Club
Croquet
Wrest Park
© Wrest Park Croquet Club
Mary Rose 2016
Final v East Dorset (at Surbiton) 1 Oct won 5-
Bryan Harral (0) and George Collin (1) beat David Kendrick (0) and Tom Weston 1½) +16
John Bevington (1) beat David Williams (2) +16
Tim Brewer (2½) lost to Anthony Dix (2) -
Bryan Harral beat David Kendrick +16
George Collin beat Tom Weston +17
John Bevington lost to Anthony Dix -
Tim Brewer beat David Williams +19
Wrest Park beat East Dorset 5-
Saturday morning began with sunshine and mist, but the rain had set in by the time Tim had driven us to Surbiton by 9.15. The sun came out before lunchtime, but later in the afternoon heavy showers returned with the accompaniment of a superb double rainbow, finally easing off in time for the presentation. In the doubles our missed roquets and the opponent’s blobbed hoops kept the game going longer than was really necessary, but George’s clean hoop running put us well ahead.
The only drama was when Bryan’s short term memory was called into question at penult, when the pioneer had ended up in the jaws, the striker’s ball was placed in contact on the playing side, the croquet stroke shifted the pioneer but left the striker’s ball in the jaws, and the continuation stroke ran the hoop and either (a) did or (b)did not roquet the pioneer.
The opponents stormed onto the lawn and insisted that Bryan had picked up his ball (a consequence of (a)) rather than roqueting another ball (ditto (b)). Bryan has been known to play the game in his imagination but, dear reader, not in this case. However to maintain cordial relations Bryan accepted their version of events and then missed the roquet. Bryan and George went on to win +16.
On the other lawn David got started by rolling both balls to hoop 1 from between hoops 1 and 2. The striker’s ball, heading for the left-
The afternoon singles did not start well when David went to 4-
With the pressure off George, who was well ahead against Tom, proceeded to entertain the crowd with some gung-
Manager Brian Fisk presented the trophy, and we posed for the obligatory photo before the drive back to Ampthill where Bryan provided us all with a glass of champagne -
v Nottingham (home) 17 Sept won 5-
David Marsh (-
Cliff Jones (0) beat Peter Death (3½) +16
Geoff Strutt (9) lost to Arthur Rowe (2) -
David Marsh beat Clive Goode +3
Bryan Harral beat Beatrice McGlen +3
Cliff Jones beat Arthur Rowe +25TP
Geoff Strutt lost to Peter Death -
Captain Bryan Harral needed all his juggling skills to get a team together for this semi-
The doubles did not start well, Clive and Beatrice (Nottingham) were on 3-
The match was now 2-
Our thanks to Sharman Harral for a much needed hot lunch on a very chilly day. Also many thanks to George for turning up early, clearing the debris from the lawns after the previous days flooding, then mowing non-
v Pinchbeck (home) 23 August won 4-
Cliff Jones (0) and John Bevington (1½) beat Adrian Kirby (0) and John Filsak (2) +9
Tim Brewer (2½) lost to Bob Thompson (2½) -
Eric Audsley (2) beat Mike Bowser (2½) +3
Cliff Jones lost to Adrian Kirby -
John Bevington beat John Filsak +12
Eric Audsley lost to Bob Thompson -
Tim Brewer beat Mike Bowser +5
A narrow win. In the morning Bob Thompson got the first break and and had a win on the board while the rest of us were still coming to terms with reasonably fast lawns and the hot weather. John Bevington eventually got going and went from 2 to the peg after Cliff had got to 4-
v Northampton (home) 23 July won 4-
Cliff Jones (0) and George Collin (½) beat Mike Hills (1) and Derek Humphreys (1) +7
Tim Brewer (2½) lost to James Skelton (1) -
John Bevington (1½) beat Nick Evans (2) +10
Cliff Jones beat Mike Hills +15
George Collin beat Derek Humphreys +22
John Bevington v James Skelton unfinished
Tim Brewer lost to Nick Evans -
An extremely hot day, with an early start to mow lawns 2 and 3 as the recently applied fertiliser had upped the growth rate. After Mike Hills had got to 4-
The singles games on the tricky lawn 2 were less assured with plenty of blobbed hoops and both were paused so we could all have a splendid lunch provided by Bryan Harral, our non-
By this time the match was effectively over as Cliff and George had won their singles games, and when Tim, who had been struggling with a game leg all day, lost to Nick at around 6pm, James and John agreed to abandon their game so we could all stop for tea. Special thanks are due to Gill Brewer who appeared at intervals with jugs of squash to keep us all hydrated.
L-
Bryan pegs out in the doubles
George Collin somewhere
under the rainbow
Anthony Dix swinging in the rain