M'CONACHY'S BILLIARDS

Evening Star, Issue 18136, 28 November 1922, Page 1

M'CONACHY'S BILLIARDS

AN ATTRACTIVE DISPLAY. 750 IN SEVENTY-SEVEN MINUTES. While Clark M'Conachy Las been competing for the championship at Home there has boon some tendency to regard him aa a red ball player. If that is bo, then it is a feature that Clark lias not, up to the time of writing, demonstrated in his exhibition game this week (says Saturday’s Wellington ‘Times’); yet be has proved himself a versatile player, for there is hardly a shot on the board that ho has not played time and again. It there is on* special feature that lio has particularly demonstrated —and it is one that is far ■from being monotonous —it is his top-of-the-table play, and if ho can possibly aspire to greater perfection, then there is no reason why ho should break down at all. Even so, ho deliberately broke away from this stylo alter a run long enough to show that ho was master of the situation. Then would follow a sories of delightful close cannons along the side or top cushions, nursed along in a way that was very reminiscent of Stevenson. lie certainly is a master of the long losing hazard and middle pocket play, and his masse shots were invariably clean and successful, lie was not quite in form, on Tuesday evening, but this was in some measure duo to the slowness of the cloth. When the new cloth was put on next day ho gave a glimpse of his real self, and there who saw him make four three-figure breaks in six visile, with an average of :117, saw something they will not often have the privilege of seeing in New Zealand. Three times up to Thursday he had exceeded the 'SOO mark, besides several breaks in the first, and second hundreds. To score 750 in ninety minutes is pretty good going, but ho went One better on Wednesday evening by performing the feat in seventy-seven minutes. Is M'Conachy as groat an artist as Stevenson? Not an easy question to answer. Clark is a bustler, and when he gets going it is quite enough to do to tot up his score. H© is a prolific eoorer when in the mood, a greater scorer than Stevenson, but in the nursery cannons particularly Stevenson is the bettor exponent. 'M'Conachy is ever on the alert, just occasionally impulsive slightly when he ■has an idea that a shot is going wrong. Stevenson was ever ns cool whatever shot he. was playing, and ho certainly has an indefinable charm and grace'at the table that makes him a favorite as an exhibition player. This same ease may com© tot M'Conadhy when another year or two has gone by. He is young yet, and his entry into big billiards was not so very long ago. He has -benefited! already by his experiences at Home, not as pleasant—or as profitabe—aa they might have been; but, having broken too ice, he will he a greater force to ho reckoned with when he goca to England again for the 1925-24 championship. It won’t be his fault if he does not win it, and here’s more power to his elbow. A week with the amateurs and a week with a brother professional will bo a goodsalad for billiards enthusiasts. Although be has only recently opened his new room, Abotomoy has agreed to play M'Conaohy at the Albert Parlor next week, commencing Monday, receiving half the game. Well, from what wo have seen of Abotomey Of late, and the success of his tour in the South, ho will extend the New Zealand champion all out with a handicap like that. Except for M’Oonaehy, Abotomey is the -most export player in New iZeaknd to-daj»