Phyllis Court beat Dulwich 5-1

[<<] [>>] by Chris Roberts at Phyllis Court
29 Aug 2018 (GC - Inter-Club)

Phyllis Court Croquet are in uncharted waters having upset ranking predictions to reach the GC Inter-Club Championship National Final for the first-time.
Their semi-final victory over Dulwich was undoubtedly the Club's greatest competitive achievement to date.
Those that came along to spectate at toady's match in good numbers, enjoyed watching some closely contested games with Phyllis Court making light of the large gaps in the national rankings between the two sides.
Top performer was Roger Goldring who won both his morning and afternoon singles matches, re-finding his form after an uncharacteristic poor couple of weeks by his own standard.
Goldring was the first on the score sheet with a two-game win over seasoned tournament player Andrew Dymond but Dulwich struck back smarty when their captain Simon Carter beat Helena Jansson also in straight games.
The first surprise came in the number one and two players' doubles rubber where Raouf Allim and Chris Roberts caught visitors Pierre Beaudry and Mark Daley cold with a confidence building first game win and then followed that with some good fortune in the second game as patient play froze out their chasing opponents.
Phyllis Court lead 2-1 at lunch and with two wins needed from the four remaining singles matches, they were never going to have such a good opportunity to spring a surprize result.
First home was Goldring again, with a match winning long shot from close to the boundary to score the deciding hoop 13 that preceded a fist pump to the sky in sublime satisfaction as his form returned with impeccable timing.
Allim put early match nerves aside to take his singles to a third game decider with his international opponent Beaudry, and their encounter included some brilliant play from both players.
Roberts took his first game against Daley and had spotted Goldring's win and as he was closing in on what he thought would be the fourth match victory that would secure the fixture for Phyllis Court.
But with victory only four strokes away, great cheer went up from the other court because Jansson had stolen the moment with the crucial victory in her match, doing extremely well to close out a pressured third game against Dymond.
Roberts' win moments later iced Phyllis Court celebrations and Allim's deciding game was abandoned by mutual agreement with the fixture result in the bag.
The National Final will be played on Saturday 22 September between Phyllis Court and Nottingham CC's international
Nottingham have generously agreed to play the National Final at Phyllis Court, on the bank of the River Thames at Henley in Oxfordshire.
This will be Phyllis Court Croquet's biggest day ever.

The match results are as follows (Phyllis Court names first):

Rauof Allim (-2) & Chris Roberts (-1) beat Pierre Beaudry (-3) & Mark Daley (-3) 7-4, 7-5
Roger Goldring (-1) beat Andrew Dymond (-1) 7-2, 7-5
Helena Fensome (1) lost to Simon Carter (-3) 3-7, 6-7
Rauof Allim drew with Pierre Beaudry 4-7, 7-3 (a third game was not finished)
Chris Roberts beat Mark Daley 7-4, 7-3
Roger Goldring beat Simon Carter 7-3, 7-6
Helena Fensome beat to Andrew Dymond 3-7, 7-4, 7-4