BILLIARDS.

Evening Star, Issue 4226, 12 September 1876, Page 2

BILLIARDS.

EOBEHTS’S FIRST MATCH,

J¥, r J , obl l *<*«*■. jnn., champion billiard-player of England, made his first appearance in Dunedin at the Temperance Hall last evening. This groat player s visit lias been locked forward to for some months by lovers of bil i&fds, and there ate many amongst us who saw Mr Roberts, sen., play a series of matches in Dunedin some eleven or twelve years ago, and who were anxious to witness the wonderful strides made iu this scientific :<iinie r iru'.o ‘ hat time. The attendance numabout •'lt l ') people. Tiie Hall last night ■was admirably litt. d np and brilliantly lighted by M r Colo, and the whole of the play was visible from any of the seats. The table is a magnificent specimen of Messrs Thurston’s workmanship, and its only fault appeared to be that it was rather bow owing doubtless to being covered with a new cloth. The marking at the commencement o, the match was dreadfully mismanaged, but an improvement was soon effected and no hitch occurred throughout, Mr Roberta’s opponent on this occa* Bjoii was Mr J. Nesbitt, lessee of the Empire and Criterion billiard-saloons, and the English champion conceded 600 points out of 1,000. At a few minutes post eight the players entered the hall anna loud cheering, and at once commenced operations ns follows ;

Nesbi t broke the halls, giving a miss in baulk ; Heberts replying with a miss under the right hand cosinon. Nesbitt scored a white losing hazard and let Roberts in, who ran up 24, and then—Nesbitt not sconnv—lo more. The game was called Nesbitt, 6.13; Roberts, 34. Nesbitt then made a useful 11, but leaving the balls for his opponent, the latter made a pretty break of 42, got by all-round play. 614—,6. Nesbitt ran up 9, and each player failed to ?9?5° k“*on getting a favorable opening, Nesbitt played an excellent break of 86. for which he was loudly applauded. 660—76. Roberta made a hazard, and Nesbitt came again with a carefully-played 16, Roberts scored 9 by all-round play,; and then got position for the spot ftroke. putting the red ball down £5 4 V?o 8 -r , ® failing and making the break 89. I*B. Nesbitt missed the easy hazard which was left, and Roberts ran up 12; Nesbitt following 7. 683—130, Nesbitt contribu ed another 7, and left ms ball over the top pocket, thus giving Roberts a good opening. The latter, however, made only 7, the red ball having to spot in the middle of the table. 690—137. Nesbitt got away again with a neatly-played 16, Roberts making 5, and losing a promising break by just missing a screw cannon. 706—142. Nesbitt added 10 more, and then flaked the red into a middle pocket. A miss on each side was given, and the marker was not much troubled for a time. Nesbitt then made a clever run-through cannon and Hosing hazard, getting 18 eff the break. Roberts made 11 and 16, breaking down through the red ball hanging over the corner pocket. 744—185. On ain taking up the cue, Roberts made a good cannon all round the table, but the break yielded only 9. In his next attempt he passed his second hundred, and apparently meant mischief, when ho unfortunately lost his opponent’s ball. 764—210. After no score on Nesbitt’s part, Roberts made an exceedingly difficult cannon,land then by beautifully judged cannons with an occasion al red hazard ran up 50; then got the spot shot and put the red down eight times, making in all a break of 74, There was lond applause at the conclusion of thispretty piece of play. 764—284. Nesbitt then added a steady 12, Roberts creeping up with 8 and 10. The latter was made up of five beautiful cannons, the white ball then being lost. 776 -302. Nesbitt made 5, and Roberts then got hold of the halls, and, manipulating them with wonderful skill and judgment, ran up 39, when he again holed Nesbitt’s ball. However, potting the red ball he got position behind the spot and made twenty-four hazards, then losing position made two losing hazards and gaveia double baulk, the whole break amounting to 120. 781—423. Nesbitt ran a coup, and after small scoring Roberts made a sweet losing hazard through the white ball and along the cushion, and a fine break of 65 resulted. In it Roberts showed his skill iu nursing the halls together, so as to make a long series of cannons, some of these being of the mrst delicate description. Nesbitt, .playing steadily, added 14 to bis score. 801—491. Roberts then made ten, but fluking the red in continued his break, running up 94 before he broke down. 801—587. A short interval here took place, during which the probable result of the match was eagerly discussed. On resuming, Roberts made 5 and Nesbitt 4, follow, ing this up iu bis next innings by 14, obtained off a pretty long white losing hazard. 819—593. Roberts failing to score, Nesbitt made 16, mostly by good losing hazards, but then holed his opponent’s ball and failed to obtain a double baulk by not allowing for the slowness of the table. This let Roberts in, bat, after potting the red, he missed the easiest possible white loser in the middle pocket. Nesbitt took advantage of this by adding a well-deserved 21, his losing hazards being very truly played. 856-603. Alter Nesbitt hod made 5 more, Roberts got his hand in again, anc! scored a masterly break of 84. consisting mainly of nursing and push cannons. 803—687. When a few points had been added on both sides each player missed an easy shot, and small breaks followed. At 875 —715 Roberts laid himself out to force a break, but at 10 his ball jumped over the red in attempting a screw-back cannon and ran a coup. After Nesbitt bad added 9 Roberts got the halls in good position, but in tryingafine losing hazard off the red —which was in the jaws of the pocket—can another coup. 893—735. Neabitt made five good loaing hazards off the red ball. Roberts getting position by two pretty cannons, which brought down the house, contributed 59 in good style. 908—794. Nesbitt scored 7, and Roberts passed another century with a break of 20. 915—814. He then added 17 and 10, to which Nesbitt responded with 9, his ball then flying off the table. 926—841. Roberts scored 15, ending with a beautiful pot and double baulk; following with 10 and 22.. The latter break was stopped by Roberts’s ball missing a cannon in a most miraculous way. 926—858. Roberts now failed to score, and Nesbitt, playing with confidence, ran up 5, 20, and 24, the last named nearly all red losing hazards. 975—889. Roberts still making no sign Nesbitt added 7, flaking the red ball. Robert* then made 10, and leaving the balls safe followed this up with 26. 982—930. Nesbitt made a five shot and a red hazard! but leaving an opening for Roberts the latter made two cannons and worked the balls down to the spot. The gome (990-934) was now intensely exciting, Nesbitt requiring only 10 to win, but Roberts on the dreaded spot with only 66 to go out. However, as had happened twice previously during the match, the red ball, after Roberts had made four pots, hung in the mouth of the pocket instead of dropping m. 990—946. Nesbitt potted the easy hazard left, made a pretty cannon off the side cushion, then another cannon, and getting his opponent's ball about a foot from the baulk pocket with the red higher up the cushion, holed the white and screwed the cannon, the four shot making his score 1,001 to Roberts’s 946. Nesbitt thus won a grand match by 54 points. Mr Nesbitt deserves every credit for the plucky and steady manner in which he played all through tue game, not appearing to lose confidence at any time. The victory may be looked upon as reflecting credit on the Colony, for Mr Nesbitt is a native of New Zealand, having been bom at Nelson. This is the first really public match that he has played. Of Mr Roberts’s play it is scarcely necessary to spe .k, his skill, judgment, and command over the hnlln being simply wonderful. He was decidedly unlucky on several occasions last evening, but we expect to see him run up some very large breaks as he gets accustomed to the table. This evening Mr Roberta will play Mr G. Mansen, with whom he played two matches at Invercargill—each winning one. Mr Mansen receives 600 points in 1,000. After the match three games of pyramids will be played, and Mr Egberts will also show some fancy shots. To-morrow afternoon Mr Roberts wll play an amateur, giving him 450 out of 759. 'J his entertainment will he open to ladies.