Brian Jamieson won the Hurlingham Handicap One Ball

[<<] [>>] by Tony Bingham at Hurlingham
13th October (AC - Handicap)

Close to the end of Hurlingham's main croquet lawns season, a record entry of 24 played for the Bingham Bowl. 9 were home players, 5 from Blewbury, 2 each from Ealing, Guildford, Roehampton and Surbiton and one each from Bowdon and Old Brentwoods. The day started grey but turned out beautifully sunny and surprisingly warm; advised to come prepared for all weathers many were discarding layers from mid-morning onwards. One-Ball handicaps ranged from 4.5 to three players on 20 (handicaps calculated using the recommended CE method). As ever success depended on tactical nous, knowing when to attack and when to defend, how best to use bisques as well as the more obvious skills of roqueting the opponent, taking good positions and running hoops reliably. With matches of different duration, some finishing 7, others 8 or even 9, the flexible Swiss format allowed the winner to be judged on percentage of wins.

At lunch with either 4 or 5 games completed, winners vs winners and losers vs losers as far as possible, four players vied for supremacy. Howard Railton (Roehampton, 10), Brian Jamieson (Blewbury, 10) and David Horlock (Hurlingham, 12.5) were unbeaten; Janie Thomson-Moore (Hurlingham, 17.5) was 4 from 5. After lunch the manager arranged for those in contention to play each other as far as practicable to help ensure a fair result. The last three rounds saw twists and turns. Brian Jamieson (Blewbury, 10) reached 6 from 6 by beating both Horlock and Railton; Thomson-Moore could not progress. Others climbed the ladder: David Beddy (Bowdon, 9), David Long (Blewbury, 14) and Carol Jamieson (Blewbury, 17.5). In the final round Horlock beat Railton (at one point also 6 from 6) in a very close match, and Brian Jamieson lost for the first time …. to spouse Carol (the Blewbury contingent were not surprised "she normally beats him!").

But this loss didn't matter: Brian Jamieson was declared winner and David Horlock 2nd; both were 6 from 7 but Brian had beaten David earlier. In equal third on 6 from 8 were David Long, Carol Jamieson and Howard Railton. On 5 out of 8 and in equal 6th place were: David Beddy, Tim Gibbons (Hurlingham, 17.5) and Mark Green (Roehampton, 12.5). Thanks go to Tony Elliott for acting as RoT.

Richard Andrews, Hurlingham's Croquet Chair, presented the Bingham Bowl and Hurlingham whisky tumblers to the winner; the runner-up also received a tumbler (David was also runner-up in 2024, his first appearance in the event time; third time lucky next year perhaps?). All matches were played in a very good spirit and Tony was thanked for making it a very well run and most enjoyable tournament. The international standard lawns played brilliantly as ever. As Brian said in his closing remarks, he had expected to play on the cricket pitch so it was a pleasure to play in such a brilliant environment in front of the magnificent Hurlingham portico.