[<<] [>>] by Roger Wood at Compton Croquet Club
4 Aug 2013 (AC)

Martin French won the COWhorn; Dave Kibble won the COWbell

Stiff competition from other events in the lead-up to the World Championships reduced the field of players to 14. The warm weather
lasted out the weekend with lively cooling breezes on Saturday. Even though the semi-finals were best-of-three, they were concluded
by Saturday evening. Playing in his first visit to Compton Nick Saxton, after the narrowest of victories against Strat Liddiard in
round one, won through to the final but could not match a dominant Martin French who finished the weekend without loss to win the
COWhorn for the fourth time.

Matters were not so clear cut in the Swiss where there were three contenders going into the last round. Finishing with a flourish,
Dave Kibble kept just ahead of the field with a +25stp, his second of the weekend. Only he and Martin managed to complete triples,
although there were several attempts from others, and a couple of sextuple attempts from Dave. Local Graham Pegley showed his
promise in beating Dave Kibble - Dave, having completed three peels on Graham's 4-back ball, unaccountably pegged out his own ball
instead of Graham's - Graham kept his nerve, allowing Dave little further progress.

The COWpat, awarded on Kibble kountback through the losers of the knockout, went to the unsuspecting Mary Knapp; and, following
inexorably in this tournament's bovine tradition, this year saw an additional "trophy" presented by Strat Liddiard: a small purple
cow bedecked with yellow flowers (christened Ermintrude) to be bestowed on the soul who had accumulated the fewest points, which
turned out to be David Hopkins who accepted it with good grace.
Shot of the tournament: Mike Cockburn - having made 3-back, just, and unable to hit his escape ball, he calmly played through the
hoop and ran 4-back! Idiot shot of the tournament: your reporter - against Carole Jackson, missing a 5 foot pegout to lose the
game.

Knockout for the COWhorn

Round 1

Martin French beat Philip Windred +26tp
Roger Wood beat Louise Bradforth +20
Ian Vincent beat David Hopkins +15
Mike Cockburn beat Carole Jackson +11
Nick Saxton beat Strat Liddiard +1
Dave Kibble beat Mary Knapp +26stp

Round 2

Martin French beat Andrew Gregory +3
Ian Vincent beat Roger Wood +11
Nick Saxton beat Mike Cockburn +8
Graham Pegley beat Dave Kibble +11

Semi-Finals

Martin French beat Ian Vincent +16 +17
Nick Saxton beat Graham Pegley +5 +18

Final

Martin French beat Nick Saxton +19tp +26

3rd Place Play-Off

Ian Vincent beat Graham Pegley +13 +20

Swiss for the Cowbell

Winner: Dave Kibble (4/6)
(3/5) Andrew Gregory, Carole Jackson, Mary Knapp
(3/6) Philip Windred
(2/4) Mike Cockburn
(1/4) Louise Bradforth, Strat Liddiard, Roger Wood

Ace peelers: Martin French, Dave Kibble

COWpat: Mary Knapp - Ermintrude: David Hopkins