Close competition in billiards

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32634, 16 June 1971, Page 14

Close competition in billiards

(By

K. J. McMENAMIN)

With the first of the three rounds in this year's Canterbuiy A grade interclub billiards competition completed, five teams are closely grouped at the top of the ladder. R.SA. and Richmond share the lead with 17 points. One point behind them are Kaiapoi and the defending champion, Spreydon. Post Office has gradually made ground after a slow start and with 15 points is now very much in the running. There is a gap to Shirley, which has 10 points, and then follow Woolston I (8), Woolston II (6) and Hornby (3). The surprise of the competition has been the bold showing of Richmond, which, last year, when the A grade competition contained one more than the nine teams participating

this year, finished in equal second-last position. The No. 1, E. Greaves, has done well to win four games, but it has been the consistency of the No. 2, F. Blackbum, and the No. 3, E. Grimes, which has given the team such a high placing. Blackbum has won six of his eight games and Grimes has been beaten only once. In team wins, R.S.A. has the best record with only one loss against it and that defeat was a shock 3-0 one at the hands of Richmond. Kaiapoi, after an encouraging 3-0 win over Post Office, had a couple of reverses, but then took maximum points in three successive matches and looks certain to make a strong bid. For a variety of reasons, Spreydon has not been the force it was last year, one of them being the limited A

amount of practice the players have been able to get. In common with other working men’s clubs, billiards is becoming increasingly popular at Spreydon, and securing a table on which to practise is not easy. Grimes, E. Simon (Post. Office) and R. O’Callaghan (R.S.A.) have the best individual records, each having lost only the one game, Simon, the present Canterbury champion, surprisingly went down in the first round, but he has had few worries since and O’Callaghan, who did not taste defeat until the eighth round, maintained a perfect record the longest. Besides Blackbum, players to have been beaten twice are the Spreydon pair, B. Kirkness and L. Saunders, and W. Burney (Kaiapoi) and D. Collie (R.S.A.). L. Rolleston, W.

Adams (both Kaiapoi) and D. Henderson (Shirley) have each won five games and lost three; Simons has made the highest break—an 84 unfinished—and he also scored a 75 unfinished, which is better than any other player has done. He has three others of more than 50, a 71, a 68 and a 65. M. Maffey (Shirley) has won only three games, but his 73 in the fifth round puts him second to Simons in high breaks. O’Callaghan a 60 and a 55 unfinished, Kirkness, a 61 unfinished and a 58, and Saunders, a 52 and a 56, have each got past 50 on two occasions. Four other players have done so once—W. Dilks (Woolston I), with a 66, R. Dowler (Hornby), with a 56, Blackbum, with a 58, and C. Kelly (R.S.A.), with 64 unfinished last week.