BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIX, Issue 1075, 13 October 1910, Page 11

BILLIARDS.

GEORGE GRAY AT WORK. A nine hundred and eighty-five break ! Just fancy, only fifteen less than the thousand goal, that all the great players have been striving for ever since the new rules came into force twelve years ago. And that stupendous total by a youth who only recently turned his eighteenth year—and an Australian at that —a country that thousands of Englishmen are barely aware has a place on the map, says “ Snooker” in the •' Referee.” And at a game which our brothers down under are wont to declare that they have no equal at. “ You Australians may beat us at cricket or football; but at billiards (a pitying smile) —that is our game- It is one of the finer sciences that are a bit above your people!” was the remark of a champion billiardist to the writer some time back when discussing the future of the game in Australia.

Yet this Australian lad twice in the same week startled the English billiard world with two such large totals as 671 and 985; included in them being two English red losing-hazard records of 969 and 591 —the previous best being 354 by Stevenson and 300 by Inman.

I can imagine the enthusiasm with which this remarkable performance was received in the Old Country on Friday. It would be the sole topic in the thousands of billiard rooms and the hundreds of thousands of patrons who visit them. Everyone will be anxious to see the boy marvel; the •• Gray habit” or stroke will be the rage; the breaks made by Stevenson and Inman during their championship game, which commences next week, are almost certain to be small by comparison—as they usually are in championship games—and public interest will wane in consequence. Gray’s coming into the sacred circle is sure to be unwelcome.

Suggestions for eliminating or controlling the red hazard are bound to inundate the sporting press, and cold water be poured on the performance. Already it is cabled that Gray has been presented with £250 for making the record break, so the success of his tour is assured, although during the present engagement it may not make much financial difference to the lad, as he received a flat sum of £2OOO for six months’ work from Rileys, Ltd., the big table makers of Accrington, in conjunction with the Crystal-

ate Ball Co., who would now appear to have .made a good bargain. Not only wii l they receive a big advertisement for their wares, but they should also make a handsome profit from the gate proceeds, after giving the lad his dividend.

It was hard luck, though, for George to break down fifteen short of the magic five figures. That he may shortly surpass them is the wish

of all our modest boys’ compatriots. These great breaks prove that the Australian has benefited by being transplanted to the home of his ancestors, although his performance in Melbourne last year was almost as great, a recital of which may interest the couple of hundred thousand weekly readers of this paper to recount the deeds of the youngster in that famous record-making epoch against Lindrum. The seventeen-year-old marvel in that bout averaged 43.48 for the 15,000, as well as making the world’s double record break of 836 —the record off the red being 831. In addition to that Marathon run, other Titanic breaks such as 800, 588, 564, 531, 461, 417, and 408 came from the boy’s cue during the same game, mostly per medium of the red ball, by the favourite half-run-through stroke into the side pockets. When the average table was compiled it was seen that 'Gray had made two breaks over 800, three over 500, three over 400, five over 300, ten over 200 — 135 in all over the century. These figures should be posted up in every room, for they are the highest ever compiled in any match player under modern B.A. rules—and were made by a young Australian a few months after leaving the schoolmaster’s desk. It was in this game that Lindrum practically received his baptismal fire from heavy shot, and learned that great desideratum of the billiardist, ■“ how to sit still.” Despite these long watching spells, which glaze the eye and cool the feet, Lindrum came out of the game with the sterling average of 34.46, making 39 breaks over the hundred, with 307 on top. Roberts told me the other week that he considered the experience of “ long waits between shots” was of the greatest benefit to Lindrum, who I was pleased indeed to see has achieved the distinction of a 500 break —the billiardist’s Mecca. Having reached those figures, the six, seven, and eight hundred run will come all the easier. Experienced folks assert that it is easier to amass a million of money after you get the first thousand than it is to make the first thousand- lam not aware that it is so; but the reasoning holds good as a billiards analogy.