Quote:
Originally Posted by Positively Ralf
My father, who is a huge 14.1 fan opines that the reason we are seeing such high runs is due to the faster cloth. Even though he admits the top players back in his day who played on slower cloth were able to run run 100s on any given night, it was rare to see them run 150+. so maybe the cloth does have something to do with it.
I think your father is definitely correct, faster cloth and polished balls helps open the balls up. I've played on slow cloth a lot and the stack just doesn't open as nicely as it does on perfect conditions. I've also played on faster cloth with polished balls and I can see how an accurate stroke, a good angle and a bit of luck will spread everything nicely without having to really know the proper way to play the break-shots. Of course, knowledge mixed with good playing conditions are huge assets.
To be fair to the players of yesteryear though, the high run challenges offers far more opportunities for competitive high runs than traditional tournaments.
I would agree cloth is faster balls are better but we also have to take into account that pockets are tougher in the modern era. Both pocket angles and shelf depth are tougher now than in the 50s-80s. Those events back in the days were played with pockets in the 4 3/4 -5 inch range Mosconis big run was on a 8ft table with 5+ inch pockets. The tables at the DCC openings are all under 4.5 inches.
Note: A few yrs back the DCC event was played on 10' Diamonds only 1 player got the 100 ball run or more, Stuart Pettman.
Players form the old days would have liked the new conditions and they would probably have played a different style while running balls.
