Club

Croquet

Wrest Park

Beds & Herts League

11 June      v Watford (away)     Lost 1-5

Bryan Harral (1½) & Cliff Hayes (20) lost to Arthur Reed (2) & Alan Clark (12) -1T

John Bevington (1) & Tim Brewer (4½) lost to Simon Hathrell (-½ ) and John Bee (5) -22

Bryan Harral lost to Simon Hathrell -9

John Bevington lost to Arthur Reed -8

Tim Brewer lost to John Bee -14

Cliff Hayes beat Alan Clark +13T

A crashing defeat, with few excuses. True, there were rabbit runs in many hoops (Hopewell hoops on one lawn and Omega on the other), the lawns were distinctly two-paced and we were playing with unfamiliar Barlow balls, but the fact remains that we were outplayed on the day. Bryan and Cliff should have won after Bryan used the last bisque to establish a three point lead close to time, but he left a rush rather than scatter the balls and Alan duly hit and went from 5 to 3-back to win +1. After Simon went to 3-back early on John Bee followed with an all-round break and that was that.

In the top three singles Simon, Arthur and John all got to the peg but only managed to peg one ball out, which led to a lot of tactical play to try and recover ground, but to no avail. Cliff kept his nose in front for our only win.


The lawns in Cassiobury Park. Note the gazebo in front of the clubhouse and the fencing round the courts.


© Wrest Park Croquet Club