BILLIARDS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1626, 29 April 1903, Page 52

BILLIARDS

STEVENSON v. DAWSON. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, March 21. As one of the players is on the eve of a -professional tour in the Antipodes and the other has already exhibited ins prowess- with the cue among you, some considerable interest will no doubt be telt by a fair proportion of your readers m the championship billiard match of 9000 up, “spot and push barred,” between H. W. St even.sail and Charles Dawson, now nearing its conclusion at the National Spotting Club. Since John Roberts disappeared from the scene of his many triumphs these two -players have shared the honours which he monopolised for so long; either one or the other has held the championship since 1899. In that, year Dawson very easily secured the title by defeating the late John North. Stevenson threw out a challenge in 1800, but the liefer heat him by 2225 points. Nine months later the two men were oncei more engaged in a battle for the premiership, and Stevenson won “anyhow,” tlie margin m his favour being 2594. Dissatisfied, Dawson promptly issued another challenge, and at the expiration of the three months’ grace allowed by tlie rules the rivals faced each other at tlie Argyll Hall, where Dawson has accomplished some of his finest performances. including his record break of 722. Perhaps the surroundings had some influence on the result. An any rate, Dawson gave Stevenson no quarter, and romped home a winner by 3204 points, Tho latter took the earliest opportunity of putting matters in train for another “test,” and the match was to have been played in the autumn of 1901. Dawson, however, suddenly assumed a hostile attitude towards the Billiard Association, and refused to play Stevenson at the time arranged for the championship match, and the Association, therefore, conferred the title on Stevenson. He has held it ever since. Last yea A after a good deal of preliminary wrangling, the two men met in a series of games of 18,000 up. These had nothing to do with the championship. Stevenson won the first by 3806- but he lost the other two by 910 and 1169 Dawson was anxious for another match of 18,000 up this season, but hU rival pleaded that he could not spare p fortnight. This seemed rather a lame eV but no amount of pressure would

induce Stevenson to waive bis objection. He, however, undertook to “oblige” after bis return from Australia, whither he is about to proceed. Tlie Huddersfield man did not like to wait so long, and so. in order to clinch matters, lie finally resolved to challenge for the championship in the ordinary way. Hence tlie present contest which commenced last Monday afternoon. In the opening session neither player covered himself with glory, the table being a very difficult one as to its pockets. Only twice was the century topped, Stevenson making a break of 130 and Dawson one of 113, but on the wnoie the latter did best and reached 752 to lus rival's 580. In tho evening, however, Stevenson turned the tables on the 11 ufide rsfi eld player, and with runs of 151, 123, 164. and 123, caught and passed Ins opponent whose best effort was a break of 313. Stevenson at the close of the session had 1501 to his credit, Dawson at 1193 being 306 in arrears. On the morrow tne afternoon session saw Dawson working out a streak of bad luck, for he went 28 times to the ta.blei for a paltry total of 506 points, and his best break was 93. Stevenson on the other hand exceeded the century three times (102, 148. and 133)_ and wound up with a comfortable lead of 549. Undoubtedly the table is an exceedingly difficult one and tlie Huddersfield player’s indifferent form thus far is entirely due to h.is inability to gauge the pockets correctly. At night he showed better form, though be only got into throe figures once (103). whereas Stevenson topped the century" twice. and actually gained 91 further points on his rival.

On “Wednesday afternoon Dawson could not. in. the language of the street, “play for sour apples,” and with Stevenson at the top of his form the gap between the players at the end of the sitting was no less than 1174. How badly Dawson played may be judged from the fact that in thirteen essays he only contributed 217 points (average 16.46 per break), with a top break of 731. Meanwhile Stevenson in a like number cf innings put on 750 points, averaging 57.69 per break, with leading items of 273, 104, and 104 unfinished. At night, however. Dawson did much better, scoring 933 to Stevenson's 559, and thus pulling up 344 points. His best breaks were 154, 143, and 141; Stevenson contributing 131 and 188 among other items. Yesterday Dawson for the greater part of the two sessions quite out-played the champion. In the afternoon he aggregated 1068 points in 21 essays, thus achieving the fine average of 50.76 per break, and reducing Stevenson’s lead to one of 293. He reached triple figures four times in the course of the ]uay. lus best breaks being 112, 224, 242. and 105. Meanwhile Stevenson could only add 531 to his total, including two “centuries,” 108 and 177. At night the spectators bad plenty of mild excitement for their money, for on nine occasions were the positions of the players 'altered. In the early stages Stevenson seemed to be “all abroad” and unable to gauge pace or direction accurately. Dawson, on the other hand, played finely, and with the score at 5019 actually took tlie lead —a remarkable performance seeing that on “Wednesday afternoon bo was no less than 1174 points behind. Dawson continued to travel better, until at length lie was 195 ahead. Then he had a fit of tlie slows, and Stevenson playing at the top of liis 1 form in the last halfhour took the lead, at 5364, and with a grand break of 210 and a final contribution of 82 finished the day 366 points ahead of his rival, the scores at the close of the play being 5815 to 5449 in bis favour. On the evening’s play the clia.nipon scored 973 to Dawson’s 900 in 34 essays, though lie only topped the century twice (188 and 210), as also did Dawson (208 and 236), but on the full day’s play the latter scored 1968 to Stevenson's 1504, the latter's average for the day being 27.14 per innings as against Dawson’s 35.63.

Yesterday Dawson made one of the most brilliant efforts on record in the history of the game of billiards. When tlie game was resumed. Stevenson proved in good trim, and in the first hour increased his load to 625 points—a very formidable a divan tage at this stage of the game. Just, however, as the champion seemed about to leave liis opponent hopelessly in the rear Dawson began to get the run of the balls, and making the most of his oppor trinities lie scored 661 points whilst liis rival was adding 121. and in the course of the whole session aggregated 951 points in fifteen visits to" the table—a grand average of 63.40 per break. His best efforts were 120, 134, 140, 135, 171, and 100 (unfinished), and when play ceased he was but 84 points behind Stevenson, who had scored 670, including runs of 114, 134. and 141. At the conclusion of the session the scores were 6485 to 6401 in the champion’s favour, but soon after the commencement of the evening sitting the Huddersfield player completely turned the tables on his opponent. Playing as he has seldom played before Dawson, m tlie course of two hours and ten minutes play, not only reached his full points but actually secured a lead of 776, which should take him home a winner to-night when the game finishes. His best efforts were 131 382, and 325, the latter items being reeled off in a dashing style quite foreign to Dawson. With his rival m such splendid form Stevenson had for the most part to play spectator, and as a matter of fact lie only scored 240 whilst Dawson put on 1100 in the course of 17 visits to the table. The latter player's average for the evening's sitting was 64-58 and for the whole day 64, his aggregate being 2052 for 32 essays. Stevenson on tlie day scored 910, and had an average of 28.31. At the close tlie scores were Dawson (in play) 7501; Stevenson. 6725.