Cesar Miranda Reyes won the Tompkinson Shield

[<<] [>>] by Andrew Gregory at Edgbaston
22nd August 2017 (AC)

Tompkinson Shield 2017

Thirteen players gathered at Edgbaston on a cool August weekend. On Saturday the showers were fitful. Sunday was dry until about halfway through the final, when the rain set in.

Conditions were benign, maybe 9.5. So some of the longer handicaps could claim some scalps, as did Adrian Morris (2.5) beating defending champion David Foulser in the first game. Morris reached a quarter-final against Dave Mundy, and was making a leave on 4-back and peg when he accidentally pegged himself out. Mundy generously failed hoop 3 for Morris to go through.

Remarkably this was the second accidental peg-out of the weekend. Andrew Gregory had one against lowest-ranked Phil Cordingley, it did not prove to be a winning tactic.

The easy conditions led most players to attempt triples. 11 were completed (out of 41 games), and Craig Winfield was top peeler with 3 TPs.

Cordingley was unbeaten on Saturday, and was thus top seed in the 8-man knock-out. Against Cesar Miranda he made a few early errors, but came back to 4-back and peg. Miranda was about to reach the same clippage when he fell foul of an invisible bunker in front of rover. Cordingley had a leave, but Miranda then hit a long shot, made 3 hoops and pegged Cordingley out, eventually winning.

This set up the long hoped for Latin American Championship game. Miranda (Mexico) beat Jonathan Lamb (Uruguay).

Nigel Polhill won through the other half. He and Miranda had played on Saturday, Polhill winning +1. But in the final Miranda prevailed. His shooting was the best on display. Expect to see him and Winfield on the Championship circuit ere long.

Knock-out phase:
Miranda beat Cordingley +3
Lamb beat Nick Steiner +25tp
Morris beat Mundy +15
Polhill beat Foulser +24
Miranda beat Lamb +22
Polhill beat Morris +14tp
Miranda beat Polhill +11

Handicap reductions:
Miranda 2 -> 1
Morris 2.5-> 2
Winfield 1.5 -> 1