THE astonishing victory of novice Shaun Murphy in the World Snooker Championship this year has brought me delightful reflected glory.

As a youngster his coach Steve Prest (pictured left) was the star turn for Harrogate Conservative Club. I was a moderate billiards player then but was picked to play young Prest when my team, Ripon City Club, went to play in Harrogate about 25 years ago.

The idea was that he was one of the eight games we had no chance of winning, so to sacrifice a 'duffer' was considered a master stroke of strategy.

My strength was a devious control of the cue ball, which is so vital in billiards, but this skill was overwhelmed by a complete inability to pot a ball if it lay more than two inches from the pocket.

I managed to restrain Prest for some considerable time before he spotted a rare opening and cleared the table.

Our captain felt that by losing by less than 100 points I had served my purpose well. So much so that I made another appearance in the team when 'Potting Prest' came to Ripon for the return fixture.

Again, my ability to play negatively and hide the cue ball for long periods by dint of almost magical control of its progress stood me in good stead for a while until the inevitable happened and again I lost heavily.

All these years later it is nice to see that he has not only mastered cue ball control himself but has the ability to pass it on to his pupil.

Gerald Curry,

Harrogate Road,

Ripon.

Updated: 11:07 Friday, May 06, 2005