Record in sight of cueist

Press, 30 August 1985, Page 20

Record in sight of cueist

As the national champion for five years now, Dave Meredith, of Canterbury, has proved beyond doubt that he stands alone as the country’s best billiards player. Next week in Christchurch, Meredith will be chasing his sixth consecutive title and, if successful, he will beat the record for straight wins which he shares with the late Alan Twohill, of the West Coast. In all, Twohill won the title nine times (a record), and his five in a row were from 1953 to 1957.

Meredith, not long back from a solid showing at the world amateur championship in New Delhi, should be even harder to beat this year. Apart from a hometown advantage in the residential sense, he has had some experience of the tables at the Riccarton Working Men’s Club, where all games will be played. But, even more importantly, he has proved his game in the last 12 months and this is shown by the number of century breaks he has been scoring. Furthermore, he had a career

best in a tournament when he scored a 263 at New Delhi.

Last year, when the venue was Hastings, five Canterbury players got through to the last eight and it was his long-standing provincial rival, Brian Kirkness, whom Meredith eventually beat in the final. With Meredith and Kirkness as the big chances, Canterbury players should again feature prominently. Two others, Ken Giles and the much-improved Peter de Groot, should at least get past the section rounds.

The best of the visitors could be Russell Robinson (Wellington) and Graham Jackson (Counties). Robinson, who lost the 1983 final to Meredith, did surprisingly well at the world championship in New Delhi last month, winning four games to Meredith’s three, and Jackson has been impressive in North Island tournaments this year. Ron Milicich (Auckland), Roy Adams (Wellington), who won the title in 1979 and Tim Bickerstaff (Counties) are others entitled to respect, but if Meredith is anywhere near his best form his reign should not be interrupted. The snooker championship will be decided the week after next (still at the Riccarton W.M.C.), and it is no doubt a sign of the times that, whereas the billiards struggled to attract enough entries to fill seven sections, the snooker field is oversubscribed at eight. Before beginning his run of five successive billiards championships, Meredith won the snooker title three years in a row and he has been close to the double a number of times in this period.

It remains an attractive goal for him, and certainly one that is not beyond him. However, he would be only one of six or seven players who would have to be rated as a definite snooker chance.

For the last four years the snooker has been dominated by the Kwok brothers, Dale and Glen. Dale, who took the title in 1982 and 1983, is not competing this

time, but Glen will be defending the title he won last year.

Glen Kwok (Auckland) will be the favourite, with, perhaps, two Wellingtonians, Harry Haenga and Steve Robertson, his toughest rivals. Haenga and Robertson are both 100-break players and they have developed their games on the tough North Island professional circuit.

Barry Moore, Kel Tristram, Grant Hayward (all Auckland), Peter Mischefski and Brien Bennett (both Taranaki) are other North Islanders who are capable of getting in, or close, to the final.

Frank Paul (Hawke’s Bay) is a young cueist who will attract some attention. He might not be the tactician of some of his older opponents, but he is reputed to be an outstanding potter. Because of his billiards trip to India, Meredith has not played a lot of snooker this winter and this could count against him in his pursuit of the double. For many years Kirkness put billiards ahead of snooker, but he has now found a renewed interest in the basically potting game and will be encouraged by his victory over Meredith in the final of the Canterbury open snooker tournament last week-end.

It would certainly be a great double for Canterbury if Meredith could win the billiards and Kirkness the snooker. However, the odds are that while Meredith will carry out his main assignment the snooker title will fall to a North Islander.