Considerable interest was caused during the match between Harverson and Newman at Soho Square, towards the end of April, by the production by Harverson of a special cue for making a jump shot. In the ordinary way there are two methods of making jump shots. One— favoured by John Roberts—is to aim at the cloth slightly at the rear of the ball. This method has the advantage of enabling the stroke to be played at any part of the table.
The other method is to lay the cue flat on the cloth and slide the tip under the ball, but in certain positions the presence of the cushion necessitates the raising of the cue butt. Harverson's special cue enables the shot to be made at any part of the table, and with greater certainty than with the usual tip. For the purpose of this particular shot Harverson flattens a couple of inches in length at the end of one side of the cue, with the result that the cue is firmly and evenly imposed upon the cloth, upon which it slides, much as the butt-end used to be in the old days when shots might be made with either end.
Using this special cue, Harverson made, with the greatest ease, and without once failing, all sorts of difficult jump shots, illustrative alike of what can be accomplished in snooker or in ordinary billiards. It did not seem to matter whether the cue ball was three, six, or more inches away from the object ball. The cue ball either skipped lightly on top of the object, or, for the purpose of a pot or disturbance, missed it and found the second objective with unerring certainty.
Of the effectiveness of this new device there can be no doubt, and it would also seem—at any rate so far as the model that is flattened on one side only is concerned—that the rule requiring that the cue ball shall only be struck or touched with the point of the cue is duly observed.
The new cue can be seen at any time at Messrs. Burroughes & Watts' showrooms in Soho Square.