Cesar Miranda Reyes retained the Tompkinson Shield

[<<] [>>] by Andrew Gregory at Edgbaston
19 Aug 2018 (AC)

After some welcome rain and assiduous watering, Edgbaston's lawns were positively lush compared to the scorched brown at other venues earlier in the season. In the conducive conditions there was surprisingly just one triple peel, by Craig Winfield. Nigel Polhill would have had one bar a grievous. Also unexpected was that neither of these gentlemen made the cut for the knock-out.

Six of the twelve fulfilled the criterion of 50% or better on Saturday. I'm not claiming that these six were necessarily the "best", whatever that means. But the two unbeaten players did reach the final, though Gary Bennett had a finishing turn against Robbie Dodds in the semi.

In the final Miranda's triple peel was going well until he failed 3-back with two peels done. Dodds was unable to capitalise, so Miranda soon claimed the Tompkinson Shield for the second year running.

The tournament could well accommodate a few more entries, especially in the 2 to 5 handicap range. It's a good opportunity to claim some scalps: one happy player gained 64 HCPs on Sunday!