Nottingham beat Northampton 5-2

by Ian Burridge at Nottingham [^]
22nd August (GC - Inter-Club)

Ian Burridge and James Death beat Lionel Tibble and Jayne Stevens 3-7 7-5 7-3
Alain Giraud beat Peter Stansfield 7-3 7-1
Euan Burridge lost to Michael Hills 5-7 2-7

James Death beat Lionel Tibble 7-5 7-3
Ian Burridge beat Jayne Stevens 7-1 7-0
Alain Giraud lost to Michael Hills 3-7 6-7
Euan Burridge beat Peter Stansfield 7-4 5-7 7-2

Nottingham beat Northampton 5-2

East Dorset beat Guildford 4-2

by Keith Southern at East Dorset [^]
21 Aug 2019 (GC - Inter-Club Shield)

GC Murphy Inter-Club Shield semi-final East Dorset v Guildford & Godalming played at East Dorset on Wednesday August 21 2019.

East Dorset beat Guildford & Godalming 4-2 with one rubber unfinished.

Teams and handicaps :

East Dorset : Keith Southern (2), Sandra Allan (3), Mark Hamann (3), Tony Green (5).
Guildford & Godalming : Mike Huxley (3), Andrea Huxley (3), Julie Tremble (3), Peter Gill (5).

Scores (East Dorset names first) :

Keith and Sandra beat Mike and Andrea 7-6, 5-7, 7-3
Mark beat Peter 4-7, 7-2, 7-5
Tony lost to Julie 3-7, 3-7

Keith v Mike 6-7, 7-3
Sandra lost to Andrea 5-7, 6-7
Mark beat Julie 7-3, 7-6
Tony beat Peter 7-2, 7-3

East Dorset progressed to the final v Camerton &Peasedown on the back of Mark Hamann's two singles victories. A long and tense doubles had given East Dorset a 2-1 lead at the lunch break and they completed victory by winning the two bottom singles leaving the top singles unfinished.

East Dorset lost to High Wycombe 0-6

by Mike Porter at East Dorset [^]
20 Aug 2019 (AC - Mary Rose)

At East Dorset, 20th August

High Wycombe beat East Dorset 6-0

(High Wycombe names first)

Stephen Wright (0) and David Warhurst (0) beat Tom Weston (1.5) and David Williams (3.5) +16
Mike Porter (0.5) beat John Pollard (5) +12
Richard Peperell (4) vs. Nigel Parkins (4.5) unfinished

Stephen Wright beat Tom Weston +14
David Warhurst beat David Williams +12
Mike Porter beat Nigel Parkins +26
Richard Peperell beat John Pollard +18

CA Council Elections - Voting closes 3rd September

by Dr Ian Vincent [^]
20th August (CA Official News)

Nominations have closed for election to the new CA Council.

The nominations received are summarised below. If you are registered to vote in one of the contested constituencies, you can do so online, or by post. Votes must be received by 3rd September. Click on the link to the constituency below to get details of the candidates and a link to download a ballot paper for postal voting.

Unless any nominations have gone astray, those nominated for the North West, Croquet North & Yorkshire, East Anglia and Southern constituencies will be declared elected without the need for a ballot

Bowdon beat Newport 5-1

by Will Mellor at Edgbaston [^]
19 Aug 2019 (AC - Mary Rose)

Bowdon played Newport at the neutral ground of Edgbaston in the Mary Rose on Monday 19th August.

Bowdon beat Newport 5.5 - 1.5. Scores are as followed with Bowdon players first:

Alan Mayne (0) and Martin Granger Brown (2) beat James Brind (1.5) and Andrew Gregory (2) +5
Will Mellor (4) beat Chris van Essen (5) +23
Adrian Apps (4) lost to Dan Neale -24
Alan beat James +26
Will beat Dan +7
Adrian beat Chris +23
Martin and Andrew decided to end their match early so both teams could get away early.

1500 visitors give croquet a go at CountryfileLive at Castle Howard

CountryfileLive at Castle Howard 2019

A group of 50 enthusiastic croquet players drawn mostly from the Yorkshire Federation went to the new CountryfileLive at Castle Howard to give visitors to the 4 day event the opportunity to " give croquet a go". Two small courts were set up on the lawns with the magnificent house in the background and over 1500 tried their hand at running hoops with some expert guidance. All of the visitors seemed to enjoy it ; any serious interest was captured and links are being made to clubs for follow up.

The weather was variable and as the show lasted from 9-00 to 6 pm on each day the CA volunteers worked hard with some time off to enjoy the rest of the show themselves.

It is always difficult to assess the long term impact of this sort of activity but 1500 is a "serious" number of players and there is no doubt that the team of volunteers raised the public profile of croquet amongst the tens of thousand visitors to the show. As a result of the relationships built up at Blenheim the BBC Countryfile Live stars turned up en masse for an early morning publicity shoot and Matt Baker , Ellie Harrison and Adam Henson came back to hone their croquet skills watched by many of their fans. Some activities were shot on camera but we shall have to wait to see if any of the footage makes it to the Sunday night show.

A big "thank you" to all the volunteers, to Anna Giraud for managing the recruitment and deployment of the teams, to Derek Knight ( and Anna) for setting up and dismantling the site, to the York and Beverley clubs for the loan of equipment .

Somerset win the GC Inter-Counties Championship

The winning Somerset Team (Photo: Louise Smith)

I am sure most players at the start of this event had Nottinghamshire down as firm favourites. With a team of four -4's, they were on paper by far the strongest. There were only three more -4's in all the registrations and they all came from different teams. All appeared to be going to Nottinghamshire's plan until round nine as they had achieved a eight wins from eight matches including a 2-1 win over their nearest rivals, Somerset in round eight. Round nine brought them against Lionel Tibble's Northamptonshire who started with a doubles win over Rachel Gee and Ian Burridge which was then followed by Jayne Stevens (-1) beating James Death (-4) by 7-3. This put a very different focus on the league tables as Somerset's early collection of 3-0 wins put them very much in the driving seat. Round nine also brought a further 2-1 win for Somerset against Durham/Yorks who were the only other contender for the title.
Somerset sealed their victory with a final 2-1 win over Dorset whilst Durham/Yorks, not to be outdone by Northampton, finished with a 2-1 victory over Nottinghamshire and pushed themselves into the runner up spot.
There was also considerable activity at the bottom of the table which is now much more important because of the prospects of relegation to division two. Hertfordshire had a very poor competition and with only one win to their credit, there was little they could do in the last three rounds to improve their position. However directly above them were four teams, Middlesex, Glamorgan, Surrey and Leicestershire to whom the last three rounds mattered considerably and finally it proved to be Leicestershire who would join Hertfordshire in division two next year.
Despite some atrocious weather just before the event, we managed to get away with just one sharp shower on the Sunday morning with mostly sunny weather for the rest of the weekend.
As someone who has been much involved in the development of Golf Croquet for the last two decades, it is extremely pleasing to note the number of very young players that were involved in the top teams for this event. It bodes very well for the future of this sport.
The final league tables were as below:

NOTE The table includes corrections to the original figure published following comments from two of the teams. It does not alter the table positions in any way.

Bill Arliss
Manager

Initial reports from Compton for division two show that Sussex were the clear winners with 7 from 10 games whilst Essex just managed to beat Bucks into second place. Both Essex and Bucks had six match wins, +2 net games and shared the honours in the matches between themselves. Essex had the best net points.

Budleigh 14-point Advanced AC Tournament

by Peter Moore at Budleigh [^]
17th August (AC)

Budleigh Salterton held its first 14-point Advanced AC Tournament on Sunday 28th July. We've previously used this format in the A-class blocks of our class weekends when rain made 26-point games impracticable, and now - inspired by the success of the annual Letchworth event - we've gone for a stand-alone fixtures book tournament.

Naturally enough, only relative locals (Budleigh, Exeter, Taunton) made the trek for a one-day event. We were able to offer the eight entrants, handicaps -1 to a very brave 10, single-banked games through the day on immaculate lawns. Stephen Custance-Baker (0.5, Taunton Deane) won the event, beating Robert Moss (3 and fast-improving, Budleigh) in a tense final.

Most of the players hadn't experienced this format in serious competitions before; all of them enjoyed it immensely and want more. We intend to make this a regular one-day tournament and will probably tag it on to another AC event - the August tournament or one of our class weekends - in the hope of attracting players from farther afield. We can cope with 40+ entrants!

Stephen C-B got the new silver cup for winning, but the other and more valuable prize went unclaimed. The Manager promised a special treat for the first player to achieve the 14-point version of a sextuple: stop at 3 with the first ball to avoid the lift, finish next turn with a quadruple peel. None of those who tried came close - could it be you next year? Watch the Fixtures Book for your chance.

MacRobertson Shield Selection Committee Appointed

by Dr Ian Vincent [^]
15th August (CA Official News)

The CA Council has appointed the following committee to select the England team for the MacRobertson Shield (AC World Championship):

• Keith Aiton
• James Death
• Robert Fulford
• Ian Lines (Chairman)
• David Maugham
• Stephen Mulliner
• Samir Patel

The current intention is that they will:

• establish player availability over the next few months;
• select an Elite Squad of 10-12 around October 2019;
• define some Elite Squad activities for 2020/21; and,
• make the team selection around October 2020, in good time for the event, which is scheduled to take place from 13-30 November 2021 at Cairnlea, Australia.

Players can declare their availability for the Elite Squad using the Members section of this website.

2020 World Teams GC Championships

by Lionel Tibble [^]
15th August (GC - Championships)

In accordance with the CA selection policy notice is given that the team selection announcement for the Openshaw Shield English Team has been postponed from 17th August to the 3rd September. This will enable the GC selectors to gather more valuable information which is not presently available. Regards Lionel Tibble Chairman of GC selectors

Ashby lost to Camerton & Peasedown 3-4

by Mick Haytack at Ashby [^]
8th August (GC - Inter-Club Shield)

Ashby lose 3-4 to Camerton and Peasedown in the Murphy Shield

By Mick Haytack

The weather was good for this close semi-final match. The teams were:-

Ashby Camerton & Peasedown

Christine Mounfield 2 Brian Wilson 3
Mick Haytack 3 Rosalind (Ros) Key-Pugh 3
Ray Mounfield 3 Maureen (Mo) Boys 3
Martin Wroughton 4 Patrick Knight 4

Christine and Mick beat Brian and Ros 7-4, 5-7, 7-4
Ray beat Patrick 7-5, 7-5
Martin lost to Mo 5-7, 7-5, 4-7

Christine lost to Brian 4-7, 7-6, 6-7
Mick lost to Ros 7-4, 5-7, 6-7
Ray beat Mo 7-3, 2-7, 7-5
Martin lost to Patrick 4-7, 3-7

As the scorline suggests, this was a very close match with the top two singles going to the 13th hoop in the 3rd game. Ros beat Mick by running hoop 13 from the boundary with an angled shot. Both teams played some exceptionally good shots but our visitors played just that bit better and will face either Guildford or East Dorset in the final.

Croquet returns to CountryfileLive at Blenheim

Matt Baker - Ellie Harrison - Rachel Leadbeater

Whilst the top GC players were battling it out for the World title in Kent and Sussex a group of 45 enthusiastic croquet players drawn from across the South and West returned to CountryfileLive at Blenheim Palace to give visitors at the 4 day event the opportunity to " give croquet a go". Tony and Pat from the Eynsham club had made a lawn out of the parkland right in the middle of the show. This meant that we were able to " entice" passers-by onto the lawn to try their hand at running hoops with some expert guidance. All of the visitors seemed to enjoy it and nearly 100 left their contact details for us to follow up.

As the weather was hot and humid and the show lasted from 9-00 to 6 pm on each day the CA volunteers worked hard with some time off to enjoy the rest of the show themselves.

It is always difficult to assess the long term impact of this sort of activity but there is no doubt that the team of volunteers raised the public profile of croquet amongst the tens of thousand visitors to the show. They also persuaded a number of the BBC Countryfile Live stars ( Matt Baker , Ellie Harrison, John Craven , Adam Henson ) to try their croquet skills watched by many of their fans. Some activities were shot on camera but we shall have to wait to see if any of the footage makes it to the Sunday night show.

A big "thank you" to all the volunteers, to Tony and Pat for setting up and dismantling the site, to the Eynsham club and others for the loan of equipment and to Frances Colman for managing all the recruitment and admin processes.

Next week Countryfile Live ventures " oop North" for a new four day event at Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Anna Giraud and Derek Knight of the Yorkshire Federation have recruited teams of volunteers and are setting up the site. It will be fascinating to see whether the success CountryfileLive has had at Blenheim over the last 4 years is replicated at Castle Howard and how the visitors take to croquet.

GC Home Internationals 21st and 22nd September

by Lionel Tibble at Balgreen [^]
7th August (International)

The GC selection committee are pleased to announce that the following players have been selected to represent England in the GC Home Internationals to be played at Balgreen CC on 21st and 22nd September
J P Moberly Captain
Stephen Mulliner
Richard Bilton
Dr Harry Fisher

Regards
Lionel Tibble
Chairman of GC Selectors

High Wycombe beat Westmorland 6-1

by Keith Pound at Unknown [^]
6th August (GC - Federations Shield)

Ripon Spa beat Abbey W/O

by Mark Suter [CA Manager] [^]
6th August (GC - Federations Shield)

Nottingham beat Chester 5-2

by Martin Beacon at Nottingham [^]
29 Jul 2019 (AC - Mary Rose)

The match was played in good spirit and on a very pleasant sunny day with Nottingham winning 5-2.

The "dubious highlight" of the morning session was a 5+ hour doubles match in which neither pair would give an inch. It eventually ended after a prolonged 3 ball exchange, Martin having failed a peg out but pegged out his own ball. Ian eventually pegged out his ball an hour and a half later. The 4 players then retired to a slightly over cooked, very late lunch.The singles were both won by Nottingham and the players had there lunch watching the proceedings on lawn one. 3-0 to Nottingham.

The afternoon singles matches were shared. Mark beat Ian with an impressive TP and Gerry beat Martin without much trouble. Nottingham won the other two singles to secure the match with both David and Michael winning in quick order.

Scores (Nottingham players first)

Ian Draper (1.5) and Martin Beacon (2) beat Mark Lloyd (0.5) and Jerry Guest (2) +6
David Brydon (2) beat David Boyd (5) +10
Michael Finnigan (2.5) beat John Dawson (2.5) +12

Ian lost to Mark -13 (TP)
Martin lost to Jerry -17
David beat John +19
Michael beat David +18

Bury beat Kington Langley 6-5

by Jane Hull at Unknown - not stated [^]
4 Aug 2019 (AC - Short Croquet Inter-Club)

Simon Carter Golf Croquet World Championship won by Ben Rothman

(Photo: Ray Hall)

After five closely fought games in the final of the GCWC witnessed by some 200 keen spectators, the new World GC Champion is Ben Rothman of the USA. The trophy was presented by Simon Carter the major sponsor of the event. The runner-up was Mohammed Karem of Egypt.

Also pictured is Eugene Chang who masterminded the online streaming which attracted a large following on http://youtube.com/CroquetEngland.

Jose Riva won the Championship of Surrey

by Samir Patel at Surbiton Croquet Club [^]
4th August (AC - Championships)

Mark van Loon won the Plate, beating Mark Ormerod +10tp in the final.

Voting for CA Council

by Dr Ian Vincent [^]
2nd August (CA Official News)

You can vote online, or by post, to elect members of the CA Council if you are a CA member registered for one of the three contested constituences: East & West Midlands, South East and South West. Click the constituency link for details of the candidates or to download a postal ballot paper. Voting closes on 3rd September.

Letchworth beat Nottingham 5-2

by Keith Rhodes at Letchworth [^]
1 Aug 2019 (AC - Longman Cup)

Letchworth beat Nottingham 5-2

Match played at Letchworth 1 August 2019
Letchworth names first

David Mathews (4) & Colin Davies (8) lost to Viv Staley (11) & Mark Lansdale (12) -6
Jeremy Scott (3.5) beat Alex McIntyre (5) +13
John Noble (11) beat Mike Hedge (7) +21

Jeremy Scott lost to Viv Staley -8
David Mathews beat Alex McIntyre +17
Colin Davies beat Mike Hedge +24
John Noble beat Mark Lansdale +20

Penrith lost to Bowdon 4-7

by Ken Cooper at Penrith [^]
1 Aug 2019 (AC - Short Croquet Inter-Club)

INTER-CLUB SHORT CROQUET COMPETITION
SEMI-FINAL: PENRITH & N. LAKES 4-7 BOWDON

Bowdon played Penrith at Penrith & N Lakes Croquet Club in the CA Short Inter-club semi-final competition today, 1st August. In spite of the heavy rain the day before, the lawns were in good shape and the weather was perfect croquet weather - warm but not boiling, sunny spells and a very brief spit of rain!

Bowdon lost the doubles before lunch but won the 2 singles games. Lunch was a veritable feast provided by Penrith (for which, many thanks) and the afternoon ended up with Bowdon winning 5 of the 8 singles, ending up with an overall win for Bowdon 7-4. Well done to Jack Good, aged 13, for winning all his matches.

Results:

John Henderson & John Perkins beat Louise Cheyne & George Kistruck 12-11

Ted Thwaites lost to Jack Good 10-14
Ian Ward lost to Cas Sinclair 6-14
John Henderson lost to Cas Sinclair 10-11
Ted Thwaites lost to Louise Cheyne 9-14
John Perkins lost to Jack Good 3-14

Ian Ward beat George Kistruck 14-6
John Henderson lost to Louise Cheyne 5-10
Ted Thwaites beat Cas Sinclair 14-4
Ian Ward lost to Jack Good 8-14
John Perkins beat George Kistruck 14-13

COWhorn 2019 July 13/14 - report and results

by Roger Wood at Compton [^]
17 Jul 2019 (AC)

This year's event was two weeks earlier than usual because Compton is due to be one of the co-hosts of the GC World Championships at the end of the month. One or two regulars were therefore absent with croquet commitments elsewhere, but a strong field was assembled and it was good to see 6 new faces including New Zealand visitor Graeme Fisher. Other contrasts to last year: the weather remained pleasant throughout with no sign of the showers threatened for Saturday afternoon; the games were quicker, 50% more played; and there were 5 times as many peeling finishes!

David Maugham and Dominic Nunns dominated the knockout, both undefeated by 6 0'clock on Saturday evening having won their best-of-3 semi-finals. They opted for a best-of-5 super-advanced final which provided spectators with a high quality contest for most of Sunday. The scores for the first 4 games speak for themselves, each completed in fewer than a dozen turns. Game 1: Dominic was first to 4-back; David to 1-back leaving himself a short rush in the middle of the west boundary to Dominic's balls closely cross-pegged; Dominic lifted to A-baulk, shot at partner, bounced off the peg allowing David to finish with a fine sextuple. Games 2 and 3 were all Dominic, break to 4-back, David making a leave from the contact and Dominic gaining his second break with a long cross court hit in and finished. Game 4: David to 1-back in turn 4 with the cross-pegged leave; Dominic lifted to A-baulk and hit partner, break to 4-back; David laid a rush in corner 4, Dominic missed from NW of hoop 1; David took his forward ball to 4-back with MSL; Dominic attempted the hampered shot at hoop 4 but missed and David tripled out. Game 5 saw fluctuating fortunes and ran to nearly 30 turns. David to 1-back in turn 6 with his cross-pegged leave; Dominic lifted to A-baulk and missed into corner 2; David's intended second sextuple came to grief after hoop 1 when he unaccountably missed a short roquet on the corner 2 ball, gifting Dominic a break to 4-back. On taking off from Dominic's ball NW of hoop 1 to partner north of corner 4, David went off the lawn; Dominic missed his partner ball in corner 3. A superb rush from corner 4 into corner 3 gave David a cannon to begin his TPO; all 3 peels before 3-back and blue pegged out. There followed a series of turns in which Dominic twice failed hoop 2 after long roll-ups while David contrived wired rushes and made 1-back. Dominic eventually made hoop 2 leaving black, wired from nearby red, in position to run hoop 3 with yellow SW of hoop 4. David sent red to corner 1; Dominic ran hoop 3 to the south boundary, made hoops 4, 5, 6 and 1-back (angled requiring a jump) off yellow, picked up red and finished to retain the COWhorn on which he blew a celebratory flourish at the prizegiving.

The end of play on Saturday saw 6 players on equal numbers of wins in the Swiss. During the course of Sunday Nigel Polhill and Chris Coull beat off erstwhile contenders and emerged to play each other in the decider in which Nigel, delighted with his run of form, proved victorious to win the COWbell. He and Gabrielle Higgins each recorded 3 triples but David Maugham's sextuple guaranteed him the peeling prize, the Ace Peeler's helmet, with Dominic in second place with 5 triples. Mention must be made of Paul Castell's generosity in designing and manufacturing a splendid stand for the COWhorn (inspired by that for the COWbell) with a plate containing the names of all the winners since 1978 and space to accommodate future holders until 2037 !

Knockout for the COWhorn
-------------------------

Round 1
Annabel McDiarmid beat Paul Castell +16
Gabrielle Higgins beat Philip Eardley +17
David Maugham beat Chris Coull +26tp
Dominic Nunns beat Graeme Fisher +26tp
Alison Maugham beat Nigel Polhill +18
Omied Hallam beat Rich Waterman +11

Round 2
Annabel McDiarmid beat Chris O'Byrne +16
David Maugham beat Gabrielle Higgins +19
Dominic Nunns beat Alison Maugham +18
Omied Hallam beat Andrew Gregory +22

Semi-finals
David Maugham beat Annabel McDiarmid +17 +4
Dominic Nunns beat Omied Hallam +25tp +10tp

Final

Dominic Nunns beat David Maugham -17sxp +26tp +25tp -17tp +7otp

Swiss for the COWbell
---------------------
Winner: Nigel Polhill (7/9)
(6/9) Chris Coull
(5/9) Graeme Fisher, Gabrielle Higgins, Annabel McDiarmid
(4/8) Alison Maugham
(4/9) Paul Castell, Omied Hallam
(3/7) Philip Eardley, Rich Waterman
(1/8) Andrew Gregory (0/9) Chris O'Byrne

Ace peeler: David Maugham; Runner up: Dominic Nunns

COWpat: Chris O'Byrne

Tyneside Advanced Weekend

David and Alison Maugham

Dave Maugham won all his 7 games including 2 tp's to retain "his" Tyneside Tankard. Probably the only threat to his overall dominance was in the final super advanced game against his wife Alison, (who up until this game had won 5 games), when his attempted sxp broke down with his clips on peg and penult and he laid up. Alison took croquet and proceeded to get a good break going and with Dave missing a couple of long hit ins, she then unfortunately missed a relatively short roquet to let Dave pick up the pieces and finish and thwarted the winners name of Maugham being preceded by initials AN instead of DM! Saturday was wet, Sunday was dry but the lunches very tasty as usual catered by Sheila Watts.

Bury Croquet Club - National ' C ' Level Golf Tournament

by Jean Hargreaves. [^]
24 Jul 2019 (GC)

As last year yet again we had scorching HOT sunshine. After the overnight rain the lawns were initially slow but soon became fast playing surfaces as we welcomed for the second year players to Bury Croquet Club for this 'C' Level Golf Tournament.

Some of the players present were playing in their first ever CA scheduled Tournament and it soon became evident that they were just as determined to play well and at least gain points for this event.

The format was all play all with time limit. Only one game went to time

with several finishing well within the time limit

David Cornes, from Crake Valley, was once again our Tournament Referree. His presence proved invaluable to the players and Tournament Managers alike with his helpful and constant attention whenever required

It soon became apparent that Izzy Poyntz from Bishop Monkton was using her prowess and strong hitting to successfully remove her opponents balls whilst she herself scored a succession of good hoops.

On her heels were David Leach (Bury) and Sandra Cornes (Crake Valley) but both lost their games with Izzy.

When all the rounds had finished, however it became abundantly clear that Izzy had won all bar one of her games, closely followed by David Leach and John Trwoga (his first tournament) who had lost two games each but David had better net hoop figures. Sandra managed fourth place with a better net hoop figure of 0 to Roger Harper's -1.

At this point, as everyone was totally exhausted by the heat, and we had 4 clear places at the top all agreed that we would finish the tournament at that point.

Izzy is now looking forward to going to Cheltenham for the final.

WCF Simon Carter Golf Croquet World Championship

Competitors at the Opening Ceremony (Photo: Ray Hall)

The CA is hosting the WCF Simon Carter GC World Championship at the Sussex County, Compton, Tunbridge Wells and West Worthing clubs from 27th July to 4th August. Spectators are welcome at all venues.

The Championship was formally opened on Friday 26 July 2019, by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, with representatives from the WCF, the CA and local dignitaries.

The Knockout stages are being broadcast live on YouTube from Thursday 1st August, complete with audio commentary.

The Dorset Open GC Championship (A-Level Series) 13-14 Jul 2019 - Results

by Jonathan Powe [^]
19 Jul 2019 (AC)

16 entrants were split into 2 blocks of 8, which produced 8 quarter-finalists for the Knockout and 8 for the Plate.

The results were:

Plate Final: Tom Weston beat Les Heard 7-4

Championship:

QF1: Jonathan Powe beat Stephen Custance-Baker 7-2, 7-6 QF2: David Kendrick beat Steve Leonard 7-6, 3-7, 7-6 QF3: Stuart M Smith beat Richard Brooks 7-4, 7-4 QF4: Ian Cobbold beat Noel Gill 7-5, 7-6 SF1: Jonathan Powe beat David Kendrick 7-2, 7-3 SF2: Stuart M Smith beat Ian Cobbold 6-7, 7-0, 7-3 3rd/4th Playoff: Ian Cobbold beat David Kendrick 7-6 Final: Jonathan Powe beat Stuart M Smith 7-2, 7-3

Full results on Croquet Scores here.

Cambridge University Croquet Cuppers Report

by James Brind [^]
16 Jul 2019 (AC)

Cambridge University Croquet Cuppers 2019

The Cambridge University Association Croquet Club, in addition to raising a team for the Varsity Match against our rivals Oxford, run an inter-collegiate Croquet Cuppers competition throughout our summer term. This year, we were generously sponsored by the Croquet Association.

There were 44 entries, a 10% increase on last year, each in a team of four. This makes 176 young and ambitious students stepping onto the lawns, many for the first time. We play exclusively Association Croquet at Cambridge - Golf Croquet is unheard of - and novices seem to take to the 14-point flavour very well. The format is a straight knockout, best-of-two doubles with ties broken by net hoops, making for some exciting matches and many close finishes.

Every College has a patch of grass where a court may be laid out, providing ample capacity for the tournament. However, considerable variability of size, slope, and speed does mean that home advantage can play a role. The final is played at a neutral venue, the best College lawn, at Leckhampton, Corpus Christi College.

Despite a week or two of rain, the tournament progressed well. In the top half of the draw, experienced campaigners King's I reached the final with little difficulty. In the bottom half of the draw, newcomers Darwin IV had an excellent run to the semi-final, but were beaten by Peterhouse I. In the final, King's reproduced their good form in front of an expectant crowd to take the title by +24 and +7(t). The Croquet Association lent some prestige to the event by sending their President, Quiller Barrett, to present the trophy and prizes.

We are most grateful for the support of the Croquet Association, and look forward to working with them in the future to encourage more young people into the game

Bowdon B-Level Advanced (AC) Weekend, 6-7th July

by Ken Copper [^]
19 Jul 2019 (AC)

14 players competed for The Sheila Black Salver. It was a very unexpected wet start to the weekend but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the players. Fortunately the weather improved during the course of the weekend which led to lawns becoming faster by the end of play on Sunday.

The best of three final between Brian Kerr and Dennis Scarr could have gone either way in all three games but Brian finally came out the winner by +15, -11, +7. Both players are to be congratulated on giving us such an entertaining final. The winner of the Egyptian was Derek Knight and congratulations to him for achieving the CA Gold Award for his first triple peel in a CA event.

Thanks go to Alan Mayne and John Greatbanks for all their hard work in preparing the lawns and to Barry Keen for setting the hoops. Thanks also go to Lorna Frost for managing the tournament with her usual enthusiasm and for organising the catering, which was appreciated by all. Thank you to everyone who helped with this to make it a successful and enjoyable weekend.

There's a selection of photos from the event at https://bowdoncroquet.co.uk/blog/category/news/

Bowdon July Midweek Short Croquet (AC) Tournament, 16th - 17th July

by Ken Copper [^]
19 Jul 2019 (AC)

20 competitors played in an Egyptian competition over a day and a half to find 4 semi-finalists to play in the main knockout event.

The lawns were quite fast thanks to the work put in by Ground Manager Alan Mayne and his staff.

Thanks also go to Alan Mayne & Lorna Frost for efficiently managing the event between them.

The semi-finals were contested by:

Cas Sinclair (h'cap 6, 1st qualifier) v. Carol Steinberg (5, 4th qualifier)

Alan Mayne (2 peels, 2nd qualifier) v. Steve Reynolds (3½, 3rd qualifier)

In the final, Cas Sinclair beat Steve Reynolds +6 The Egyptian winner was Alan Mayne.

The trophies were presented by Bowdon Club President Brian Storey. A selection of the presentation pictures can be found at https://bowdoncroquet.co.uk/blog/category/news/

Report on National Seniors'

by Julie Horsley [^]
17 Jul 2019 (AC)

Report on National Seniors' held at Budleigh Salterton CC on 8th to 13th July 2019.

45 players were due to play in the Class Event, which started on Thursday morning, but after a number of late withdrawals, mainly due to injury only 39 players contested the five trophies.

Block A for the Trevor Williams Cup. Saturday morning saw Simon Hathrell and Tim Russell both to 5 wins. Simon won his first game against Chris Roberts, but Tim lost his against Chris Williams, giving Simon 6 wins and Tim Russell still on 5 wins. In the meantime Tim Jolliff beat David Wise to have 5 wins. In the afternoon, Simon lost to Chris Williams so remained on 6/8 wins. Tim Russell lost to David Warhurst, leaving him on 5/8 wins. Tim Jolliff however beat Chris Roberts to equal 6/8 wins. With a tie for first place on "Who beat Whom" Simon was declared the winner.

In Block B Peter Thompson and Nigel Amos both had 4/6 wins. On "Who beat Whom" Peter took home the Colin Hemming Cup.

In Block C for the de Ansorena Cup- Ian Draper was aiming to finish his game early to catch a train, but in his last turn hit in and proceeded to go round to beat Charles Ostler +1t - and a very quick dash for the train. Ian had a clean sweep with 6/6 wins.

In Block D for the Nigel Graves Trophy there was again a tie for first place, between Wendy Dominguez and Charlie Martin, both on 5/6 wins but on "Who beat Whom" the trophy was awarded to Wendy.

In Block E for a small Goblet - Frances Colman had a clean sweep with 5/5 wins.

At the start of the week the handicap doubles was played. The final was between Tim Jolliff and Roger Mills and David and Eileen Magee with Tim and Roger winning +3t. and taking home the Croquet Association Cups.

The consolation event was won by Brian Shorney and Jane Hull

Tim Jolliff and David Magee also had to play each other in the semi-finals of the Handicap singles Knockout with David winning - in the other semi-final Charles Ostler beat Jim Field.

The final between David and Charles saw David win +16 to take home the Quiller Cup. The consolation event was won by Jim Field. The fastest game was won by Charlie Martin and the Tripe Peel prize went to Simon Hathrell.

Peter Death on behalf of the CA presented the trophies. He opened to proceeding by thanking Budleigh Salterton for hosting the event and thanked everyone who had been involved in putting on/running the tournament Simon on receiving his trophy echoed those thanks.

20th Lancashire International Open Golf Croquet Tournament 2019

by Guy Scurfield [^]
25 Jul 2019 (GC)

A rather damp and drizzly morning greeting the 12 players to the 2019 Lancashire Open, with beautiful hillside all around, hinting of sun to come, which it did eventually.

The initial stage was formed of 2 blocks of 6, all play all twice, single 13 point games. Local players and those from much further afield enjoyed some spirited competition. In the end Guy Scurfield topped Block A with 8 wins from 10, and Paul Rigge the same for Block B.

The 1st day ended with glorious sunshine which continued into day 2.

The quarter finals, due to be BO3 13 pt games, were sensibly amended to single 19 pt games, due to likely time constraints. All matches were hard fought and very close. Paul Durkin taking out Guy at hoop 19; Tim King winning 10-8 over David Lloyd; Steve Jackson of the USA beat Ted Flaxman 10-9, and Paul beat Stuart Smith 10-6.

Semi final 1 saw Paul D take on Tim. An enthralling game, back and forth, Tim took game 1, Paul game 2, and it waney all the way to hoop 13 on game 3, where possibly a bit of inexperience / nerves got the better of Paul who had a few chances to close out the match, but in the end Tim prevailed.

Semi final 2 saw Paul R take on Steve, a slightly more 1 sided event, with local favourite Paul taking out Steve in 2.

So a Paul vs Tim final. Paul edged the first game at hoop 13. The 2nd game was a total change, with Tim dominating and winning 7-1. So all go for game 3. A cautious start, both players unwilling to take too many chances. Paul edged ahead and won 7-4, a worthy & popular winner.

In the plate, Jane Tewson won 2 of her 3 matches and took the title from Libby Dixon on net hoops.

A special mention to Will Drake, who those of us from Dulwich had not met before and were very surprised to realise he is 96 years old, something that clearly overwhelmed Peter Haydon, who lost 7-6 to him in the last game. The four Ascot Cup qualifiers from Pendle are Paul Rigge, Tim King, Stephen Jackson and Paul Durkin.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable weekend event, well run and hosted by Pendle & Craven Croquet Club. Full results are available on Croquetscores website.

Chris Sheen wins Hunstanton GC Open Tournament

by David Boxell, [^]
21 Jul 2019 (GC)

Chris Sheen wins Hunstanton GC Open Tournament

After two days of all-play-all 13 point games with 14 players, Chris Sheen won with 11 wins and David Thirtle-Watts came second with 10 wins. Third place was taken by Noel Gill with 9 wins and a hoop difference of +22, pipping John Mariner into fourth place with 9 wins and a hoop difference of +11.

Thundery rain curtailed play on Saturday afternoon, but Sunday's sunshine allowed games to be completed by 16:45.

We are grateful to all the helpers and supporters who made the tournament a success.

Nailsea B-Class Advanced Tournament 6/7 July

by Kathy Wallace [^]
12 Jul 2019 (AC)

The Nailsea B Class Advanced tournament had 10 entries, down from its usual number, like so many other AC tournaments this year. The conditions were perfect for croquet with firm hoops and a good lawn speed. Although most of the players were fairly local, we were delighted to welcome Lorna Dewar and Rosemary Saunders-Robertson who had travelled from Edinburgh to take part. Their high level GC background, was immediately evident as they played very positively and quickly and with delightful fluid action. They ran tricky angled hoops from distance and rarely missed roquets.

The tournament was run as a Swiss using Andy Dibbens' wonderful Swiss management spreadsheet program. We only used its most basic features as this was strictly 5 separate rounds. However, the fact that it produced pairings for the next round with a simple entry of results and the press of a button was fantastic for the manager. The rankings for each round were based on the results so far. After the first round, the only differentiator, after number of wins, was net points. Subsequent rankings were based on numbers of wins , then numbers of wins against players with maximum wins (n), then wins against players with (n-1) wins etc. Pairings for the next round were then produced according to the usual Swiss algorithm. It was all very transparent and logical - infinitely better than the scribblings and mutterings often associated with pencil and paper methods.

After 4 rounds, Geoff Hughes from Nailsea was in the lead, having won all his games. Lorna and Eric Soakell (Bristol CC) had each won 3 games so there was all to play for in the final round. David Hunt (Nailsea) then beat Geoff but Lorna beat Eric. As Geoff had beaten Lorna in an earlier round, the program declared Geoff Hughes the winner by the closest of margins - he had won their game +1T, So, Geoff took home the Margaret Fleming Shield, a bottle of wine, and also a prize for the fastest win. It was a popular win as Geoff is also an attractive player to watch with his positive attacking play. Lorna was runner up and received a bottle of wine. David Hunt won the prize for the biggest upset. As an 8 he had beaten a 2. Robert Upton (Dyffryn) also received a prize for a speedy finish.

The manager thanked all the Nailsea members who had contributed to the success of the tournament. The lawns team and the hospitality team had provided the customary Nailsea levels of excellence in all areas. Lorna thanked everyone for making herself and Rosemary so welcome and promised that they would return to Nailsea.

There are places remaining in the Nailsea Advanced Tournament 10/11 August. Enter online or contact Marcus Evans.

Ashby beat Hunstanton 5-2 in the Murphy Shield

by David Boxell, [^]
7 Jul 2019 (GC)

Ashby beat Hunstanton 5-2 in the Murphy Shield match held at Hunstanton on Sunday 7th July 2019.

The teams were as follows:

Ashby: Christine Mounfield (2), Jane Tewson (3), Ray Mounfield (3) & Martin Wroughton (4). Hunstanton: Pauline Donner (4), David Boxell (4), Christopher Herbert (6) & Susan Debenham (8).

Ashby won the doubles match 7/3 & 7/4; and then won 4 of the 6 singles matches.

The total number of hoops scored was Ashby 105 - 79 for Hunstanton.

We wish Ashby good luck in the next round.

Murphy Shield: 9/7/19 Durham vs. Camerton & Peasedown

by Nigel Martin [^]
9 Jul 2019 (GC - Inter-Club Shield)

Camerton & Peasedown beat Croquet Durham 4-2

Given the distance between Bath and Durham, the two clubs agreed to play (sort-of)

mid way at Nottingham.

I what turned out to be a close match the Camerton & Peasedown team of Brian Wilson (3),

Ros Key-Pugh (3), Mo Boys (3) and Patrick Knight (4) prevailed over the Durham

foursome of Roger Carpenter (2), Nigel Martin(3), Tony McCann (6) and Susan Martin (7).

At lunch, Camerton & Peasedown led 2-1 including a lengthy struggle in the doubles

where the first game went to the 13th hoop and lasted an hour and 40 minutes.

The afternoon was similar with the victors gaining another 2 matches, and the final

singles being agreed a draw, one game each (under rainy skies). In all two-thirds

of the games went to 12 or 13 hoops.

Many thanks to Nottingham for their hospitality.

Edmund Fordyce (NZ) won U21 Golf Croquet World Championship

by Dr Ian Vincent at Nottingham [^]
24 Jul 2019 (World Championship)

Edmund Fordyce, representing New Zealand, won the Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship, coming back from 2-0 down in a thrilling best of five final against the England player James Galphin. Yasser Sayed (Egypt) and Euan Burridge (England) took the bronze medals. NZ and England players shared the consolation events: the Shield was won by Nathan Bullen, the Bowl by Chris Spittal and the Plate by Callum Johnson.

Videos of the play, which were streamed live, are available on the CroquetEngland YouTube site.

Surbiton lost to Phyllis Court 1-3

by Don Beck at Surbiton [^]
21st July (GC - Inter-Club)

Live Stream/media of the GC Worlds and U21 GC Worlds

by Dr Eugene Chang at Multiple [^]
20th July (World Championship)

Live broadcast for the U21 GC Worlds and the WCF Simon Carter GC Worlds will be available on the CA's YouTube channel, via the link:

youtube.com/CroquetEngland/live

Past matches can be viewed by removing '/live' from the link above

Broadcast schedule (subject to change):

u21s:
Block stages 20-22 July: static stream of single lawn during hours of play; no commentary
KO stages 23-24 July: commentary and close-up of individual matches

GCWC:
Block stages 27-31 July: static stream of single lawn during hours of play; limited/no commentary
KO stages 1-4 August: commentary and close-up of individual matches

Photographs and highlights of play have been uploaded to social media (Facebook/Instagram) both officially and unofficially, e.g. Ben Rothman's incredible peg jump to run hoop 12 - well worth a watch!

Contact the livestream team via

• the comments section on the livestream page on YouTube
• Facebook/Instagram/Twitter (@croquetengland)
• Email (croquetengland#gmail.com - this will be monitored infrequently)

Make sure you use the hashtag #gcwc2019 when sharing or posting about the event!

Sussex lost to Woking 2-5

by Jeff Dawson at Sussex County [^]
18 Jul 2019 (AC - Inter-Club)

Woking beat Southwick today in the interclub at Southwick by 5 games to 2. Results as follows (Woking names first)

Jeff Dawson & Mike Town beat Chris Coull and Paul Castell +26
Malcolm Bigg beat Liz Farrow +20
David Mumford beat Phil Dunk +9

Jeff Dawson beat Chris Coull +24
Mike Town beat Paul Castell +26tp
Malcolm Bigg lost to Phil Dunk -17
David Mumford lost to Liz Farrow -13

Roehampton lost to Sussex 3-4

by David Gillett at Roehampton [^]
19th July (AC - Longman Cup)

Longman Cup

Roehampton vs Sussex County Croquet Club

SCCC won by 4 games to 3

Friday 19th July

at Roehampton

Roehampton names first:

Nicholas Halton & Tian Pee beat David Gillett & Deborah Marcus (+13T)
Sue Davies lost to Ray Hall (+1T)
Elaine Phillimore lost to David Marcus (+3)

Nicolas Halton lost to David Marcus (+11)
Tian Pee beat David Gillett (+1)
Sue Davies beat Deborah Marcus (+7)
Elaine Phillimore lost to Ray Hall (+6)

Lunch was taken early because of standing water on the lawns and the second round was shortened to 14 point games.

Phyllis Court beat Woking 4-3

by ?? at Phyllis Court [^]
29 May 2019 (GC - Inter-Club)

Welcome New Members

by Alison Jones [^]
23rd February 2018 (CA Official News)

The Croquet Association extends a special welcome to our new Standard Members.

The welcome page tells you about logging into the members' area.