AMATEUR BILLIARDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3743, 8 December 1925, Page 55

AMATEUR BILLIARDS.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL. The concluding cession of the final game of the New Zealand amateur billiards championship was played on Thursday in the presence ot a fair number of spectators, when Mason (Dunedin) beat llackett (Auckland) by 445 points The play all round was the mo3t interesting displayed in the tournament, and although bad luck again dogged Hackett, he fought pluckily. Mason played a capital game and made several serviceable breaks through the medium of a series of nursery cannons which were pretty to watch. Hackett’s fighting spirit was evidenced in his run of 54 made when his opponent was only one off game. Mason, who was ir. play with 12 to his credit, opened the session and carried his break to 36 before missing an easy cannon. Hackett's first two visits to the table were unproductive, end he increased his score bv a four and a five in the next two shots. Maso’i replied with zwo beautiful 23’s, and followed them with four, 13 nine, and 20, his opponent meanwhile adding only eight to his tally. Hackett then made seven visits to the table which resulted in 11 only, whilst Mason put on 47. The Auckland man then compiled 10 and three, and, missing an easy pot, left position for Mason, who took full advantage of the opportunity and rattled up a pretty 42, his next three visits, however, proving abortive. Hackett got the balls running, and was more successful in his next attempts, putting on 18, five, and 10, the scores then standing at 1100 and 1525 respectively. Mason came along slowly by a succession of twos and threes, while Hackett made four visits to o table for 68, among which was a cleanly npiled break of 34. Scoring for a time was slow till the sixteenth century was passed, when the Aucklander again showed his metal and increased his score by 34 in two breaks, leaving Mason a double- baulk. The latter was unable to improve his position and failed to score in three attempts, whilst the same fate befell Hackett, who was unfortunate enough to give a foul. The Dunedinite then hurried the score along, bringing it to 1700 by four breaks of nine, 12, 33, and 23. Again there was a lull, although bright touches were added by the compilation of 13 and lo by Mason, whilst Hackett s best effort was 17. The former brought 18« J up at the conclusion of a 16 break, which was followed by another of 11 and a two. making the scores read Mason 1813, Hackett 1363. Two more fruitless visits were made to the table V Hackett, whilst his opponent added only three to his tally, and on Hackett again failing to score Mason ran up a 10 and a five, leaving the Auckland man a double baulk. Hackett, however, extricated himself neatly from a nasty position and scored a pretty 30, for which he was heartily applauded. Again the scoring was slow and till the appearance of the nineteenth hundred the onlv incidents of note were a neat 13 by Mason, followed with a 24, Hackett in the meantime scoring slowly with a succession of twos, threes, and f° ur ®; The score then read —Mason 1906, Hackett 1449. Some pretty top of the table play was then shown by Mason, who by a series of nursery cannons (a shot which he seems to favour) added another 27 to his total, which was followed by a break of 27 by Hackett. Again both players visited the table without result, till a run of-35 made by excellent all-round play brought Mason to 1991, Hackett’s tally reading 1496. Mason then put on two, to which Hackett replied with four, leaving position for the former, who, with his red in position, pottedit twice* in succession. Then came a fitfing climax to a hard-fought battle. Mason, with an easy chance to pot the red, his scor e exactly 2000, miscued and left the balls handy for Hackett, who, bv brilliant play, ran up the biggest break of the session, 54, breaking down on a difficult cannon. An easy in off the white then gave Mason the game and championship title, the scores reading:— Mason 2001 Hackett 1555 The best breaks were as follow: — Mason: 42 35, 33, 27, 24, 23, 25. Hackett: 54, 34, 30, 27, 21. Mason’s average per cue was 7.2. At the conclusion of the tournament Mr Hackett paid a generous tribute to his opponent. On behalf of himself and his fellow townsman, the late champion, Mr Fredatovirch, he expressed their highest apEreciation of the excellent and beautiful illiards played by Mr Mason. Though they were naturejjv disappointed, they were more than compensated for their lack of success by the hospitality shown them by the Returned Soldiers’ Club and a host of good sportsmen whom they had met in Dunedin. An additional compensation was the fine exhibition given by Mr Mason. He hoped that next year Auckland and Dunedin would meet again in the same friendly spirit.