Winchester One-Ball Championship

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Runner-up Chris Daniels goes for an angled hoop (and made it!)

The tenth Winchester One-ball Championship was again fully subscribed, and again played in very difficult conditions: rock hard ground, serving both to make the hoops most unforgiving and also accentuating Winchester's undulations.

The main event, the 'Monorchid' Advanced level was played as a best-of-three knock-out. In the very best traditions the top two seeds both crashed out in the first round. Kevin Carter lost to last year's runner-up, Bill Arliss, so he had an excuse. However, Don Gaunt was beaten by eight handicapper rookie, Chris Daniels. Did he? We shall see.

Chris also won his quarter final against Winchester club chairman Ivor Nunn. Meanwhile the other seeds, Nelson Morrow and Paul Castell, were making their way smoothly to the finals, along with Brian Fisk.

Then Chris Daniels beat Nelson Morrow in straight games, growing in confidence with every match, so we knew we had a real final to watch, with him pitched against Paul Castell. There was a sizeable crowd watching (for croquet...). In the first game Paul took an early lead, which was eroded, but still stood at three points by the time he hit the peg. In the second Chris played his best croquet and won +3.

The decider was a crowd-pleaser, with the advantage changing several times. Paul's shooting was peerless, but Chris's hooping and positioning kept him in touch. When Paul got to peg and Chris was still for 3-back we thought it was all over, but then Chris showed he could shoot, too, with three successive long roquets. Unfortunately the fourth missed and Paul scrambled home to collect the engraved decanter.

Chris Daniels has been playing croquet for little over a year. His touch is extremely good (he came to this tournament straight from the National Bowls Championship), his hooping solid and his strokes reliable. On Sunday Chris beat three minus players in his first ever one-ball tournament. In the full game this chap could win a few handicap tournaments off eight bisques this season. Watch out for him; he can play one-ball to at least scratch!

Bill Arliss won the consolation swiss, with 6/8. The advanced play event was preceded on Saturday by the 'Cryptorchid' Handicap. The swiss format still had about eight players in contention at tea-time. However, genial septuagenarian Brian Rees emerged as the only player with just one loss, with five more on two losses.