SHORT CROQUET FOCUS By John Harris NORTH AND SOUTH
The notable increase in SC events this year has led not only to “more people playing more Short Croquet in more places”, but also to a significant growth in players entering multiple SC tournaments. In some cases this involves round trips of several hundred miles. This is a friendly and welcoming community, keen to make the most of the rise in SC events round the country. Bury’s inaugural Barbara Young SC Tournament attracted handicaps ranging from 8 bisques to 4 peels. Almost all games pegged out within the 75 minutes allowed. An exciting final round saw seven players all with a fighting chance of lifting the cup, including Sandra Cornes (Bowdon), Tim Ash (Nottingham), Roger Brooks (Westmorland), and Bury’s Duncan Meachin and Roger Schofield. However two Fylde players proved too strong to overcome: Robert Brentwood topped the leaderboard, with Barry Broughton second. In a very nice touch there were bottles of wine for three runners-up and small bottles of cava for everyone else. Meanwhile nearby at Bowdon, the manager of their two-day SC event, Brian Medley, was kept busy organising twenty-two competitors from clubs across the North and Wales into no fewer than 98 games. A full range of handicaps took to the field, from players in the earlier stages of their croquet journey to those with four or five peels to fit in. Most of the games pegged out, aided by a generous 90-minute time allocation. In the end, experience and Bowden home talent had the best of it: the winner was Roger Schofield and runner-up Robert Cutts-Watson. The South West continues to be a stronghold of SC, with Bristol, Budleigh, Nailsea and Taunton among several clubs boldly flying the SC flag. Taunton runs monthly SC Blocks with a Rose Bowl awarded to the most consistently successful player, enters two teams into the Federation SC League, and honours a long-standing member by running an annual SC tournament deftly organised to be both a Federation team event and an individual competition. The SW SC season has long culminated in a very popular two-day tournament at Budleigh. For the first time this year it is advertised through the Fixtures Calendar, attracting entries from no fewer than 15 different clubs, making a splendid season finale.
Viking Challenge Day 2: l-r Louise McElarney (Crake Valley), Brenda Dawson (Southwell) and Kate Packham (Nottingham) pore over the Day 1 results (Photo: John Harris)
Over the Federation border, Blewbury’s lovely lawns drew another oversubscribed entry for their August SC tournament. Several top players enrolled hoping to consolidate their SC rankings including Joe King (5 peels) and Dave Kibble and Robin Brown (4 peels apiece). Watford’s Adam Huby, playing in his first SC tournament, won all his games convincingly and amassed the best hoop difference, but finished as runner-up by a whisker on a “quality of win” tiebreaker, missing out on the engraved glass to Blewbury’s Andrew Petit. York’s two-day Viking Challenge brought together a full house of players from several Federations. Manager Fiona Crompton seamlessly blended seasoned hands and recent SC recruits, through the CqE-approved 70% bisque approach, into a thoroughly enjoyable weekend in which players were spurred on by the added novelty of chocolate treats with a local connection for achieving various break-making targets. Nottingham’s Brenda Ash proved difficult to beat, while fellow Club member Tim Ash emerged as runner-up, closely behind home talent Denise Foster who after many years of competitive play took home her first ever trophy.
www.croquetengland.org.uk | 16
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator