Fine margins in the 'Barter Cup' where the weather triumphs!!!

[<<] [>>] by Ivor Brand at Cheltenham
7th May (GC - Tournaments)

Once again, this popular 'Open' series event attracted an oversubscribed number of entries. The lucky 32 all started with enthusiasm on the green lawns of Cheltenham dreaming of progressing into the main knockout the following day. Games were generally played at a good pace in the fine weather, which resulted in Sam Cuthbert and Neil Fillery winning their blocks undefeated, with Richard Gardiner and David Goacher as their respective runners up. The other 2 block winners, James Death and Konstantin Yuinstev, had to be separated by net points from David Thirtle-Watts and Ivor Brand. (All results are on CS)

The manager sat in the pub reflecting on how well the day had gone and was looking forward to both knockout events running smoothly on the Sunday. Once again, all 32 players were keen to get going in their respective 19 point knockout games in the morning sunshine. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas; it was April after all. Sure enough, the sky darkened and the rain fell, seeing players run for a short spell in their shelters. The lawns became waterlogged and play was suspended for 20mins. (Although James and Giles decided to finish their game as drowned rats)

The manager having taken 'legal' advice made the decision that the lawns were unplayable and gave the players a choice of waiting for an hour in the bar or withdraw and head home, as it would be 2.30pm before play could resume, assuming the lawns drained. After a short pause, there was a mad rush for the car park! Once the dust had settled the manager realised that the main event semi-final KO could continue, but the consolation plate event only had one semi-finalist staying. Consequently, it was decided to put through 3 losing quarter finalists so the competition could continue.

The 'Barter Cup' final was played in full sunshine which saw the top 2 seeds James D and Sam C squeak past their respective opponents Richard Gardiner and Ian Buckley. The first 2 games of the final were close and could have gone either way.

The third game continued to be fine margins all the way through to the 13^th hoop. James cleared well from an angle north of the hoop putting Sam's ball in corner 3 and subsequently travelled 4 yards into the jaws of 13 (lucky B). Sam responded by clearing James's ball out of the hoop from the east boundary level with hoop 4. Unfortunately, Sam narrowly missed his clearance from corner 3 allowing James to win the 'Barter Cup' for a 4^th successive year.

Ivor Brand (frustrated manager)