James Moir won the AC All England

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James Moir receives the All England trophy from Patricia Duke-Cox

Six finalists, three from each area final, contested the 2026 All England AC Final at Wrest Park. The players represented a wide geographic spread of clubs and handicaps: Jenny Gaskin (Roehampton, hcp 16), James Moir (York, hcp 9), Marc Popiolek (Watford, hcp 16), Ryan Ransome (Glamorgan, hcp 7), Roger Steeper (Nottingham, hcp 10) and Fred White-Overton (Ealing, hcp 14). The format was all-play-all with 2¾ and 3 hour time limits for single and double banked games. Three games were played on Saturday and two on Sunday.

The final started with cloud and a stiff south-westerly breeze but reasonably warm. The wind played its part, particularly on lawn 4, where there was at least one occasion of the wind moving balls after they had been stationary for some time! On Sunday the weather was calmer with blue skies for most of the day.

The first round of games proved to be challenging as the players adjusted to the lawn speed with no games completed within time. After lunch, Fred White-Overton won his game against Ryan Ransome within time, but the other two games went to time.

Sunset was about 7.04 p.m. on the Saturday so the pressure was on to try and complete round 3 before it became too dark to see the balls! As 7.00 p.m. approached all three games were still in play. Both James Moir and Marc Popiolek won their games within time just after 7.00, with James pegging out his opponents peg ball during the latter stages of the game. But Ryan Ransome playing Jenny Gaskin was just getting going with a break. Suddenly Ryan's form had returned having lost his first two games of the day. He played out his break giving Jenny the chance in what were now very gloomy conditions, to attempt a hit in. Jenny missed giving Ryan a further break building opportunity. Time was called during the turn with Ryan winning the game, finishing almost in the dark about 7.30 p.m.

At close of play on the Saturday, James Moir had won 3/3 games, Fred White-Overton and Marc Popiolek had won 2/3 games, Roger Steeper and Ryan Ransome had won 1/3 games and Jenny Gaskin had yet to win a game.

Patrica Duke-Cox (past President Croquet England) arrived on Sunday morning to watch the games and to present the winner's trophy in the afternoon. James Moir was on fire in his first game on Sunday against Marc Popiolek. After using all his three bisques to keep his first break going he then gave almost nothing away and made one great hit-in which was the full length of the court.

One game in the morning finished within time with Roger Steeper beating Ryan Ransome. This set up an interesting afternoon with James Moir on 4/4 games and Fred White-Overton on 3/4 games.

Fred used his bisques to advantage in his afternoon game against Roger to win his game 26-9, enhancing his net hoop tally to 34. James therefore needed to win his game as his net hoop score was only 22. James was playing Jenny, and Jenny was initially ahead by one hoop but then James played a very controlled break to peg with his first ball. Jenny responded well using her bisques to advantage to give her back the lead. With two minutes until time was up, Jenny attempted a short take off but self-declared a fault as the croqueted ball did not move or shake. This gave James the opportunity to even the score during a turn in which time was called. In her final shot Jenny just missed a 13 yard roquet, and James managed to win with a golden hoop.

Many congratulations to James, winning all of his games and to all of the other finalists who contributed to a very enjoyable tournament. Thank you to Wrest Park for hosting the final and for providing the traditional Wrest Park lunch on both days.