[<<] [>>] by Dr Tim King at Colchester Croquet Club
10 Aug 2014 (GC - Championships)

Arguably, Rob Fulford had one hand of the Musk's Cup by the end of his first match of the weekend for the First GC Six, while William Ormerod only emerged victorious with his last game in the Second Six. Following the traditional random draw for Selectors Sixes (Eights) Rob had beaten Will Gee at the 13th hoop of the third game in that first match, with the two being clear favourites. Rob then went on to complete straight games victories over all the other participants. Will was somewhat frustrated by knowing he had lost ground in trying to win the cup and this affected his subsequent performance but eventually he came through and claimed second place. Rob had achieved the feat of adding his name to yet another different croquet trophy.

Meanwhile, results in the Second Six were far less clear-cut. William was only able to complete one game against Chris Roberts on the Saturday evening; the manager decided to hold back this match until after the rest of play on the Sunday. As a result, William and Chris had both reached three match wins (with all four other players on two wins each), with the incomplete match serving by way of a final. Chris took a 6-4 lead upon resuming the match but William continued with his relentless accuracy (he plays a rare side style that was inspired by his also playing cricket; his direction of aim makes it look as if he will miss every shot by a large margin) and after some tense play at hoop 13 became deserved winner. Rarely (if ever) can a winning speech have included the line "This is the first GC trophy I have won for 60 years"! William had also added interest to the weekend with his steady stream of stories of many famous names from the history of croquet. In addition, having achieved much success at AC, he had been inspired to resume his GC career having seen Reg Bamford win the Musk's Cup at Parkstone in 2009.

Two relatively new GC players at Colchester providing delicious catering and enjoyed the opportunity to view some top-level play over the weekend.

Positions

Musk's Cup

Kate Jones Trophy

Full results are available on CroquetScores.