Author: ridleya

Five pairs entered this season’s advanced doubles competition.  An all-play-all format was played, over five rounds, each of 2½ hours, with two games and one team resting in each round.  Three rounds were played on Day 1, two on Day 2.

Day 1 was hot and increasingly humid, which was particularly draining for those pairs with three games to play.  Day 2 was pleasantly warm.  Early heavy rain caused a short break in proceedings but after that, it was mostly good croquet weather.

The result was decided in the final round.  Alan R and Alan S, with three wins out of three played Julian and Sean, with two out of three.  In a low scoring game, neither side was able to make a decisive break.  Julian’s superb display of hitting-in was a major factor in that pair edging in front to win by +3.

Many congratulations to Julian and Sean on their victory and thank you also to the other pairs, Alan R and Alan S, James and Tim, Robbie and David, and Margaret and Phil for their participation and support.  Barbara also gets an honorable mention for coming along to cheer us on for much of the two days, as does Tina, who treated us to ice creams on the hot first afternoon.

Alan Ridley

On an almost perfect day for croquet, eight competitors set out on their quest to win the 14 Point Advanced competition and join the illustrious band of players to have been presented wth the Silver Salver.

The players were split into two blocks of four, for the all-play-all phase. In Block A, Robbie won his three games, with a tie for 2nd place between Alan S, Robert and Tim. Alan S qualified for the semi-final as he had the highest net score (-3).  In Block B, Alan R and Sean both won their first two games, to qualify for the semi-finals. They faced each other in the 3rd game, with Alan R narrowly winning +2, to qualify as Block winner (I almost said blockhead!).

In the semis, Robbie played Sean, while Alan S played Alan R. The entire crowd (of about 3) watched the Robbie/Sean match. Don’t ask me how it went as I was on the other lawn, however Robbie pipped Sean +1 in what must have been a nail-biter. Alan R beat Alan S +3.

And so to the final, where in a low scoring game, Alan R established a 5-1 lead over Robbie with time running out. Not to be outdone by a non-worid ranked player, Robbie got a good chance with less than 10 minutes remaining and took a ball to peg, to win the game 6-5.

So it’s many congratulations to Robbie and it’s back to the drawing board for the rest of us.

Alan Ridley

The President’s Cup is a season-long advanced singles competition where competitors play one or two games each month. This season’s winner is Alan Ridley with six wins out of seven.

In the battle for the runner-up spot, three players have finished on four wins, Phil, Alan Smith and Robert. In the games played between the three, Phil beat Robert, Robert beat Alan S and Alan S beat Phil. The runner-up, with the highest net plus score is Phil on +21. Alan S has +18 and Robert +4.

Julian and Brian have three wins. James and David have two wins.

Many congratulations to the trophy winners. Well done to everyone for playing their games promptly throughout the season, especially to Alan S, who managed to fit in his games despite having a cataract operation.

Alan Ridley

In a delayed final to The Eight competition, played at Chester CC, Richard Smith beat Alan Ridley to recapture the Claret Jug.

The competition had been scheduled to be played on the 7th and 8th of September. The games played on the Saturday were completed with an extra one brought forward after Brian had looked into his crystal ball and had correctly predicted a washout the following day, which turned out to be the second wettest day on record.

The highlight of Saturday’s play was a Triple Peel attempt by Richard, which just failed when his Rover peelee hit an upright, forcing him to jump striker’s ball through the hoop.

As only half an hour’s play was possible on the Sunday, the final was postponed and played at Richard’s home club, Chester CC on the 12th. Torrential rain in the morning meant the game was played in very difficult conditions, the highest break being only three hoops, with Richard triumphing +9. 

Congratulations to Richard and many thanks to the other competitors, and to Phil for marking the lines.

Alan Ridley

Ten people took part in this season’s 18-Point Handicap competition, which took place on the 24th and 25th of August.  With rain in the forecast, some disruption was expected but the weather gods were kind enough to arrange for most of it to fall during our lunch break, ensuring that we kept mostly to schedule.

Two blocks of five played ‘all play all’.  Block A was decided in the final round of games, where the winner of David v Mike would go through to the final.  David booked his place with a +8 win, leaving him unbeaten.  Block B was not as clear-cut.  Going into the final round, it was possible to have a five-way tie depending on the results.  In the event, Alberto and Phil both won their final games to have three wins out of four.  Alberto qualified for the final on the ‘who beat whom’ rule, having beaten Phil by +10 in the opening game.

Max also deserves special mention for a superb display of hitting in and hoop running to beat Brian 18-0 in a Block B game.  Brian was very impressed.

And so to the final, where Alberto slowly built a nine hoop lead only for David to come back in the last half hour to draw level and take the game into a Golden Hoop.  A very exciting passage of play followed, with the crowd on the edge of their seats.  Twice, David set himself a simple rush to his hoop only for Alberto to hit in from distance to save the day.  Alberto also had a shot at a hoop but hit an upright.  After the second long roquet, Alberto was able to rush a ball near to his hoop, take off and run the hoop to win the match and the competition.  The Golden Hoop play had taken about 20 minutes, surely worthy of an entry in the Guinness Book of Croquet Records!

So, many congratulations to Alberto and commiserations to David, who came so close to retaining the trophy.

After the trophy presentation, everyone went home for a well deserved lie down!

Alan Ridley

A great result for Shrewsbury today in the WMF league. Fuelled by a tin of gorgeous flapjacks provided by Sue, we beat Kenilworth 3-2, which means we finish as runners-up to Broadwas. Well done to the team – Robbie, Alan R, David and Mike. The highlight of the day, which your correspondent didn’t actually see, was Robbie coming within a whisker of completing a delayed triple peel.

Alan Ridley

Six pairs entered for this season’s handicap doubles competition, held on the 6th and 7th of July.

The usual format is 26-point games on full lawns but due to the heavy rain on the first morning, the start was delayed and the matches reduced to 18-point with a two hour time limit.

We also allowed pairs to choose between ordinary doubles play and alternate stroke play, provided the chosen form was played throughout the competition.  Four pairs chose to play alternate stroke.

Play began in very tricky conditions, especially on Bowlside, with patches of standing water.  By the first afternoon however, the lawns were much drier but a little heavier than normal.

Two blocks of three played ‘all play all’.  In Block A, two close games on Day 1 left Julian/Tim and James/David on one win each, both having narrowly beaten Caroline/Alberto. The decider was played on the morning of Day 2, which James/David won +6.  In Block B, Frances/Alan R and Margaret/Phil ended Day 1 on one win each but Margaret/Phil had beaten Frances/Alan R on a Golden Hoop.  On Day 2, Margaret/Phil beat Barbara/Alan S convincingly.

In the final Margaret/Phil built a big lead and, with one ball on peg and the other on rover, looked likely to peg out before a late comeback by James/David, which wasn’t quite enough and Margaret/Phil won +4.

So it’s congratulations to Margaret and Phil, who win the Lanman Trophy for the second time.

Alan Ridley

Congratulations to Alberto, winner of this season’s 14 Point Handicap competition.

The gloomy weather lifted for the day, to provide perfect croquet conditions for the 10 participants.

Two blocks of five played ‘all v all’, with some very close games including three decided by a golden hoop. In both blocks, the result came down to the last game. In the first block, Margaret Extance and Mike won three matches but Margaret had beaten Mike so qualified on a ‘who beat whom’ basis.  Similarly, in the 2nd block, Alberto and Phil won three games, with Alberto qualifying.

In the final, Alberto used his bisques to build a lead. Margaret then had chances to catch up towards the end of the match but couldn’t quite find her form from the block games, giving Alberto a +4 victory.

So it’s a first club trophy for Alberto.  The boy done good!

Alan Ridley

Congratulations to Robbie, winner of the 14 Point Advanced competition.  Robbie beat Richard by +11 in the final, breaking Richard’s three year winning sequence.

On a lovely day for croquet, Robbie and Richard won their respective groups.  We held semi-finals, in which Richard came from behind to beat James  by +6, while Robbie dispatched Alan R by +13 with plenty of time to spare.

Rain had been forecast for the afternoon and with the final in progress, rumbles of thunder could be heard coming ever closer.  The game finished just as the first hint of rain reached the lawns and within 15 minutes of packing up, the heavens opened.

So, further congratulations are in order to Robbie for managing to peg out before we all got soaked!

Alan Ridley