Until the last day the above match looked like providing «» fairly close finish, but Harverson wound up in brilliant form. Possibly he had the benefit of a somewhat doubtful decision by the referee in the afternoon, but even if his break of 314, in the course of which the appeal to the referee took place, were cancelled, there was still a very good margin that he could legitimately call his own.
The incident happened (The Johannesburg Evening Chronicle says) at a critical period of the game. Ferraro started off in good form, for, after Harverson had raised his overnight break to 182 and got within 11 points of the lead.
the South African put in a beautiful 99, and was well clear again. Harverson was very consistent, and missed few opportunities in the next hour, and was 200 to the good when he attempted a thin white loser in the right hand top pocket.
The cue ball appeared to run straight into the pocket without touching the object white, and the striker looked just as surprised as the rest of the spectators when the marker allowed a score. Ferraro appealed to the referee, who was not in as good a position as the marker, and he naturally concluded that the losing hazard had been made. This gave Harverson the game, for, had he missed, Ferraro could have given a double baulk and would have had a chance of regaining some of his arrears. On the other hand, Harverson continued the break and ran to his points with 159 unfinished, and in the evening he increased this break to 314, a very useful present at such a critical stage. The breaks made during the afternoon were:—Harverson 182, 50, 90, 94, 81, 81 and 153 (unfinished); Ferraro, 99.
At the close of the session the scores were: Harverson (in play) 17,308; Ferraro (rec. 1,000) 16,895.
In the evening Harverson was again in brilliant form, and began by adding 155 to his unfinished 159, thus making victory certain. Ferraro replied with 83, and the leader, who was playing in confident style, then tacked 128 on to his score, and soon after compiled a stylish 111, whilst the South African made breaks of 93, 78, and 71. Harverson ran out a comfortable winner by 692 points.
Scores:— Harverson 18,000; Ferraro (rec. 1,000) 17,308.
Commenting on the game, the same journal says:— Ferraro, who entered on the game with a fortnight's absence after an absence from the game for nearly two years, during which he has only played on very rare occasions, was plainly out of condition in the early stages of the game, and Harverson caught him before the 4,500 mark was reached.
Ferraro recovered, but again, when the score was nearing the 8,000 mark, the visitor went right away, and at one stage was 1,400 points in front. Ferraro then began to play in brilliant form, and in four sessions wiped out Harverson's advantage and drew nearly 450 points in front. Harverson then began to assert himself, and, playing more consistent billiards, gradually overhauled his opponent and won by a comfortable margin.
Of the two players, Harverson is the better stroke player, but Ferraro is the more methodical. Harverson plays more forcing strokes and relies on his ability to play difficult strokes to get him out of trouble, whilst Ferraro's methods are so exact that his big breaks are built up from start to finish. As an exponent of that popular phase of billiards, top of the table play. Ferraro has few, if any, equals. It is certain that none of the great players who have visited this country displayed the same exactitude at this phase of the game in their games out here, and it seems a pity that he should waste his time in this country where big billiards is as dead as the dodo. During the match, Harverson scored 41 breaks exceeding the century, whilst Ferraro's three-figure efforts numbered 36. The South African scored four breaks of 300 or over against two by Harverson, but Harverson hit up 8 breaks exceeding 200 against 5 by the local player.
The following are the three-figure breaks: - Harverson (41) 328, 314, 286, 282, 269, 256, 247, 213, 210, 202, 198, 197, 189, 189, 182, 173, 168, 165, 155, 149, 145, 143, 140, 136, 134, 128, 128, 126, 125, 125, 122, 122, 122, 120, 119, 118, 112, 111, 108, 107, 101.
Ferraro (36)— 335, 305, 301, 300, 279, 269, 266, 230, 202, 191, 170, 169, 166, 153, 149, 144, 112, 109, 109, 108, 108, 107, 104, 103, 101, 101, 100.
Writing to The Billiard Monthly from Durban, under date July 5, Harverson says: Since winning the match with the champion of South Africa, Frank Ferraro, I have been busily occupied playing at clubs and mines. My best performance was at the Unionist Party Club, Johannesburg, where I played a farewell match before over 500 of the members and made a break of 303. I am glad to be able to say that I have won all my matches up to now since arriving in this country. Leaving Johannesburg on July 1st, I played at Kronstadt on the way down at the club.
Here at Durban, I have numerous engagements during my stay of two weeks. The weather is delightful and the season is at its height. Mixed bathing takes place in the grille, a space formed in the sea with iron bars to protect the bathers from sharks. But we have no grille in the town to protect us non-bathers against the "sharks" that are down here for the big race meetings. Before leaving Durban I am trying to get the amateurs to form an Amateur championship of Natal. There are some very keen amateurs here, and I hope something will result. I leave here on July 18 for East London, Queenstown, King Williamstown and Port Elizabeth, and am expecting to arrive in Capetown on August 2, and be in England on October 6, ready for business on October 12. I hear that Ferraro is not satisfied with his beating in Johannesburg, and intends coming to Capetown after me.
Kindest regards to all billiardists, and especially to my club opponents.
From cuttings enclosed we note that Harverson won the handsome silver cup in the charity flying handicap at Johannesburg, in which six professionals and six amateurs took part.
During the proceedings the announcement was made that there was a movement on foot to establish in the Province a branch of the Billiards Controls Club, London. The idea was to arrange matches in various centres where preliminaries could be played, and then the larger centres could take the finals. The announcement was warmly received.
At a subsequent meeting, at which most of the leading amateur and professional cueists of the Rand were present, Mr. Malraison, who was elected to the chair, pointed out how necessary it was that billiards in the Province should be properly controlled, and an annual championship instituted, and on the motion of Mr. Moorby it was decided that a Billiards Control Association for the Transvaal should be formed.