GEORGE GRAY IN LONDON.

Northern Advocate, 19 December 1910, Page 3

GEORGE GRAY IN LONDON.

THE WONDERFUL. AUSTRALIAN BILLTARDIST.

LONDON, Nov. 5. That wonderful young Australian billiard player, George Gray, has been giving Londoners a taste of his quality this week at St. George's Hall, Mount-street, and his marvellous redball play is the theme of gossip in every billiard-room in the metropolis. Every day Gray, who is playing his manager, Nelson, performs to crowded houses, and no one seems to find his play monotonous to watch. His shots, it is true, are much the same all the time, but as all four pockets above the baulk line are brought into use the spectator's eye is never wearied, as was the case with the "anchor" cannon. Moreover, the spectator can wee clearly the result of everyone of Gray's hazard strokes, and the balls are travelling all the time. There is, so to speak, life on the table whereas with the "anchor" cannon the two' object balls were, so far as the spectator was concerned, stationary, and the cue ball only moved an inch or bo. Only those sitting within a few feet of the corner of the table where play was in progress could see whether a cannon was made or not, the rest had to take it for granted. The "anchor" shot was limited by legislation, but if the powers that be in the billiard world had not signed its death warrant, it would have died a natural death, for nobody would have paid to see it more than once. Gray's hazard play is on a vastly different plane, and though with all our leading players using it the game might well become too monotonous to attract the public, those who patronise St. George's Hall appear to find Gray's play quite fascinating. This week the young A-istralian has been playing in quite his best form. Three figure breaks have been coming from his cue at every session, and on Tuesday evening Gray treated a packed house to one of his special efforts. At the adjournment of the afternoon session he was in play with 145 unfinished, and, on resuming in the evening he continued striking until it reached the mammoth proportions of 839, of which 879 were scored off the red. The wonderful manner in which the Australian kept the red travelling up and down the table was almost automatic in its precision. The ball went straight to the middle of the pockets without touching the shoulders, and the red came back exactly as far as ne wished it. On occasion he was a trifle out in his reckoning, and had to play a long shot into the top pockets, but that was a rarity, for whereas in the run Gray made 293 hazards only 14 were made in the top pockets. On he went, but when requiring eight for his points the red did not travel down the table as far as he desired, and necessitated a long loser. Gray made the shot, but struck the red a little too thin, As a result, it caught the shoulder of the middle pocket and went into baulk He tried to score off the single baulk, "out failed, and amid a storm of applause resumed his seat. The first to congratulate him was W. J. Peall,the one-time champion of English billiards, when the spot stroke was. in vogue. This break of 889 is the second highest that Gray has made in his life, his previous best being 985 (447 and 552 off the red), a little more than a month ago. The 879 off the red equals, his own world's record, made when compiling a break of 881 at Hull en October 4th. In Australia Gray's highest runs were 836 and 800. .Gray scored consistently at the rate of 100 in eight minutes, and the entire break occupied seventy-two minutes, the evening's contribution occupying just an hour. [ Gray has made eleven breaks of ever 500 since his arrival in England.