Adams wins

Press, 12 May 1980, Page 33

Adams wins

Lew Adams convincingly beat Brian Kirkness in their play-off on Saturday to find the second New Zealand representative at the world amateur snooker championship in Tasmania in November. After winning the first four frames Adams, like Kirkness a former Canterbury champion, was never in much danger of' defeat and he took the best-of-21 frame contest, 11-5. Dave Meredith, also Canterbury and the New Zealand champion for the last three years, will be the No. 1 New Zealand player in. Tasmania. Adams, and Kirkness, as the runners-up in 1978 and 1979 respectively, met to determine the second player. Adams and Meredith are not only both from Canterbury. They are also from the same club ■— St Albans-Shirley; Adams, playing very .steadily, was ahead 6-1 after the first session of

seven frames. Kirkness made up some of the leeway when he took the first two frames of the second session but be could not sustain the effort and after 14 frames Adams led 9-5. He reached the target of 11 when he took the first two frames of the third session. Adams played tidily throughout to earn New Zealand selection for the first time, but it was Kirkness, surprisingly enough, who provided most of the brilliance. Kirkness had the two top breaks — 58 and 44 — and there were times when he looked capable of making the decision close. But these golden patches never lasted for long, and towards the finish a string of fouls made his task even more difficult. Adams’s top breaks were two 395. Scores:—-55-53, 42-25, 61-50, 82-16, 6-96, 94-26, 71-49, 36-73, 28-64, 71-43, 69-30, 49-18, 20-78, 46-67, 64-50, 79-42.