THE NATIONAL SENIORS By Chris Donovan
Twas brillig, and all the bally knockers Did sweat and gimble in the heat. All solid were the hoopy mockers And mimsy were the smelly feet. Beware the Jabberstroke, my son The jaws that bite, the curse of slugger Beware the arid ground, and shun The frumious Blooperhooper!
[Apologies to Lewis Carroll] Which is by way of saying that the National Seniors’ week was a tad warmer than usual and the occasional patch of green grass was quite a novelty. It had been agreed with the manager before the start that hoops would not be moved as firming-up, as currently located hoops was preferable to uncertainty of solidity in new settings. Nonetheless, frustration with ball control was mostly met with good humour even if after two hours play with a score at 4 -3 it was sometimes a little strained. However, Brillig conditions still enabled some bally knockers to win through. The Doubles saw 16 players in a straightforward X, Y, Z. In the Y semi-finals Chris Donovan [Sidmouth 3.5] & Joe King [Blewbury -1.5] beat Liz Farrow [Sussex County 2.5] & Jonathan Isaacs [Sussex County 3]. Rick Harding [Nottingham -2] & Chris Williams [Glamorgan -2] defeated Neil Coote [Reigate Priory -0.5] & Roger Mills [Sidmouth -0.5]. Harding & Williams won the Y and were duly presented with the ‘runner-up’ Y winners 33ml can of chilled ‘bubbly’ lemonade. The Y Z finalists were Farrow & Isaacs who were duly presented with a 120ml can of chilled lemonade. The X semi-finals saw Liz Webb [Bowdon 10] & Carol Sinclair [Bowdon 12] beaten by Peter Thompson [Driffield 3.5] & Jonathan Toye [Downham 7]. David Warhurst [Budleigh -0.5] & Dave Wise [Norwood Australia -0.5] were bested by Patricia Mulcahy [Phyllis Court 11] & Paul Franklin [Phyllis Court 10]. Mulcahy & Franklin took the silver Cups [well only 1 available for presentation] and 2 bottles of chilled prosecco. The X Z finalists were Webb & Sinclair and they too were duly presented with 120ml of chilled lemonade. The handicap singles started with the unrelenting temperature of 30oC and the clear blue skies persisting. Consequently, the planned full 26 point 3 hour games for the 4 x 4 Blocks was changed to 18 point games in 2 hours 15 minutes. All ballyknockers were frabjous but, nonetheless,
Cartoon: Liz Farrow
only 10 of the 24 initial games pegged out. The semi-final saw Neil Adams [CqE -1.5] defeat Williams 18 – 16. King defeated Webb 18 – 13. In the final King, not playing to his personal best, was defeated by Adams 18 – 3. To him the Quiller Cup and a bottle of bubbly. ’Twas [still] brillig, and the slithy toves were still gyring and gimbling in the wabe: [And remarkably] the borogroves continued to be all mimsy - And the mome raths outgrabing. i.e. Still flaming hot! As usual, it seems, these days there was a preponderance of minus handicaps. Initially 12 in a field of 28. This reduced to 10 minus handicaps following Alex McIntyres injury after a deliberate hit and run incident and an ‘in tournament’ withdrawal. Thus, two blocks of 5 cross played to get 5 games followed by A Block 1 & 2 Playing B Block 1 & 2 in a semi-final. Then 2 blocks of 8 for the Colin Hemming Cup and the de Ansorena trophy. The manager’s information sheet on how the tournament was to be played, draws settled noted that there was a prize for the fastest game. Even though an A5 sheet was pinned to the results board headed ‘Fastest Game’ it seems that many were surprised at prize giving when Willims was announced as the only nominee and thus winner. Frankly the manager was aghast when Williams, smiling hugely, said he did have the nerve to take the bottle of fizz with a fastest [!?] game of 1 hour 35 minutes. In the de Ansorena trophy block there was only 1 peg-out in the 28 games played. The lowest score, amongst several from which to choose, was the David Houston [Meadows Edinburgh 3] v Thompson game: 9 – 6 after 2 hours 30 minutes! Even so Houston went on to take the trophy and bubbly with 6 wins having only lost one game to Jonathan Isaacs -1T.
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