue was in doubt right up to the final bowl of the game. Both skips fought splendidly and kept the spectators on the bank keenly interested in one of the most well-fought games of the tournament. On the twentieth bead the scores were: Grey Lynn 23. against Onehunga 18. leaving the latter rink five points to obtain for a tie. When the skips changed over Wright’s team lay three shots up with the opportunity for their skip to get the possible six for a victory. Wright, however, failed to obtain his objective with bis first bowl, although playing a good shot, and unfortunately got held up on some front timber with his second bowl, giving thereby the second shot to his opponents and finalising the score at 23—19. It may be said to the credit of the Grey Lynn team that the members have established a record for the tournament in the matter of the number of victories. Up to this stage the rink has played 15 games and has only lost one and that loss was suffer <1 against the Carlton team under J. Tru>coct.