Winchester One-Ball Championships

[<<] [>>] by Brian Fisk
20-21 Apr 2002 (AC - Championships)

The 2002 One-Ball Championships was oversubscribed, with the new CA regulations being brought into use: a ballot to decide who should play in the handicap event and allocations for the advanced level being decided by rankings.

As it happens, there was little correlation between ranking and performance in the main event. Predictions of another Tibble-Kibble final were well wide of the mark, with both of the top seeds being knocked out in the first round, Lionel Tibble being out-shot be local veteran Ken Smith and Dave Kibble falling to John Cosier, a 4-handicapper playing out of his skin.

Only third seed Tim Wilkins made it to the semi-finals, but lost in a tight match to Kevin Carter, playing smoothly in the difficult conditions.

Smooth is a not a word readily associated with Bill Arliss, whose croquet has been rejuvenated by his discovery of hard-hitting Egyptian-style golf croquet. He found that this style translated well to one-ball (almost breaking a few stop-boards, hoops and ankles on the way). Seeing off Ken Smith in the semi he started the final in the same manner against Kevin Carter, who had no response to Bill's attack in the first game.

In the second, however, Kevin put together two breaks of five hoops and one of four to finish, leaving the score at one-each. The third game was one of bluster versus guile. Bill took an early lead, but Kevin inched-back until they were both for three-back. A blob by Bill and a hit-in by Kevin saw the latter round to peg. Bill hit-in, but could not finish. It could be argued that it was Bill's hard hitting that let him down as his 'controlled' hoop running of penult took him through to the South boundary leaving him effectively wired from Kevin's ball which was a few feet North of the peg. Kevin Carter regained a championship he had not won since 1996.

The consolation Egyptian was won by Nelson Morrow.

The previous day's handicap event was hectic, with 24 players, ranging in handicaps from -1.5 to +24, struggling to cope with a fast surface and hoops firmly set in rock-hard ground. Unusually only eight rounds of the Swiss were completed. The outright winner of the engraved decanter was Surbiton one-ball enthusiast Ted Matthews, with seven wins. The eight-way tie for second was a manager's nightmare, but it was resolved in favour of local players Rita Nunn (2nd) and John Shipton (3rd), each collecting a well-deserved glass memento.

Many thanks to Kevin for his very able running of the tournament, to Bill for expertly performing his duties as ROT (mainly knocking back in the hoops he'd previously loosened!), and to the Winchester Club for hosting the event. I'm not sure who to thank for the glorious weather...

It was my first Winchester One Ball and I shall be back next year (allocation system permitting)