In my previous letter to The Billiard Player I referred to the fine game Cecil Harverson was giving me in our match of 16,000 up at Johannesburg. We were well past the half-way stage before I began to make any impression on the 2,000 I was conceding the South African champion, but, getting more used to things, I won in the end by a pretty good margin.
During one day's play I had the satisfaction of creating a new South African record by scoring 2,317 points in two sessions, and this helped me to a victory that seemed, at one stage, to be beyond my grasp.
I improved on this record slightly by scoring 2,360 in one day against Clark McConachy in a match that followed, but this did not save me from defeat, McConachy winning by 3,161, or 1,161 in excess of the allowance that I was making in 16,000 up. In a former letter I told you how favourably McConachy impressed me, and in our game he strengthened earlier impressions very materially. The New Zealander plays the red ball really well, particularly the long raking shots for the top pockets, and, without being too impressive in the all-round phase of the game, he is a big advance on George Gray in the red ball department. He is top-hole in screw shots, and as he is blessed with a temperament which accepts the bitters as smilingly as the sweets, he may easily make a "big noise" in the old country during the ensuing season. McConachy is pretty sure to drop some of his form when he comes to tackle ivory balls (he has played all his life with bonzolines and Crystalates), but under his own conditions he is a particularly sound exponent of the game.
Against me he had eight breaks of 300 and over, with the highest of the match—461; whilst I made five, including a 335. By the way, it is no joke living and playing in an altitude of 6,000 feet when one has been used to something nearer the earth, and the rarified air of Johannesburg rather upsets me. In three sessions during the first week I totalled 11,102 and averaged 77, and this at a period when I seemed to be doing just a little more than holding my own.
Following my game with McConachy I had a busy week in and around Johannesburg. Appended are a few of my best efforts:—At Krugersdorp Club 167, at the United Club 242, at Bramfontein 179 unfinished, at the Union Club 396 unfinished, at the Pretoria S.A.P. Club 288, at the Rand Club 359 unfinished, at Benoni 249.
Quite one of my most interesting experiences in South Africa was a visit to the Modder Deep gold mines, the richest in the world. Here I witnessed the whole process of extracting the gold from the quartz, and afterwards was taken all over the native compound and witnessed the weird native customs. We were entertained to some music by natives playing home-made pianos made of strips of wood, raw hide thongs, and a variety of tin cans. They got wonderful music out of these instruments, and with 30 of the boys joining in a war dance and dressed in native costumes, the whole effect was wonderful and weird.
On my way down country again from Johannesburg I played a return match at Kimberley with Mr. Erasmus, who is, I think, about the best amateur player in South Africa. Unfortunately for him, however, I was in my best form, averaging exactly 100 per innings for 1,000 up, and making breaks of 357 and 260.
At Beaufort West I met another very fine amateur in Mr. Griffiths, who made a break of 84, the highest compiled against me by an amateur, the previous best being 82 by Mr. Erasmus at Kimberley on my first visit there. I won all right, as it happened, my best break being 306.
A visit to the alluvial diamond diggings at Barkly West preceded my arrival in Cape Town and the last big match of my most interesting tour. This was against my old rival Harry Stevenson, who played exceptionally well at times but had no luck. Early on I made a break of 429 in twenty-one minutes, and never afterwards looked back, finally winning the 9,000 up game by no fewer than 2,157 points. The final instalment provided some fine play, my average being 80 and Stevenson's 58. Harry scored three century breaks at his last four visits to the table, whilst I had another big break of 417.
I have a couple of weeks to look round me in Cape Town before embarking for home on the Arundel Castle, and expect that I shall be in England before the next issue of The Billiard Player is published. I am due at Southampton on August 22.
[Falkiner duly arrived on August 22 at Southampton, where he played Williams.]