The 1984 Masters is remembered for a number of reasons. And most of those reasons often overshadow the actual result of the match. Whether it’s Kirk Stevens’s white suit or the occasion of making the third televised 147 break, these are likely the memories that fans remember of this entire match and tournament. However, one of snooker’s most Memorable Hits took place at the end of this match which I wanted to look at today.
And this was made by Stevens’ opponent, Jimmy White. If you didn’t know already – spoiler alert – but White ended up winning this semi-final match 6-4, and then proceeded to win the Masters tournament. In response to Stevens’ maximum break, White hit back with a century break of his own to close out the match. But the exhibition pink he potted at the end of the frame left everyone in awe and excitement.
This shot was a prime example of the ‘banana shot’ in which the cue ball is hit with so much screw (extreme bottom), or in some cases top spin, to cause the cue ball to travel in a trajectory/arc similar to the shape of a banana. In this case, White’s shot caused the cue ball to travel down the table in a backwards C-like pattern. But where exactly did he strike the cue ball?
The first component of this shot is indeed, the screw/bottom. It’s obvious where you need to strike the cue ball for this to happen although, for a shot that requires extreme backspin such as this one, things can go wrong. White was aiming as far down on the cue ball as humanly possible. Aim any higher, you won’t achieve the desired backspin, or it can turn into a stun shot if struck incorrectly. Aim any lower, then the cue ball is flying into the audience.
You know a deep screw shot is effective where the initial reaction off the object ball starts off slow (which some commentators refer to as a slight pause), but very quickly speeds up due to the amount of backspin generated. This is only achieved when the cue ball is struck to perfection; and White was an expert at getting action out of a cue ball.
The second component of this shot observes which side of the cue ball White struck in order to get it to rebound off the two cushions in the way it did. If you replay the shot, the cue ball seems to bounce off the first cushion normally, but when it contacts the black cushion, a couple of things happen. Firstly, the pace of the cue ball slows down dramatically. Secondly, the angle that the cue ball rebounds is in more of a straight line as opposed to the natural angle which would suggest it go nearer the black in more of a ‘v’ pattern.
This is a result of applying right-hand side on the shot in addition to the screw. The right-hand side in effect, ‘checks’ the cue ball when it bounces off the second cushion thereby, slowing the pace of the cue ball as well as creating that angle when it rebounds off the second cushion. If left-hand side was applied the cue ball would have likely gone above the black, if not around it.
The reason this shot was so magnificent was because of the way it was executed. This shot was an example of the perfect cue action required in order to get that kind of response from the cue ball. These kinds of shots are rarely played due to their technical difficulty, so you mainly see them when the frame is safe however, it doesn’t take away from the spectacle of a perfect arc achieved from a well struck shot. And there wasn’t a person better than White at manufacturing this kind of shot, as he demonstrated in that same clearance as he banana’d the cue ball back up the table on the final black.
Like this Short? Click here to read: Memorable Hits - Murphy's Magical Manoeuvre
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