THE match between the champion and ex-champion, which took place at Mr. Lumb's, the Old Vaults, Crewe, on the evening following that on which the championship was contested, ended in favour of Cook by 13 points..From the following account, which we extract from the Crewe Guardian, it will be seen that the play of both Roberts and Cook seems to have been highly appreciated, and created a greater amount of astonishment in the spectators than is usual since exhibition matches have become so frequent; but this can be accounted for in a great measure from the fact of the town having been without a public table until the opening of Mr. Lumb's saloon on the 21st ult. The Guardian says:— We sat waiting for some time expecting the great players, and it was not till about eight o'clock that their cue cases turned up, and we hailed the boy who fetched them with a faint cheer. Then we understood they had arrived by rail, and were at the Crewe Arms; and shortly after a cab rolled up to the door, and we were presently blessed with the sight of two tall, slender, clean-shaven, gentlemanly-looking men in evening dress, who took very little notice of anybody, but quietly opened their cue cases and began the game.
Cook opened with the customary miss in baulk, and Roberts followed with a miss under the lower side cushion. Cook then made the cannon thus set him, and with another and one miss scored 5. Roberts followed with a break of 8.
In fact, there seemed nothing very remarkable about the earlier part of the game, unless it was the noiseless, almost mechanical, action of the players. The shots were such as might be executed by any amateur, with the exception of a tremendous screw or pull-back now and then. But the beauty of the play was the position which was gained by each effort. There was no forcing; no cannoning all round the cushions (a three-cushion was scarcely to be seen throughout the game); and in fact both players seemed to have taken a great fancy to the American nursing cannons, getting the balls together at the top of the table whenever it was possible, and keeping them in play within the breadth of a span, or if that failed, getting on the never-failing spot.
The play was comparatively uneventful in its earlier stages, the breaks being very much as follows: Cook, 17; Roberts, 19; Cook, 15; Roberts, 4; Cook, 69; Roberts, miss; Cook, 17; Roberts, 19; Cook, 47; and so on.
Roberts now got the balls together at the top, and it was a sight for billiard players to watch him make seven consecutive cannons with the balls only two or three inches apart, keeping them in this position by his wonderful delicacy of play; at So he got into position for the spot, and made 9 of them, running to 112—206.
Cook went on to 224, when he got the balls together in the middle of the table, and with a well-played cannon sent them gently to the top of the table, where, with another cannon, he got the red over the pocket, and thus got on the spot, but did not stay there; and with some all-round play reached 240—112. Roberts then made 4, and left the red over the side pocket. Cook now added 7, when the balls touched, and Roberts broke them with a miss in baulk, Cook followed with another miss under the lower Bide cushion, which Roberts followed with a difficult cannon with side off the white, -which was applauded, but broke down after a short break. Cook then got an opening 8 and ran to 258, then gained the spot, making 8 of them, and continued scoring with cannons and losers till he reached 304 to Roberts's 132, when ho missed cutting the red in, the break being 50.
Roberts now added 13 and left the red near the right hand bottom pocket, off which Cook made a very thin shot as sharp as lightning to bring the redout, and after a winner into the side pocket, brought the balls together again at the top of the table. The first"fluke "of the game now occurred, the red running into one of the top pockets after rebounding from the elbow of the side pocket, and with two more red hazards Cook finished a break of 29. Roberts now potted the white by accident and the red went into baulk. He then failed to score, and Cook made a cannon by playing a direct return shot out of baulk on the white, pulling his ball back a distance of about three feet on to the red. Cook now continued scoring till he reached 397—159. Roberts followed, screwing off the red, which was close to the baulk line, into the bottom pocket, and now seemed to pull himself together, and abandon the carelessness which seemed to characterise his opening, running to 181—397, when a forcing winner at the top refused the pocket. The play seemed now to flag, and short breaks and misses were the rule till Cook reached 414—184. Roberts added 24.
Cook now tried another nursery, but after a few delicate shots just managed to leave them for Roberts, who did not fail to improve the opportunity, and at 214—414 got on the spot, making 5 of them, which, with some cannons, made him 236. Cook followed with 11 spots, and included in his break 5 nursers—altogether 48. The score was now—Cook, 462: Roberts, 236. Roberts now made the break of the evening. Playing some very pretty long hazards, he potted the red with a long up-cushion stroke, playing with his left hand a splendid and difficult stroke, which brought him into his favourite position— the spot, from which he now made no less than 48 consecutive red winners, following this up with some very difficult all-round play, including a clever kiss cannon, which caused some laughter; ho got on the spot again and made 18 points, passing his opponent amidst applause; then while hitting his ball very low missed, thus finishing a magnificent break of 255 with the score at: Roberts, 491; Cook, 462. Cook, not to be outdone, mounted the spot and made 14 of them before he failed, bringing his score to 514 — 491. Nothing special characterised the play now for a time except a stab shot which Cook tried but failed at, and a contribution of 9 spots from the same player. In the middle of a break, Cook finding the three balls all in a line at the top of the table near the spot, played at the upper side cushion, and his ball rebounding made a cannon, which was loudly applauded; he finished the break at 604 to 539. Roberts added 58 with some beautiful all-.round play (597—604), then Cook got 16 and Roberts 9, Cook 19, Roberts missed, and Cook got away, again scoring 53—692 to 607. The breaks were now but moderate, till Roberts, getting on the spot, made ten winners, which brought him in front again at 784 to 712, which lie ultimately increased to 826—717.
Cook now mounted guard, making 12 spots, then two cannons and a winner, which brought him to the spot again, where he continued until he had potted the red no less than 45 times in succession; four cannons followed, the last of which left nothing on, and he finished the break of 191 amidst applause, having again passed his opponent. The score was now, Cook, 908; Roberts, 826; and the game being so close began to be decidedly interesting. Roberts soon after pulled up again with 9 spots, making the score 884—917. Cook then failed to score, and Roberts, playing hazards into the bottom and side pockets, drove the red to the top and got on his favourite stroke (11 spots), which brought the game to "917 all."
He then lost position, and, trying a red loser, failed, which left game on. Short breaks followed till the game was called "950 all." Roberts here made a cannon by striking the cushion first, and ran to 967, and ultimately to 987—961, when he broke down in attempting to screw a loser off the red, which was "glued" under the top cushion: the ball kissed and he failed to score.
This was Cook's signal to go in and win, which he did, delighting all present with eight consecutive cannons while the balls were only about two inches apart, going across them each time, and only moving them a hair's breadth; a few more cannons and hazards brought the red near the top pocket at 997 to 987, and Cook won, going off the red into the top pocket from a point near the upper cushion, playing one shot with his right hand behind his back! The winning break was thus 39.
Cheers were then given for Mr. Cook and also for Mr,.Roberts, who had won the championship of England from Mr. Cook the previous day, and the company separated highly pleased with the instructive lesson in billiards they had received.
[There is one thing in the above that puzzles us; Cook and Roberts are described as two tall, clean shaven, gentlemanly-looking men. The description is not such as we should desire to be supplied with had we to look for a man in a crowd. It may be a correct one, but if so the transformation must have been worked quickly, for on the night of the championship Cook possessed a beard, moustache, and whiskers, which it would have been a sin for a Sheffield blade to have approached, whilst the champion was anything but deficient of nature's covering. — Ed. B. N.]
THESE professionals played an exhibition match at the Greyhound Hotel, Richmond, on Christmas Eve, Hunt conceding 300 points start in 1,000. Inman kept in front throughout, and won the game by 116 points, Hunt's largest break during the game was 80 (22 spots) and Inman's 57 (all round).