GC Test Match against USA announced

[<<] [>>] by Chris Clarke at Budleigh Salterton
4th April (CqE Official News)

The International Committee is delighted to announce a two-day GC Test match against World Champions, the USA. This will take place on 5-6 August at Budleigh Salterton directly prior to the Solomon Trophy and will consist of four or five players per team, depending on USA availability. The event is live on the CqE availability page, and the closing date for availability is 19th May.

Spectators will be welcome.

Chris Clarke, Chair of GCSC

Dom Nunns, Chair of International Committee adds:

We're excited at the prospect of this mouth-watering challenge for the England GC team in facing the newly crowned World Team Champions. The USA team played spectacularly in winning their title in Tasmania earlier this year, and have no fewer than three individual world GC champions at their disposal, as well as two of the world's top three in the GC rankings at the time of writing. Anyone who faces them will need to be on their mettle, but we have every faith in our team! The match should be well worth watching.

For some years, Croquet England has been working towards increasing the chances of success by England teams in World Team Championships. A key part of that has been to increase the opportunities to compete against the very best international teams. In a GC context this has meant arranging England matches against Egypt and Spain, and this USA match continues that trend. CqE aims to maximise these opportunities whilst working to a proportionate budget.

The IC wishes to clarify that, whilst timed to immediately precede the Solomon Trophy for reasons of practicality, this match is not 'attached' to the Solomon Trophy in any formal sense. Many are aware of past 'American rules' matches in the USA in which the exact same Solomon players have competed as a 'warm-up' / friendly event on the day before the Solomon starts. A key difference here is that the selection for this match is intended to be based on the strongest England GC team available, and unrelated to the selection for the AC Solomon Trophy. The Solomon Trophy remains a GB v USA fixture and will be selected accordingly.

Dom Nunns, Chair of International Committee, 21 April 2025