THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (FORMERLY THE PRESIDENT’S SELECTION)
By Guy Scurfield
For 11 years we have run this crazy event (Covid aside), always a challenge and this year was no different. 3 days beforehand we had icy pools of water on the lawns and the prospect of any play was looking remote at best…… and as for why we run it, please refer back to last year’s post, which gave a 10 year perspective, but yes, we are a little bit nuts and like to invite fun people to come and play at Dulwich. Playing for the Christopher Robin Cup, and the Plate (Croquet Butter Dish) Dulwich Guy Scurfield Pierre Beaudry Simon Carter Martin Gill Duncan Catterall Guests Pete Dowd Simon Williams Andy Hobbs Richard Gardiner Sam Cuthbert Saturday After a very cold spell, we remained unsure about play until Saturday morning itself. We gave our visitors the option to not come, but as one of them said “We can always drink and chat right?” – always a good option at Dulwich. Fortunately, dry and slightly warmer weather meant we had 1 lawn on Saturday. So we split the lawn in two and used half size lawns. Blocks Cross block play required 5 games, so we started all the games at 1-1 to speed things up a little…….
Guest qtrs – Simon W v Pete D and Sam C vs Andy H Finished a little quicker than the hosts But in this case the 2 lower seeds knocked out the guest 1 & 2 seeds Pete and Andy through to the semi- finals Saturday night is chilli party at my house, where guests and members of the club mix, enjoying a fun evening. As ever, thanks to my long-suffering wife Mo! Sunday After a dry night, on to more traditional play, semi-finals and finals both BO3 13 pt games. Though the threat of rain was never far away…….. Simon vs Pierre & Pete D vs Andy H Back to full-size lawns. The Plate was also able to take place, using lawns 1&2 which had drained sufficiently overnight. Both semi-finals were finished in 2 games, the night before possibly
A simple lunch of lasagna kept us warm, with a few supplements from the bar…….. Our guests played really well, winning 17 games to 8, with 3 players on 4 wins and one on 3. For the hosts, Pierre kept pride in place with 4 wins from 5…….. the rest of us didn’t fare so well…….. Quarter-finals We like to finish Saturday with some quarter-final play, however, with light running out, we chose to have a shoot out, running hoops 5 and 11 from their respective boundaries, 5 shots each and then if all equal, sudden death shots…… Interblock quarter-finals (1v4 and 2v3). Dulwich qtrs – Pierre vs Martin and Simon vs Duncan In both instances, both shootouts went to sudden death, and in both instances with lower seed running the hoop first, only for Simon and Pierre to score right back….. Simon and Pierre through to the semi- finals
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