Watford Open AC One-Day tournament

[<<] [>>] by Simon Hathrell at Watford
19th June (AC)

The 'official' entry of 13 players was supplemented by the addition of 3
students from Cambridge University, who took advantage of the remaining 3
vacancies in order to get some practice before the annual Varsity Match
against Oxford at Hurlingham the following Monday. However, the students
were techically ineligible to play in the official tournament because
their handicaps were too high, so they played in a separate side-
tournament 'C' block. The 13 players in the main tournament were then
split into an 'A' block of 8 playing 3 rounds of Level Advanced and a
'B' block of 5 playing 3 rounds of Handicap Advanced in a Swiss format,
in line with the players' selected preferences.

The format for the 'B' block was then combined with the 'C' block by
giving one of the 'B' block players in each round a bye with an automatic
'win' in that round while they actually played a Level Advanced game in
the 'C' block, with the additional 'handicap' that they had to complete
three mandatory peels against their high-handicap student opponent.

Then as a further rather abnormal arrangement, both of the two 'C' block
student games in each round were deliberately double-banked with one of
the 'A' block games, with an additional stipulation to the 'A' block
players that when not in play they should use the opportunity to give
tactical advice and coaching to the Cambridge students double-banked on
their court. The fact that 3 of the 'A' block players were also Oxford
University alumni added a little extra spice to the proceedings!

Each game was played in warm and mostly sunny weather, and to a 2hr-45
minute time-limit in order to ensure that the day would be completed at
a reasonable hour in the early evening.

The 'A' block results below are displayed as if the 3 rounds were played
as a Swiss format, which is in fact equivalent to a 3-round knock-out as
far as the winner is concerned, since with a block of 8 either format
guarantees that there is always a single player on 3 wins after 3 rounds;
but the ranking of the 2nd to 7th places can vary according to which
format interpretation is chosen, so the ranking of those places should
be regarded as undefined.

To the relief of the manager these somewhat Byzantine tournament
arrangements all worked out as planned, all games were completed as
scheduled, with the A-block including two triple peels by Mike Porter and
Rich Waterman, and all three blocks finished with an unambigous winner
with just one player in each block on 3 wins out of 3 games.

The 'A' block final was between Rich Waterman and Richard H Smith.
Richard S gained an early lead, and in due course reached peg and rover
while Rich W languished on 4 and 1-back. But then Rich W picked up a break
with his forward ball which he took to peg with an OSL, and Richard S
missed a long lift shot into corner IV which left Rich W the choice of
either a dolly rush and a challenging 3-ball break for a win or a 6-yard
roquet for a laid 4-ball-break and a probable win. Rich W bravely opted
for the latter... and missed!, leaving Richard S an easy finish to win
the game and the tournament, plus a handicap reduction from -½ to -1.

The 'B' block proved to be well-contested, with all six of the 'real'
games (excluding the 'byes') being curtailed by the clock when the scores
were close. Geoff Johnson was awarded a bye and a deemed win in the first
round, during which he played a game with 3 mandatory peels against James
Faulkner in the 'C' block; and then Andre Machell and John Smallbone each
received a bye and a deemed win following their defeat in the preceding 'B'
block round, during which they played with 3 mandatory peels against the 'C'
block players Jack Sydenham and George Garnett respectively. Meanwhile Tony
Elliott and Mark Lansdale, each having won two 'real' games in the first two
'B' block rounds, met each other in what amounted to a block final to decide
the winner. Tony emerged as the +3 winner in another close game which once
again reached the time limit.

In the 'C' block the Cambridge students had to come to terms with tighter
hoops and courts which were much faster than the slow, rough courts on the
playing fields available back in Cambridge, and with the big difference that
this also made to the tactical risks and rewards available. Jack Sydenham
appeared to adapt quite quickly, showing generally good judgement of length
as well as some accurate shooting, while George in particular struggled with
the judgement of length, over-hitting badly on some shots and under-hitting
on others, notably failing to reach the safety of a far boundary when shooting
and missing. Jack was also the only one of the three students to take a game
off a 'B' block visitor playing with 3 mandatory peels, as well as beating
James Faulkner and George Garnett in his other two games, so that Jack emerged
as the clear winner of the 'C' block.

Players & handicaps:

Block A
Alan Clark (3.5)
Gary Bennett (3)
George Collin (1)
Jon Palin (1)
Mike Porter (-0.5)
Nick Archer (1)
Rich Waterman (-1)
Richard H Smith (-0.5)

Block B
Andre Machell (5)
Geoff Johnson (3.5)
John Smallbone (4.5)
Mark Lansdale (9)
Tony Elliott (6)

Results:

Block A: Level Advanced
Rich Waterman beat Alan Clark +25
Richard H Smith beat Gary Bennett +11(T)
Mike Porter beat Nick Archer +26tp
Jon Palin beat George Collin +14
Rich Waterman beat Jon Palin +18tp
Richard H Smith beat Mike Porter +14
George Collin beat Alan Clark +1(T)
Nick Archer beat Gary Bennett +18
Richard H Smith beat Rich Waterman +10
Mike Porter beat Jon Palin +6
Nick Archer beat George Collin +1(T)
Gary Bennett beat Alan Clark +4

Block B: Handicap Advanced
Geoff Johnson beat ? w/o
Tony Elliott beat John Smallbone +2(T)
Mark Lansdale beat Andre Machell +4(T)
Andre Machell beat ? w/o
Tony Elliott beat Geoff Johnson +1(T)
Mark Lansdale beat John Smallbone +5(T)
Geoff Johnson beat Andre Machell +1(T)
John Smallbone beat ? w/o
Tony Elliott beat Mark Lansdale +3(T)

Block C: Level Advanced with mandatory peels
Jack Sydenham beat George Garnett +7(T)
Geoff Johnson beat James Faulkner +25
Jack Sydenham beat Andre Machell +5
James Faulkner beat George Garnett +20
Jack Sydenham beat James Faulkner +13
John Smallbone beat George Garnett +20

Handicap change: Richard H Smith -.5 to -1; Nick Archer 1 to .5