BILLIARDS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXX, Issue 11126, 8 February 1930, Page 12

BILLIARDS

CUE-M.ASTERY. STRIKING TRIBUTE TO LINDitU.W. "IN CLASS BY HIMSELF.” A remarkable tribute to the artistry of that great 1 illmnU player, Walter Lindruni. is paid by Leu Newman. ihe well-known English player, in the following article: “He is an artist to the tips ol his cue—never mind his finger-tips. His stance, and Sonic aspects of his cue delivery, have that indefinable touch of individualism which only goii.n* can claim. You cannot compare his style with that of the other players. That is not fair cither to him or to them, hut one tiling can be settled. H:s execution is Hut quicker than that .A .John Roberts Used to be, although it may well H* as quick, and is as fluent- and graceiuL He would doubtless .scon* most point.- in a given time than Roberts commonly did, simply because ifie distinguishing characteristic of Ids play is that he keeps close to his work in the* sense* that la* controls the i alls in incomparable style at close quarters, compelling them to yield tiie last point before allowing them to ge-t out of effective range*, and is not nearly so fond of those* spectacular efforts which used to steady up the .scoring rate of the old wizard ot the cue. "Jt is my busine-s to '•* able to sum up the strength of a future- opponent. without loss of tine*, and although 1 only saw Linurum for a couple of sessions, and then did not see him at anything like his Lc*st, 1 saw sufficient to put him in a class by himself as a billiards arti-t. •'See him strike* a lung loser. He decs it with the decisive tei trinity of \\ iili» Smith or George Gray, the cue-ball travelling clean into the centre of the top pocket, while the object-ball comes round into perfect-

middle pocket position off three cushions. Watch him pot a ball and you see a winning hazard striker of the quality of Joe Davis playing snooker at the top of his form. Down goes the red as if it was a steel ball, an*! there was a powerful magnet- in the centre of the pocket, while the cue-ball, aive wth any movement he wishes to impart, spins away and stops where it i- wanted for the next shut. “As a nursery camion expert Liudrum does not use up so much cushion space as is usually done, thus scoring more cannons in a given length of cushion than we expect as a rule. He also has uncanny skill at- avoiding a 'cover.’ and takes the ‘ball-cusliion-bair cannon. which must l e scored to break the sequence of ball-to-ball cannons, much about the same as one of the usual sort. He i' very clever indeed at this most difficult positional shot. "At- top-of-ilie-tahle billiards lie can handle the alternating red-win-ner-cannon movement in a style which retains the white near the spot for facile cannons with more ea.se than I have seen any other player exhil it. and I allow that to bo the supreme test of mastery in this intricate and elusive departmem in tiie game. "Add all the above together and you get a billiards. paragon, which is precisely my impression of Waiter Liiulrum. It is not nearly enough to say that la* has no weak points in his game—that amounts to a mere negative quality when appraising the cue-mastery of Lindrum