Dulwich lost to Sussex County 3-4

[<<] [>>] by Vincent L'Estrange at Dulwich
18 Jul (GC - Murphy Shield)

On Friday, 18 July holders Sussex County Croquet Club set off for Dulwich to play a quarter-final match in the Murphy Shield in what proved to be a close encounter.

After an early start, the Sussex team of Ben Harwood (1), Vincent L'Estrange, Paul Green and David King (all 3) arrived in buoyant mood, despite the last 14 miles of the journey through the south London traffic taking about 1 ¼ hours. (same for the return journey).

In the morning doubles, Ben & David lost by 5-7, 6-7 in a very tight match with some amazing hoops run (some fortuitously), while Vincent scored a good 7-6, 7-4 win. A morning lead then depended on Paul Green, who was level at 1 game all and about to start his 3^rd game. All went well and Paul won that 7-2 to give SCCC a lunchtime lead of 2-1.

We all enjoyed a very good buffet lunch, knowing that 2 wins in the 4 singles would give us the match . The first result in the afternoon was a 0-2 defeat for Vincent, reversing his good morning win. Next to finish was David, who was well beaten 0-2. Ben meanwhile had won his first game 7-4, but was 5-1 down in the second - but showing amazing resilience he clawed his way back to pull off a fine win by 7-5! So the match score was now level at 3 all, when we all went off to find out how Paul was getting on.

Paul had won his first game 7-4, but his opponent was fighting back hard, and went on to win the second game to level it up. All now depended on the final game. After a good start, Paul was 5-2 up, but it was not over yet - his wily opponent would not let up and was inching back, and only at the 12^th did Paul manage to clinch the hoop and give us a Semi Final place with an overall 4-3 victory.

Well done team, and our thanks to Dulwich for their hospitality, and a very tough but enjoyable match.