Kirkness shows benefits of new billiards style

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31984, 10 May 1969, Page 11

Kirkness shows benefits of new billiards style

POR any sportsman, adopt--1 Ing a new style of play contain* an element of risk. One man who took the chance and now appears on the verge of reaping the rewards is 35-year-old B. D. Kirkness. Billiards is Kirkness’s sport and in a game in which technique is matched only by skill in achieving proficiency the risk was considerable. However, after a little more than a year Kirkness feels he has “turned the corner,” a contention that is supported by his unfinished break of 125 in a chib match last week. Playing for New Brighton WJLC. against Sprey-don-Hoon Hay WMC, Kirkness was 75 and his opponent 70 when he began the break. With the target 200 his opponent never got another chance. The break is thought to be the highest in Christchurch competitive billiards since 1944 when T. Elks amassed an unfinished 197. The 125 is not Kirkness’s highest break. At last year's New Zealand ehampionships a break of 142 was largely responsible for him winning his quarter-final match against G. Geddes (North Otago). In the semi-final he was beaten by H. Robinson (Wellington). In common with the majority of biniarda tdayem in New Zealand, Kirkness had until two yean ago played the hazard game. This revolves round thelong-rtnge game with the emphasis on scoring off the red ball. His change was to the top-of-the-table style of play whieh restricts the player to the top end of the table and his scoring comes from potting the red ball and cannons. Although his new style calls for control over three balls and not just the one as is the case in hazard play, Kirkness feels that onee proficiency is obtained the player is better off because he is working in a smaller area. Another advantage, he says, is that hazard play encourages slow scoring and as a result long periods of concentration are required. Tope&tbp-Mle play increases the scoring tempo

and consequently reduces the strain on a player. The great disadvantage of top-of-the-table play is that when a shot is missed the balls are “set up" for the opposing player, but Kirkness feels that this disadvantage is outweighed by the advantages. Although he was a snooker player for many years, it was only 10 years ago that Kirkness turned to billiards. He made an immediate impact on the game when in his second year he was runner-up at the New Zealand championships. He has also been runner-up at a national snooker championship and is the present holder of the Canterbury snooker title. Billiards, however, is hie. main interest and he confesses to using snooker only for match practice. Top-of-the-table billiards play, with its emphasis on potting, is of greater assistance to the snooker player than the hazard game, he says. Kirkness was "brought up” on the hazard, game but it was not long before he became aware of the advantages to the top-of-the-table style. In 196647 business commitments kept him out of the game and upon his return last year he decided to make the change. At first his scoring was not high but gradually it improved and he attributes a good deal of the improvement in such a short time to the assistance given him by the former New Zealand snooker champion, K. Murphy—die only other exponent in this country, to Kirkness’s knowledge, of the top-of-the-table game. The ease and speed of scoring displayed by the great Australian billiards player, Horace Lindrum, during exhibitions in New Zealand also influenced Kirkness in deciding to make the change. He recalls watching Lindrum run up 317 in less than 15 minutes at an exhibition in Christchurch. Twice Lindrum has spent a morning coaching Kirkness in top-of-the-table play on the full-sized table in the latter’s New Brighton home. Top players overseas play nothing else but the top-of-

toe-table game and if New Zealand is to compete on an equal footing with the best from other countries a change in style is needed, said Kirkness. By drawing attention through his play to the style he hopes to influence young players in this country to make the change. The talent is here but whereas the record break in New Zealand is 280, breaks of 500 are not uncommon in top competition overseas, said Kirkness. The change of style has meant long hours of practice for Kirkiess. His reward might come when the New Zealand billiards championships are; held st New Plymouth in September,