Last month we quoted Reece as saying to an interviewer of The Perth Daily News:— "I think Gray would do just as well with ivories, though there are many who do not agree with me. I think it would take him about two months' solid practice, before he could get perfect those extra raking long losers, in which the ivory angle makes it a narrow pocket."
Since announcing this belief Reece has met Lindrum with bonzoline balls and been beaten by him, mainly by means of the red losers, by some thousands. Close observation of the behaviour of composition balls during this match would seem to have modified to some extent Reece's view, as, speaking later to a representative of The Melbourne Argus, he said:—
"Under present rules and playing with composition balls, Gray, in my opinion, can concede one-third of the game to any living player, with the one possible exception of Lindrum, whose proficiency at the red ball trick might reduce the proportion of start.
"So far as I have seen Lindrum, I am inclined to think that with composition balls there is not a great deal of difference between him and H. W. Stevenson, but at the same time there is no saying to what extent Lindrum may improve his red-ball play in the immediate future. When, however, we come to ivory balls I would not care to say how Gray and Stevenson might get on. It might be that Gray would be hard put to it to beat Stevenson on level terms.
"In the first place, Gray would have to learn the way to play ivory in the three-ball game, in order to work out his intermediate game, which would take a long time in even the simpler phases of billiards. More important still, from Gray's point of view, is the behaviour of ivory balls in the playing of losing hazards from baulk. Personally, I do not believe that Gray's colossal runs off the red would be possible with ivory balls. To begin with, the narrower angle of divergence made by ivory balls after contact means that thereby the pocket opening is considerably reduced, and one-eighth, or even one-sixteenth, part of an inch is quite sufficient to bring a break to an end.
"But the most important factor of all is the extra pace at which an ivory object ball travels after being struck.
Not only does the spring of ivory account for this, but the substance takes such a high finish and is so much lighter than composition that it demands a delicacy and accuracy of striking not required in the case of the composition ball. Times out of number I have seen losers made successfully with composition balls, and the object ball come back to its proper position with such varying strengths of cue that I am convinced, had the balls been ivory, the object ball would have at once got beyond control.
"To prove this theory, I once suspended a cue from the ceiling, so that it would swing forward truly, as in the act of striking a ball. I then placed set hazards with composition and with ivory balls alternately, and, drawing back the cue to given distances, released it so as to make the shot. In every instance the object ball in ivory travelled some 3ft. farther down the table after striking the cushion than did the composition ball. Moreover, the least variation in the momentum of the cue was responded to by the ivory object ball, but to produce anything like a proportionate difference in the pace and behaviour of the composition ball an altogether disproportionate momentum had to be imparted to the cue.
"Owing to the latitude and margin for possible error which the composition ball allows, I am certain that the red loser presents nothing like the difficulties to a class player which are usually attributed to its execution. At the same time, I do not wish to convey the impression that I have any contempt for the red ball game."