East Dorset June Week
[<<] [>>] by Andrew Gregory
at East Dorset
17 Jun
2018 (AC - Mixed)
Nineteen players gathered at Parkstone for the East Dorset June Week.
The C-Class was somewhat sparse, so that by winning 2 games on Monday John Freeman had secured the trophy. There were the usual mutterings about "too many bisques". Unfortunately a wrist injury meant John failed to maintain his form during the week.
On Tuesday the main handicap knock-out started. This was news to two players. I'm sure most Manglers have conducted this kind of conversation. "Well I guess you two could play your Class game now." "We just did." "But there's an X in the event column on the Order of Play." "No we took lifts and everything." Sigh. "Well I suppose you now have to play your handicap game." To confuse the Mangler further, a triple peel was made in the handicap game.
The handicap system worked well. In the 9 games in the zeroth and first rounds, there were 2 +26s, a +20, and the other 6 games were decided by 4 points or fewer.
The handicap doubles was played as a block of 5 pairs. This was not welcomed by all players. "We have to play again? But we lost." By Friday lunchtime it was clear that there would be a play-off between 2 pairs on 3/4, ("Not more doubles") with one being the winner of the final block game, which took 4 hours on Friday afternoon. Maybe next year the Doubles will be X and Y format.
Friday morning saw decisive games in the A- and B-classes. Jonathan Powe beat Anthony Dix +5, and went on to be undefeated, with 4 TPs in 7 games. Andrew Gregory beat Nigel Parkins in a dour game. Travelling to New Zealand to get a handicap increase paid off with a trophy! (I'm sure my opponents would attest that I am no bandit!)
Saturday morning the doubles play-off saw Richard Stevens go round to the peg. David Harrison-Wood was going to peg him out, but an error allowed Beatrice McGlen to finish with a neat break.
Beatrice was also involved in the X final in the afternoon. Her third cunning local opponent proved too cunning, so well done to Nigel Parkins, whose handicap decreased.
The tournament would welcome more visitors, especially in the B- and C-Classes. Please don't imagine you would be required to play 3 games a day for 6 days (unless that's what you want). A day's leave is certainly OK, more if you don't enter every event. Please email the Manager to request your bespoke schedule!
A-Class
Winner: Jonathan Powe (7/7)
Runners-up: Anthony Dix, David Kendrick (4/7)
B-Class
Winner: Andrew Gregory (4/4)
Runner-up: Nigel Parkins (3/4)
C-Class:
Winner: John Freeman (2/2)
Runner-up: Alan Jones (1/2)
Handicap Singles
X
Winner: Nigel Parkins
Runner-up: Beatrice McGlen
Y
Winner: Jim Field
Runner-up: Anthony Dix
Handicap Doubles
Winners: Beatrice McGlen & Richard Stevens
Runners-up: David Harrison-Wood & John Freeman
Full results at croquetscores.com