Giles Pepperell won the GC A-Series Final

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Giles Pepperell

Giles Pepperell (Llanfairfechan) won the GC 'A' Level National Final at East Dorset, beating Mark Buckley (Leicester) 2-1 in a tight match that played out 6-7, 7-3, 7-5.

Sixteen players from clubs far and wide assembled at East Dorset on 23-24 Sep to play out the A-Level Final. Day 1 The two blocks went relatively well. Block A was quite tight. Andy Sherwood (Ashby) topped the block with 5/7 wins; pursued by a clutch of players, each with four wins: Kim Taylor (Enfield) 4/7; Giles Pepperell (Llanfairfechan) 4/7 and Les Heard (Wrest Park) also with 4/7. Block B took a similar course, with Mark Buckley (Leicester) with 5/7 wins, beating Alison Murray (Leicester), also with 5/7 wins by net hoops to top the block. The other two players to make the cut were Peter Balchin (Glamorgan) 4/7 wins and Diana Wilson (Roehampton) also with 4/7 wins.

Day 2 proved a hard 'slog' as some of the matches, in both the Championship and Plate knockouts, had the 'three-game' scenario written all over them. In fact, of the eight matches across the two Quarterfinal knockouts, six went to three games. Here are some of the key results on Day 2:

GC A-Level National Series Final:

QF1: Diana Wilson beat Andy Sherwood 7-3, 7-5

QF2: Giles Pepperell beat Alison Murray 7-6, 7-4

QF3: Peter Balchin beat Kim Taylor 7-6, 6-7, 7-3

QF4: Mark Buckley beat Les Heard 7-2, 5-7, 7-4

SF1: Giles Pepperell beat Diana Wilson 7-5, 7-3

SF2: Mark Buckley beat Peter Balchin 7-5, 6-7, 7-6

Championship Final: Giles Pepperell beat Mark Buckley 6-7, 7-3, 7-5

3^rd/4^th: Peter Balchin beat Diana Wilson 7-4

Plate Final: Andy Dochniak beat David Boyd 7-5, 6-7, 7-6

(Full Results on Croquet Scores)

Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to the following:

• The players for the excellent croquet played over the two days - there were some real see-saw matches that could have gone either way. So, well done everybody for the entertainment - and I didn't pay to watch it!
• The 'Grounds Team', particularly Kirin, for the excellent courts (clearly a lot of work has been invested into ensuring the courts were in tip-top condition).
• Thanks to my better-half Mary for populating Croquet Scores with the results (and for again keeping me sane!) Next time I'll make sure I've got a chair when the music stops!
• Thanks to the referees - Keith Southern on Saturday; and in Keith's absence due to league duty on the Sunday, I am grateful for Mike Bilton and Diana Wilson stepping-up to adjudicate those tricky moments.
• And finally, thanks to Jeff Dawson for presenting the silverware and the liquid comforts.

Seriously, without these volunteers and those working behind the scenes, our tournaments would not run as well as they do; fortunately, the weather did not really figure over the two days, apart from it being a little bit 'blustery' Sunday afternoon/evening, which made casting the mallet a little interesting!