Close billiards semi-finals

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 18

Close billiards semi-finals

The semi-finals of the 1970 Rothmans New Zealand billiards championship were in interesting positions when the first of thetwo two-hour sessions ended last night.

B. Barratt (Auckland) leads G. Geddes (North Otago), 481-411, with Geddes to resume the game this morning with an unfinished break of 21. L. Napper (Otago) edged ahead in the final few minutes against H. Robinson (Wellington) and is in hand, on a break of seven, with the score standing at 443-438. Napper and Robinson, both seeking the title for a second time, produced one of the outstanding exhibitions of the tournament. Napper, cueing the ball better than he has all week, made some spectacular long cannons and gave an almost flawless display of potting. Robinson was only slightly less impressive in these departments and the quality of his losing hazard play brought him a rich harvest of points.

The game began at a tremendous pace. Napper had a break of 45 at his first visit to the table and not long after an 81 and a 39. Robinson scored a 28 at his second visit and then in quick succession followed with breaks of 54. 42 and 76.

After an hour’s play Napper hit his high point with a break of 90 which gave him the lead, 284-248. However. Robinson then had a period of greater con-

aisteney and atfer regaining the lead with 30 minutes to go held it until the final minutes.

The Barratt-Geddes match has so far not been as exciting, both having played soldldly enough to make for a promising final later today. Barratt, who appears to be getting better as the tournament progresses, gained an early lead, mainly through a break of 65, and at the end of an hour he was 140 in front. Geddes came back strongly ip the final halfhour to narrow the gap to 30. In the quarter-finals earlier in Ute day, Geddes beat A. Redmond (Auckland), Barratt beat B. Kirkness (Canterbury), Robinson beat R. Adams (Wellington!, and Napper beat T. Yesberg (Manawatu). By far the most exciting of these games was the RobinsonAdams encounter. Robinson, the considerably more experienced of the two, was quickly into his stride and after the first hour led 263-93. With, less than 30 minutes to go, Robinson still had a lead of more than 150, but his failure to sink a long hazard gave Adams a good position. Adams, who until this stage was. hardly recognisable as the free-scorer of earlier matches, gained in confidence as the break developed, and when it ended at 110 he was not only back in- the game but he was scoring with wonderful fluency. A few minutes later Adams struck again with a break of 56 and then with eight minutes remaining he had an 18 to take the lead, 406-404. Robinson, no less vocal but not quite as chirpy as earlier, got ahead again with a break of 25 and then bringing all his experience to bear he concentrated on shutting his opponent out as the final minutes ticked away.

Adams, by this stage moving at a gallop round the table, played a couple of weak shots In his haste, and when the bell went he was 16 behind although in full flow again with a break into double figures.

Napper and Yesberg had a dour match, which Napper tied up in tile first half-hour when he made a break of 84. Yesberg, although he played the occasional quality shot, could not settle down and his best break was only 39. Napper played a wide range of shots with his usual cool efficiency, and with a string of breaks into double figures he gave Yesberg little chance of catching up. After an hour, Napper led 210-130 and although he dropped his standard a little in the final quarter his advantage was always about 100. Kirkness’s chances of reaching the semi-finals looked bright when he wiped out a deficit of

80 with a break of 103 half-wav ! through his match against Barratt. Kirkness began his century with a fluked red, but it was a fine display, specially from 54 on when he got to the top of the table and was able to increase the tempo with a succession of relatively easy shots. However, Barratt, a man whose game is based on all-round solidarity, was not to be intimidated and he was back in 'front again, if only by three I points, after an hour and a quarter. He then made a break of 85. which appeared to take some of the fight out of Kirkness, and in the final half-hour while Barratt forged relentessly on with useful breaks, Kirkness ; missed a number of good chances to stage a recovery. Redmond, who had performed with distinction in section pla>, had no answer to Geddes’s superb display in the second hour of their game. Redmond began confidently enough and even held the lead for a time. However, the whole complexion of the game changed when Geddes, with controlled billiards, made a break of 114 after 50 minutes. From that point it was very one-sided as Geddes kept his score racing with one good break after another. Redmond, when he did get to the table, found little left for him to score from and when there was something he rarely could last for long. Results, with breaks of 35 or more in parentheses, were:— Quarter-finals. G. Geddes (North Otago) 597 (114, 43, 53, 60, 37) beat A. Redmond (Auckland) 228, B. Barratt (Auckland) 488 (39, 39 . 85, 38), beat B. Kirkness (Canterbury) 409 (37. 103), H. Robinson (Wellington) 437 (39, 42. 76, 36, 41) beat R. Adams (Wellington) 421 (37, 110, 56), L. Napper (Otago) 422 (84, 35. 40* beat T. Yesberg (Manawatu) 335 (39). Semi-finals—Barratt 481 <65. 40) leads Geddes 411 (75). Napper 443 (43. 81. 39, 90. 46t leads Robinson 438 (54, 42, 76, 41, 39). 1