BILLIARD CHAMPIONS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3583, 7 March 1914, Page 3

BILLIARD CHAMPIONS.

USE OF IVORY BALLS. FRED LINDRUM’S CHANCE. LONDON, January 9. Judging by the way some of the -billiard Authorities write, anyone not understanding the game would inevitably conclude that ivory balls were the most fearsome things on earth to play with. Apparently they possessed every fault imaginable, and few, if any, virtuose. But ask any of the leading professionals their views on the subject of ivory v. composition balls, though unless you know them well you will not get a candid opinion. The writer can safely say, from his own experience, that not one of them would play with composition balls were it not for the money attached. For the overseas composition may be right enough,, for ivory will not stand the heat/ but in England, where billiards of better'standard are played the leading players will look at nothing else when thev have to make their choice.

How cleverly ■George Gray has been looked after by his father lies in the fact that he was taught to play with erystallates, the easiest ball of all to pile up breaks with, because they take a much wider angle than the other two, and’ require comparatively little effort to make that th'ee-quar ter ball run through by which the boy made all his big breaks when first he came to England. At the beginning of 1912 the boy changed to bonzoline, a ball taking a narrower angle and re quiring, like the ivory ball which it greatly resembles, more foce to get through it. Now lie is to change to the ivory, and the difference between that and the bonzoline will be slight. It cannot be too strongly emphasised that a match set of ivories, picked, perhaps, out of 500 is not like the ivory balls the average player gets.m a public house. They are bigger in size to start with, being either 2 5-64tlis or 2 3-32nds in diameter against 2 1-lGth. The increased size and weight naturally makes for a wider angle, and with the exception of that occasional ‘-kick” inseparable from even the best ivory halls, it doe s not seem that George Gray’s losing hazards are going to be greatly affected. Professional billiard players have a pretty good idea of each other's capabilities, and none of the English player s entertain any doubt as to what will happen to them in Die English championship. The ivory ball may affect Grays’ play about 10 per cent., but with the very strong conviction that no one has any idea of how really good with the composition ball the bey is, that difference is not likely to affect the result of the championship. [Gray, conceding 4000 to Newman in a match of 18,000 points, was beaten bv 2836, but made, one break of 634 of which 543 jvert off the red.]

BARRING THE GRAY STROKE. In a good many ways, of course the English players are to be sympathised with. The spot stroke was barred, and speaking quite fairly, losing hazards should be similarly treated. Quite apart from the fact of George Gray being an Australian, it undubitably remains that one stroke does no constitute the present day form of billiards. There is no denying the fact that the English billiard player is quite the best and the most attractive player in the world to watch. Since the days of John Roberts the game has developed amazingly; it has btcome a game requiring brains, brilliancy of execution, and a delightfully soft- touch, the like of which would never have developed were the game limited to two or three strokes. There is no doubt Stevenson, Inman, Higgle, Reece, Haverson, or Aiken could all have become expert losing hazard players had they so wished. But the English professional player is essentially a public'entertainer. He gets his living by playing attractive billiards, and the most rabid supporter of the spot stroke or the losing hazard could never say that either of these strokes lasted long in public favor.

DEARTH OF YOUNG PLAYERS. In a good many ways, however, the coming of George Oray into competition with the English players is .a very good thing. For some time past it has been apparent to those intimate with billiards that the next few years will see a great many changes. Stevenson is to all intents and purposes done; not in the sense that he cannot still make good breaks, but that he does not make them consistently enough. Stevenson is pretty comfortably off now, and his billiards have suffered accordingly. In any case he i s not getting any younger. At 40 years of age billiard players do not start to improve. Reece who is the same age as Stevenson .is another who is not improving. The Lancastrian, never at any time notable for playing an uphill game, has had a good many solid beatings from Inman in the past few years and young Torn. Newman has now started to do the same thing. Higgle at 51 is also on the backward grade, besides which the lengthy Manchester professional possesses much of this world’s goods, and only takes it into hi s head to try now and again. Reece and Stevenson are the two he delights to have ago at. He gave Stevenson ■an awful trouncing m a tournament a few weeks ago, when that gentleman was least expecting. Haverson and Aiken are beyond the improvement age. whilst Inman keeps his form intact for the time being by virtue of his being five years younger than his brother professionals. He, too, will never improve. At all times an apostle of the obvious* in his billiards the “Twickenham Terrier,” has gained his present high position in the game by sheer battling, and the possession of what is commonly known as “heart,” a quality, it may be remarked, which few of the others possess.

NEWMAN’S GAME. The best player in England at the present time is the 19-year-old Tom Newman, a London youth* who, if the writer is not greatly mistaken, is the greatest match player the world has yet known. He has 2000 start from Inman in the tournament, and will, in the phraseology of the turf, “walk in.” ' He has not been beaten in any

of his games this season, and will not be beaten at all in the tournament, whatever may happen in the “money matches.” A thick-set youth of the most phlegmatic temperament: possible, nothing scorns to worry him. and his knowledge of (lie game is simp.y .amazing. Session after session lie i\turns averages of over 50, whils it is a common occurrence for him to average 60 for a. week’s game. Newman will be tlie next champion, and he should hold it for a good many years to come, provided George Gray has his red loser barred. Whether Gray will ever make a supreme player of the all-round game is open to question. It will take him some time to lose that one touch cultivated in playing the red ball, and the possibilities are that he may never rise above the ordinary professional form wi.en if comes to playing proner billiards. However, he possesses the right temperament, and that is half the battle. FRED LIXDRUM’S PROSPECTS.

Fred Lindrum had the chance of a lifetime when he came to England two years ago. Everybody wa >s well disposed towards him and he was well but he was not too well managed. It boomed. His play proved attractive, and he drew big crowds but it was a mistake'to start a crack player in tlie provinces. It may be right enough for a theatrical veil Hire —which at all times is doubtful —but Lindrum 'heeded no such tactics, and he never showed his real form in England except in one game with Reece at Thurston’,; in Leicester Square. There is still plenty of prospect for him in this country, blit onto under proper management, and let it be said, with proper behavior. /The English professionals think that Lindrum is, next to Stevenson, he finest natural player in the. world, and they are not far wrong. Whatever unknown developments billiards may possess, it seems practically certain that the present-day players have developed the game to the highest possible pitch of perfection. Billjgrds, in the opinion of the writer, and one that is shared by all the leading players lias got to the stage where it can get no better. Pea 11, Roberts, Higgle, Reece, Stevenson, Gray, and Lindrum have all done their share to improve it, but it has now undoubtedly reached its high-water mark, and with the indubitable fact fac tthat Gray, Newman, Lindrum, and Falkner are the only four players who show signs of becoming great players, the possibilities are that English billiards will slump before many years are out. Roberts, Stevenson, Reece, and Higgle -are artists. Lindrum is the only one of the younger school who deserves that appellation, and if he would some to England and make a thorough study of the most attractive form of billiards known, the top of the table game, there is no reason why he should not be tlie one o take up Stevenson's mantle.