GLASGOW QUAICH: CROQUET ENGLAND VS CROQUET ASSOCIATION OF SCOTLAND
By Matt Cook
England regained the Quaich with a convincing 17-7 victory over Scotland at Chester Croquet Club over the weekend of 5th-6th September. The win ended a run of three consecutive Scottish successes and marked England's first victory since the Croquet Association became Croquet England. The annual fixture saw teams of six players contest six level play advanced doubles matches and eighteen singles matches over two days. England, captained by Matt Cook, fielded Roger Brooks, David Cornes, Richard Platt, Stuart M Smith and Robin Tasker and the Scottish side, led by David Magee comprised Roger Binks, Stefan Colling, Brian Durward, David Houston and Fiona McCoig. Players travelled from across Britain to take part, including competitors from as far north as Shetland (surprisingly in this case an England Player) and from as far south as the south- east of England. The Chester lawns provided a challenging test. A noticeable slope towards the south-west corner, combined with variable grass coverage, resulted in differences in pace across the courts. As a consequence, many games developed into
tactical contests, with break-building proving more difficult than might normally be expected at this level. Surprisingly few games were decided by peg-outs, with position and defence often playing a larger role than extended breaks. England made an excellent start on Saturday morning, taking all three doubles matches. They followed this with four victories from each of the two rounds of singles games to establish an 11-4 overnight lead.
ROEHAMPTON: GOLD CUP 2026 By Joel Taylor James Death won the 2026 Roehampton Gold Cup defeating a
Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez once said, "I'd rather be lucky than good". Death was about to show us that he is both. Murray opted to lift his peg ball and cooperatively missed the 9 m double target from B baulk. Sensing an opportunity to guarantee the peeling prize, Death started his second turn with a 7 m rush-peel of partner followed by 6 more peels. The only time the peeling turn looked in peril was after 1b when Death needed to rush-peel partner through 3b up to his 2b pioneer which was next to 4b. The rush peel took just the right amount of wire and the rest of the turn went to plan for only the second-ever ranking septuple in history (the first one was
by Chris Clarke at Nottingham in 2005). Despite about 10 minutes of double- banker interference, he pegged out 50 minutes after the start of the game. Death finished the tournament with the best record of 7 wins from 8, narrowly beating Murray who had 5 wins from 6 (only losing to Death). Seven New Zealanders travelled over for the tournament, mostly for practice for the Mac, which started the following weekend at the same venue. The standard of play was very high overall --- 23 of the 49 games played involved peeling turns, and the many sextuple attempts kept the spectators entertained.
star-studded field of England and New Zealand Mac players thus becoming the super advanced national champion. Death was in superb form from the start with a triple and two sextuples from his six games played on the Saturday, but the best was yet to come. In his first game on Sunday against the overnight leader, Sam Murray, Death won the opening and in preparation for another 1b leave carelessly stuck in hoop six leaving opponent balls less than 30 cm from both of his balls, but with one pair cross-pegged and the other pair cross- wired by hoop six. As New York
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