By Elliott West
Introduction
Australia has had a long association with snooker with many of its finest having travelled the distance to play on UK shores. One such tournament that stands out in the realms of time, is the Australian Winfield Masters and for the purpose of this piece, I wish to concentrate on the 1983 tournament. Hosted by the Channel 10 network and held in their Sydney studios, this was a non-ranking event and brought together 16 players, a mix of Australian , Canadian and UK players.
Described as a “sprint-style version of Pot Black”, the tournament started off with the best of five frames in the first round, rising to seven, nine and for the final, thirteen. A huge success with the viewers, the viewing figures amazed the television network as it outdrew all other late night programmes in its first week. However there was criticism regarding the filming. Critics pointed out that there numerous breaks in filming and the floor manager told the audience when to applaud. A storm in a teacup in comparison to the British who had a heatwave in their country at the time.
The Tournament
With the anticipation of a possible Australian winner, the home crowd must have been bitterly disappointed that Eddie Charlton was the only home nation player to survive the first round. Ian Anderson, John Campbell, Warren King and Paddy Morgan, all fell foul to the process and so the weight was transferred to Eddies’ shoulders to keep flying the flag for Australia.
First Round (Best of 5 frames)
Cliff Thorburn v Warren King 3-1
Jimmy White v Ian Anderson 3-2
Kirk Stevens v Doug Mountjoy 3-1
Eddie Charlton v Paddy Morgan 3-2
Bill Werbenuik v Dennis Taylor 3-2
Alex Higgins v John Spencer 3-2
Tony Knowles v John Campbell 3-1
Tony Meo v David Taylor 3-0
Quarter-Finals (Best of 7 frames)
Cliff Thorburn v Jimmy White 4-2
Cliff Thorburn’s break of 107 at his first visit to the table accounted for the opening frame and he went on to lead 2-1. In the fourth frame, White’s break of 48 put him 34 points in front with only one red remaining but Thorburn forced the frame to a black ball decider by clearing to the pink. The Canadian failed at the black but White did too, and at the second attempt Thorburn duly went 3-1 up.
Breaks of 46 and 41 enabled Jimmy to run away with the fifth frame and an effort of 59, gave him a twelve point lead lead in the sixth. A far from easy yellow eluded him, however, to allow Thorburn to clinch his 4-2 win.
Kirk Stevens v Eddie Charlton 4-1
After dropping a fifty-five minute opening frame on a tie-break black, Charlton strangely attempted the top cushion to baulk pocket double from the re-spotted black. Stevens dominated the rest of the match with his break building. Efforts of 46, 62, 34 and 60 put him 3-1 up with Charlton unable to respond, he added the fifth frame as well for the match.
Bill Werbenuik v Alex Higgins 4-0
Having beaten Higgins in the Lada Classic and the Benson and Hedges Masters before losing to him 13-11 in the Embassy World Championship quarter-finals, Werbenuik recorded his third victory in their four tournament meetings that year with as emphatic a whitewash as one could expect to see.
A break of 108, ending in failure at the yellow, supplied the highlight of the match in the second frame but there was also an effort of 73 which in effect concluded the match at his first scoring visit in the fourth.
Tony Knowles v Tony Meo 4-3
At 3-1, Meo looked the winner but he grew slightly more venturesome as he grew slightly more anxious to clinch the match and Knowles, with a break of 64, drew up to 2-3.
The contest then changed around completely with Knowles taking the next two frames for the match with breaks of 41, 35 and 49 as Meo potted only one further red.
Semi-Finals (Best of 9 frames)
Cliff Thorburn v Kirk Stevens 5-2
All seven frames were decided by a substantial break as Thorburn repeated the victory he had achieved over his younger compatriot in the Embassy World Championship quarter-finals. At Sheffield, Cliff had to dig deep into his reserves of stamina and concentration as he painstakingly accumulated the last three frames to win 13-12 but this match saw him moving more quickly and playing more fluently than he ever had in a decade when visiting Britain.
Breaks of 93, 56, 77 and 77 by Thorburn and 63 and 82 by Stevens left Thorburn leading 4-2 before he compiled the highest break of the tournament, 129 in concluding the match.
Bill Werbenuik v Tony Knowles 5-0
Knowles’s performance must surely have left him to reflect on the wisdom of an eve of the match preparation which saw him returning to bed after breakfast the following morning instead of practicing.
Werbenuik went comfortably to 3-0 and after Knowles had missed a blue into the middle when leading 40-39 in the fourth, the Canadian had no further difficulty in completing the whitewash which took his winning streak in the tournament to twelve frames.
The Final
Cliff Thorburn v Bill Werbenuik 7-3
After Thorburn had gone up 3-1 with a 31 clearance which gave him the fourth frame on the black, Werbenuik looked as if he might scoop the $10,000 jackpot on offer for a 147 maximum when he took the first fourteen reds, followed by thirteen blacks, in the fifth frame. The last red was in an open position between blue spot and middle pocket but Werbenuik having left himself straight on the black, wobbled it in the jaws as he attempted the deep screw with side off the side cushion for a position which would have allowed him to take the last red and run down again for the black.
Leading 3-2 at the interval, Thorburn added the sixth frame on the blue and went Ito a 33 point lead into the seventh with a break of 48. Werbenuik drew up to 3-4 with the aid of a break of 30 and a clinching 28 but Thorburn again went two in front at 5-3 by taking the eighth frame on the pink.
He went three up with four to play with a 53 break in the ninth and from 27 points in arrears, clinched the match on the pink with an effort of 39 which left only the black standing.
Conclusion
Cliff Thorburn’s victory in the final of the 1983 Australian Winfield Masters was no accident. His winning cheque of $20,000 or £11,760 was a worthy reward for his display in the tournament and was worth the long journey from his hometown of Toronto to Sydney.
This event was the continuation of a very special relationship between Australia and snooker, even attracting the likes of Ted Lowe and Rex Williams. This may have been played in a studio environment but it worked and the Australian public loved to watch it in their droves on late night television. Perhaps not as popular as it was, snooker still remains a subject matter in the country with the success of Neil Robertson in current times.
