[<<] [>>] by Chris Williams & Kevin Beard at East Dorset LT & CC
6-9 Sep 2013 (AC - Championships)

The first day was characterised by lovely warm weather, well prepared lawns and hoops set to 1/32" in firm ground. There were many interrupted breaks (also known as breakdowns) and the use of super-advanced rules on this day probably wasn't required.

Lionel Tibble and Mark Ormerod had an epic battle over 4 hours in the first round. Lionel went to 1-back with a diagonal spread giving a rush into the lawn with his hoop 1 ball. Mark didn't remember that it was super advanced and thought this was a new sextuple leave. He took the shot from where the balls lay even though he was entitled to a lift. Lionel had no intention of doing a sextuple but realised the mistake with his leave before taking his next turn. With Mark's ball sitting close he was able to take his 1-back ball to 4-back in his next turn. Lionel finally won the game +2 with a high quality 2-ball break from 4-back with one of Mark's balls sitting just out of B-baulk.

Robin Brown was in good form with TPs against Chris Williams and Mark Ormerod. He also did a quad peel on opponent (Robert Wilkinson) but lost the 3-ball ending. He also lost a 3-ball ending to Lionel Tibble after pegging out one of Lionel's balls.

At the end of the first day, the leaders on 3 wins out of 4 were Robert Wilkinson and Lionel Tibble.

The weather was more unsettled on the second day with rain threatening but not being delivered. Marcus completed 3 TPs and won all 4 games to take the lead with 6 / 8. Robert was in second place with 5 / 8. Robin Brown lost another exciting 1 versus 2 ending, going down to Pete Trimmer -1.

We arrived on the 3^rd day with water laying on most of the courts. There was intermittent rain during the day but we didn't lose too much time and only two games were pegged down overnight.

Marcus won his first two games with TPs including a +2TP win against me when I failed to take opportunities to win the game before Marcus had scored a hoop. He then lost to Mark Ormerod -21 and, significantly in the context of the tournament, went down -26TP to Pete Trimmer. At the end of day three, players still with a chance of winning were Pete and Marcus on 8 / 12, Robert Wilkinson on 7 / 12, Kevin Beard on 6 / 11 and Lionel Tibble on 6 / 12.

The weather had largely cleared up for the final day and Marcus and Pete won both their games to reach a single game playoff. Marcus played the most interesting shot of the tournament against Robin Brown . His hoop 4 pioneer was between hoop 1 and hoop 5 and he wanted to peel partner through 1-back from very close and directly in front of 1-back. He wrapped his jumper around his hands and his arms in order to minimise damage to his knuckles while attempting this 20-yard equal roll through the hoop. He did no damage to his body but unfortunately the peelee went off the court behind 2-back. A courageous attempt that would have elicited even more cheers if it had succeeded.

Results after 14 rounds: Marcus Evans & Pete Trimmer 10, Robert Wilkinson & Kevin Beard 8, Lionel Tibble and Chris Williams 6, Robin Brown 5 and Mark Ormerod 3.

Playoff between Marcus Evans and Pete Trimmer. Pete hit hoop 5 with his first ball on, leaving his ball in the middle of the court. Marcus went to midway along the East boundary, both players missed their next shot, and then Pete hit 5^th turn and went to 4-back with a contact leave. Marcus almost got going from the contact but failed to get in front of hoop 1. Pete hit a 20 yarder with his hoop 1 ball and established a break. Pete did the 4-back peel before hoop 5, but the rush fell short and the take-off to hoop 5 hilled off. He failed to make the long angled hoop.

Marcus hit in and went to the peg with a double peel on the ball on penultimate and pegged it off leaving his hoop 1 ball in corner 2 and his peg ball in corner 3. Pete successfully got both Marcus' balls into the court, ran hoop 5 and completed the break to win +14 in the Chairman's Salver for 2013.

One of the pleasures of playing in this tournament was how my mother Ellie and I were made so welcome by the East Dorset club members, the players in the Chairman's Salver and particularly by our host Strat Liddiard. A highlight was staying with Chris Williams and Liz Larsson at Strat Liddiard's home. We won't forget Strat's hospitality which extended to amazing meals and wine each night. A particular highlight was the Tournament Dinner held at Strat's - several beautiful curries prepared by Strat and Liz and some lovely wines. On behalf of all the players, thank you Strat and Liz for putting this on for us. I am sure Robin Brown is even more grateful - given he was able to stay the night at Strat's after arriving back at his B&B in Parkstone after the dinner to find he had been locked out.

Particular thanks also to Dave Nicholson for his careful and expert lawn and hoop preparation and his refereeing with William Ormerod. Dave did a sterling job with very long hours and his efforts were much appreciated by the players.

I enjoyed playing a whole tournament with Super-Advanced rules. A common first shot was an attempt to hit hoop 5 in order to achieve a 'super shot' opening. This was successful most times, but not always. Breaks were usually stopped at 1-back with a diagonal spread or at 3-back or 4-back with a contact leave. I am sure some players were planning to stop at hoop 6 against me but when the leave wasn't perfect they made one more hoop and tidied up the leave. Going to 4-back with contact became the most common tactic as the tournament progressed.

Apart from the obvious benefit of more interaction between the players with Super Advanced rules, I also found getting the first ball to 4-back (whether it be in one break with a contact or two breaks with two lifts) much more interesting than making 9 hoops with a leave as is done in the normal advanced rules. The whole game becomes interesting, not just the peeling turns. I will go back to Australia as an advocate for trialling Super Advanced tournaments in our croquet calendar.

Positions after 14 Rounds

Peeling Stats

Margin Stats

Results to Date

Play Off

Pete Trimmer beat Marcus Evans +14