Camerton & Peasedown lost to Phyllis Court 3-4

[<<] [>>] by Christopher Roberts at Camerton & Peasedown
2 Jun 2023 (GC - Murphy Shield)

Phyllis Court won a narrow victory over excellent hosts Camerton & Peasedown today.

The 'Murphy Shield' is the second tier of the GC Inter-Club competitions and is restricted by handicap - (one player may have a handicap of 2, and the other players must be higher).

Kevin Ward got Phyllis Court on to the scoreboard with a straight games win over Marion Button 7-5, 7-5. However, that was countered by the home side when Jeff Smith was defeated 4-7, 6-7 by Des Back.

That left all eyes on the doubles rubber where Phyllis Court captain Andy Jones and Raghu Iyer were taken to a third deciding game by hosts' Brian Wilson and Mo Boys.

Jones reported later that it was Iyer's good positional play that kept them in it early in the match, and as Jones himself warmed to the task, the Phyllis Court pair eventually won 6-7. 7-5, 7-3, for a 2-1 team match lead at lunch.

In the afternoon number 3 head-to-head, Smith suffered a second 6-7 loss of the day, this time to Button, who then levelled the team match with a 3-7 win, as the other three afternoon singles went to deciding third games.

Camerton went one game up in all three contests but only converted the number 4 match when Phyllis Court's Ward was beaten by Camerton's Back 7-5, 2-7, 3-7.

Iyer's 5-7, 7-3, 7-5 victory for Phyllis Court over Boyes, tied the team match at 3-3, before Jones and Wilson embarked on the third game of their match, both knowing that the fixture hung in the balance.

Jones reported hooping better in that decider and he got well ahead, before winning in 'style' with a 15 yard in/off!

The game results are on Croquet Scores - croquetscores.com/2023/gc/uk-inter-club-murphy-shield-camerton-peasedown-v-phyllis-court

Phyllis Court will play the winner of Hurlingham v Roeahampton in the next round