NEW ZEALAND AMATEUR BILLIARD CHAMPIONSHIP.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1057, 9 June 1910, Page 11

NEW ZEALAND AMATEUR BILLIARD CHAMPIONSHIP.

The first contest for the Amateur Billiard Championship of New Zealand, was commenced in Darby’s Buildings, Queen Street, on Monday evening. Being the first in the history of New Zealand heid under the auspices of the Billiard Association of Great Britain and Ireland, the contest is naturally causing a good deal of interest, particularly amongst billiardists. The entries received totalled nine, which must be considered highly satisfactory for the opening contest. Before the tournament opened, Mr. R. Farrel, manager for Messrs. Alcock and Co., in a few words addressed those present. He said the contest was the first ever held under the auspices of the Billiard Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and hoped the contest would be carried out with the very best of feeling. He regretted there were so few entries from the South, but he had been informed that many who had intended competing had, owing to business engagements, been prevented from doing so. Each of the games would be 500 up, with the ex-

ception of the final, which would be 1000 points. ■ The contest is being played with crystalate balls on a beautiful standard match table manufactured by Messrs. Alcock and Co. THE PLAY. F. Lovelock v- E. Morrison. The contest opened with the game between F. Lovelock and E. Morrison. Both players opened very poorly, and appeared to find the small pockets a bit too hard to negotiate. Without doubt, from beginning to end it was about as poor an exhibition of billiards by two players with pretensions to championship honours as anyone could imagine.,' Neither seemed to be able to play with any degree of accuracy, and missed some absurdly simple shots. However, if the play was poor the game itself was brimful of excitement. Both men kept weil together from the start, and the scores at the first hundred were: Lovelock 104, Morrison 100. LovelOck still held a slight advantage at 203, his opponent then being 193. The leader then appeared to settle down to his work and was soon well out in front and at 340 had a lead of 93 points, his opponent then being 24 7. However, Lovelock’s good play was only a “flash in the pan,” and falling to pieces again he was only six points in the lead when 400 was called. Excitement began to grow as they approached the end, as it was evident that either player could go out in a break. Morrison got in front at 469, Lovelock being 460, but the latter was again in front at 482 and was 493 when Morrison had 487 down to him. Then the latter went to the table and scoring freely, he created great excitement by passing Lovelock and approaching his 500 points. At 499, just when he looked to have victory within his grasp, he missed a fairly easy losing hazard off the white and leaving the balls nice for Lovelock the latter ran to game with only one point in his favour, thus terminating one of the most exciting contests ever played in New Zealand.

The winner played some very good shots during the game but he was a long way below form, and his display was a disappointment. Morrison did not play up to expectation and was decidedly lucky throughout, bringing off some very acceptable—to himself—flukes and as the play went it would have been unkind had Lovelock been beaten. The best breaks during the game were:—Lovelock 56, 31, 30, 27 and 23; Morrison 36, 29, 28 and 20. J. Ryan v. J- Russell. Tuesday afternoon saw J. Ryan and J. Russell try conclusions. Both players began very slowly, and their contributions were very meagre. Ryan was playing a more open game than his opponent, who appeared to be all at sea, and could not get the balls into position at all. They kept well together for the first 50 points, but Ryan then commenced to forge ahead, and slowly increasing his advantage, he was never ousted from the lead, and finally ran out a winner by 143 points, the scores reading: Ryan 500, Russell 357At a glance the final scores would suggest that the winner was responsible for some good play, but this was not the case, and a good deal of his decisive victory was owing to his opponent’s bad play rather than to his own efforts. While scoring his 500 points, Ryan visited the table on 53 occasions, and his average works out at a little over 9 per cue. The winner’s best breaks were 23, 35, 26, 25, 35, 36 and 36, while Russell’s best contributions were 20, 26 and 21;