Sports & Pastimes

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2433, 23 February 1909, Page 2

Sports & Pastimes

BOWLING.

GISBORNE CLUB

Tho Gisborne Club members have had some very interesting practice games during the past week, and the green lias been playing a good deal better as the result of the recent downpour of rain. On Thursday chief interest centred '•ii the-semi-final of the Houncssy fours in which Corson’s team met Simson’s. The former team was without the services of F. Pettie, but his place as number three was taken by McIntosh. Corson had a small handicap, but Simson’s men started off with good consistent play, ’and not only made up the handicap, but actually gained a lead. Simson himself was playing a really, sound game, whilst Corson was certainly not at his best. Things were exceedingly interesting up to the 17th head, with Simeon a slight favorite. Then Corson struck form, and being,'well supported by his team, he managed to get on two fives that practically won him the game. SimsOiU had a chance —albeit a ■clifucult one —to save the first five, but he just missed, and that proved li s last opportunity. Corson will |Uow have to meet R. .Robertson s team hi the final, and a first-class contest vs likely to ensue. The teams will.be: Kvmo. Morgan, F. Pet tie. and Corson (skip). T. Clarkson, IT. Milla:, Brady, and R. Robertson (skip). The first round in the Martin fours was to have closed on Thursday, but so few of the matches had been got off that the Match Committee decided to grant a fortnight’s extension of time. This period, it is understood, will not be extended under any circumstances. The position appeals to be that the races proved an overpowering attraction for some of i.ic members, and this on the last tv. o Thursdays was responsible for the absence of those who were necessary to make up teams. The Match Committee could scarcely have been Warner if they had decided to scratch those teams which had failed for the reason mentioned to play off their games, but the trouble is that in the case of fours it is difficult to penalise a team without doing an injustice to some member of it. Thus if a skip neglects, to arrange his game It ir» very hard on a member who has attended Thursday after Thursday ready and anxious to play to find that his team has boon scratched. After all, a good deal must obviously be left to the good sense and consideration pf the skips, and I cannot help thinking that in the past those who have been placed in charge of teams havenot always realised the responsibility which is thus imposed'upon them. If should not- be for the General Committee or the Match Committee, or the secretary, to hustle the skips to get off tlieir games. The skins sliou’d themselves leave no stone unturned to have their matches decided promptly. Vet. as a general, thing, we find that skips turn up on Thursday early or late, as the humor suits them. If approached as to their intention to get off their match, they express the utmost willingness, but an investigation finds that they have taken no steps beforehand, with the result that one, or both, of the contesting tea me •is incomplete. Inquiry usually shows that any effort at arrangement beforehand was confined to a casual reference by a skip to those of his team that he happened to meet in the street, whilst hi regard to a missing member he will as likely as not explain. ‘‘Oh, 1 thought I would have dropped across him, but I didn't.”

Several of the players in the President’s (champion) Cup competition are behind-hand with their games, having played only two out of the nine which have to be played in their sections. The following table gives the names of the competitors, with the games won and lost by each:

(By “Toucher.”) In my recent notes I made mention of a points igamo which is to be played on tho Turang-anui green, and which is to -be played on Thursday next. As players are not at all conversant with the rules of the game, it .will not be out of place to give an outline of the game. The game consists of 32 shots, viz., 8 each at drawing, guarding,

trailing, and driving. It is played in two rounds of the green, four shots at each point, the bowls to be played on, the back and fore hand alternately. A marker is appointed to take charge of each rink, who declares the value of each shot. An umpire is also chosen, who is to decide all disputes. For the purpose of the game four rinks aro prepared. The first- is for drawing, where three concentric circles of 1,2, and 3 feet radius respectively are to be made on the green, and in the centre of the circles the jack iis placed. Two bowls are played in front, 5 feet apart and 15 feet from the tee. A second rink is prepared for guarding shots, where six lines are put down, the two centre ones 11 feet long, the two next ton feet, and the outermost 9 feet, all to be G inches apart; a jack being placed at each end of the centre piece. Trailing shots occupy the third rink, whero two bowls' are played 3 feet apart, the jack to be placed equi-distant from both. The four rink is prepared in a somewhat similar manner for driving. Tlio highest possible score is 96 points. For the purposes of scoring, the closer tlio bowl to the centre-pin in the drawing rink,, the more points it scores, the scoring being similar in the guarding rink. In the trailing and driving rinks the further the jack is trailed or driven the more points is scored.' This is a brief outline of the game, which contains the essence of bowling, the four departments of the game—drawing, guarding, trailing, and driving.

New South Wales bowlers gathered in the “rubber” against South Australia the other week. In the first match, at Mosman, N.S.W. scored 116 points to S.A.’s 90 —a win by 2G points. The second game was played at Waverley, where S.A. turned the furniture, and scored 103 to N.S.W.’s So —a win by 18 points. The final was thrashed out at Parramatta, with the temperature at 102 degrees in the, shade, and tlio South Australians were demoralised by the heat and_ by N.S.W. The final scores were: N.S.W. 12S points; S.A., 6-1 points. In the three “tests,” N.S.W. scored 329 points to S.A.’s 257 —a majority of 72. N.S.W. lias thus vanquished Victoria and South Australia this season at howls.

It has been decided that the next single-handed championship of Australia tournament shall take piace in Melbourne at Cup time, r.fso that the New South Wales State team shall visit Melbourne this year -about tlio same period as they did last year. A determination come to by the New South Wales and Victorian. Associations is that the sending or an Australian team to England shall notoccur till England returns the visits paid her by bowlers from this side of the sphere. This clipping from a Home paper evidences the stage which bowling has reached in the Old Country. It refers to the Blackpool tournament, just nearing the final stage when the last mail left London: “Four hundred and seventeen prizes in the Talbot Hotel, Blackpool. Thus the world’s record in connection with the tournament now in progress on the Talbot Hotel <>Teen. Mrs Nickson, the proprietress, has added no less than £lB7 To that of the £2OS made up from the ftve-slid-!jn<r entrance-fees of the 832 entrants. In addition to £SO, the first pnze-win-, nor receives a handsome silver cup; the second falls in for £2O; the next two of £l2 each, whilst, there are three of £3 each, six of £5, 13 of £•>, 26 of £2, 52 of £l,-154 of 10s and 208 of os? Thus £-100 will shortly be paid over to the fortunate players in the great event.” THE ANTICS OF AUNDRA. The following sketch taken from an Australian contemporary might well liavo been written of some old-timo skips in Gisborne except, perhaps, that the antics were scarcely so eccentric. It is not in the kirk session that Aundra is seen at his best. To discover the whole man —hand and head and spirit—displaying himself at full pressure, you must .see him on the howling green with four ia-side. .Aundra gets the opportunity to display not only his abounding keenness in tho game, with ready skill of eye and hand, but also the good temper and generosity which arc his unfailing characteristics. His excessive keenness, it must be allowed, often takes a grotesque form. To a stranger looking on at the game and seeing Aundra playing for the first time, the antics of the little man are matter for joyous mirth. Having played his bowl, ho follows it up at the. run, shouting words of direction, encouragement and expostulation. At tho crisis, when his bowl is nearing the kitty, the anxious bowler will throw up his hands, twist his body, and perform a kind of demoniac Highland fling, standing on one leg, while twirling the other leg in the air. If tho bowl, unheeding of the verbal expostulation, seems .about to stop short, Aundra will fling himself on tlio turf, to blow and blow, with his. month puckered to a whistle, and his face like a crimson hollows. You will, not see a funnier thing in a clay’s journey than the ■ antics of Aundra M'Pbail in bringing his howl to tho kitty. But the curious part of tho business is that, the shot having been played, Aundra returns to the mat with sober step, and in absolute possession of his coolness and wariness as a player. His excitement is all on tho surface: he no ver forgets what has to bo done,

nor fumbles irresolutely in the doing of it. For, that reason, if for no other, he makes an incomparable skip. 'lt is when he sits on his liecls behind tho kitty ,liis faculties at a stretch, like t-lie twanging bowstring, his broad hands outspread, his heartening voice uplifted—it is then that, the great soul of Aundra is in full view*. To be the greatest skip in Dunbryde Bowling Club is to be —the Dunbryde folk will tell you—the greatest skip in Scotland; .and Aundra M'Plntil is that man. When the game is at -a crisis if is an education in generalship to hear him, a master in battles, • give directions to liis third player. ' “Noo, Willie,” lie will shout, in his cheeriest tones, “Jet’s see ye malt’ an alteration here. This bool lying up against the kitty is against ye, and this yin in front gi’es them twn shots. But tliat-’s neither here nor there. Yo’ll soon change that, ma lad. Como through there, no’ ower heavy, but just heavy enough, .and yo’ll dae the trick. Cairry tho kitty (jack wi’ ye—they are a’ oor ain bools at tho back —for the feck o’ twelve inches, and tho game is oors; we’ll lie a barrowload. Noo, Willie, ye ken what tae dae; gin us y.in o’ yer auld prizo shots, ma lad.” Here is instruction, clear and detailed, conjoined with a handsome appeal to human nature, and he would be a poor player—a much poorer player than Willie iLamont—who would fail to obtain inspiration from such an appeal. But Aundra is not done. When the bowl is on tho green, travelling to decide tho issue, Aundra gives it his voci f erous en eour a gome nt. ,“I like ye!” he cries, in. dancing glee—“l like ye! That’s just the rielit green. Come on wi’ ye, then come on the lioather. Through the poo ft. Non ye’ve done it! That's it! Awa’ wi the kitty! Back wi’ it, then, hack wi’ it! Noo we lie—noo we lie a harrowful ! Graun! A- graun’ shot, Willie. Mon. but ye’re a bonny booler!” ' ‘ The chances of war, however, will have it that the “burrowiul” is scattered and Ihe kitty driven back to the edge of tho ditch. But Aundra is not a whit discouraged. His instructions are as helpful as *-ror, and h:s tone ns hopeful. “Come awa’, Willie, wi’ yer second shot,” he cries. “Here’s a bonny thing for ye. Come to the face o’ this bool, and gie it a hit gentle wluimls ower—no’ too hard, -mind ye—and we’ll lie twa. Tali’ the back hand this time, and gie he plenty o’ grass. See that ve’re no doon tho toon, ma lad, for ye maun get cannily room! this bool' here. Tlio twa in front there are against ye. but y’e no lot that disturb ye, Willie; come to the face o’ oor ain howl here, and gie it a turn ower—no ower thin mind ye, and no ower nmckle weclit. So noo, V ullic, ma lad, it’s a bonny shot, and ye’re tho mon tae gie it.” With concentrated eagerness Aundra now watches tlio result, and as the bowl travels down the green he shouts a hope, tempered by a fear: “Como awa’, then —come awa’. ma lass; keep up your heed, and ye’ll dae it; hut I doubt ye’re a wee hit thin, just a wee bit! Got a rub aff that bool, then—get a rub, and it’ll be a’ rielit! Ah! yo’ve missed it! Butcome awa,’ come awa’, keep up yer runnin’, ma lass —keep it up, then, keep it up! Gosh, but its .a near thing! Half-a-pound mair weclit, Wulfie, and the shot was oors. Mon, it was a fine try!” . And it is here, after all ,m the moment of defeat, that Aundia reaches the top notch of liis greatness. When he achieves victory—as he often does —the fine qualities of the man are displayed ; he is ever ready with the general acknowledgments of the good play of his opponents, and never does he exhibit the crowing truculence of the small-minded victor. But it is in tho moment of defeat that Aundra shines his brightest. He is neither sulky nor irritated, no icsentmont to ruffle his serene acceptance of the result. “We a’ did oor best, lad,” he will say. in his cheeriest voice, “and tho best team won.” Yes; Aundra is right. - What is there better than tho game itself. The masters of the game of life —the men whoso names blazon the pages of history—have always like Aundra M'Phail, been greatest in the hour ol defeat. And, like him, they have clearly recognised how small a thing is either defeat or victory. To play our best is ever the way to have a good game on the bowling green of life —and what better can a- man want.

“A” SECTION. Wins. Losses Boulton 0 2 Bright 0 1 Eure 3 1 Kvme 2 2 Pettie, W. •13 "Williams 4 1 Martin, J. J. ... 2 1 "Witty 1 6 Cranford, T. A. 1 0 <; B” SECTION. Wins. Losses Amhridge 0 1 Clarkson, "W. R. 1 1 Corson 0 1 Gaudin 3 1 Mackintosh 0 3 Harris 0 1 Martin, J. H. ... 0 I Pettie, F. W. ... 3 0 Ponsford O tJ 1 “C” SECTION. Wins. Losses Coleman ... 3 2 Craig 5 0 .Brady 0 3 Clarkson, r J \ ... 2 2 O’Meara 0 2 Paltridge 2 4 Martin," F. A. ... o 0. Pavitt 0 3 Wilson withdrawn. ON THE GREENS.