Club

Croquet

Wrest Park

Longman Cup 2017

v Hunstanton (home)      28 July      lost 2-5

Report by Peter Aspinall

Whilst the scores don't really reflect the way in which the games were played, Geoff is having a purple patch at the moment and played really well. Cliff only came home from Spain the day before the match so it was good of him to play at all.

Geoff Strutt (9) and Cliff Hayes (20) beat Neil Chalmers (7) and David Haslam (14) +25

Peter Aspinall (10) lost to Charles Ostler (4½) -8

David Woolley (8) lost to Peter Brown (11) -23

David Woolley lost to Charles Ostler -15

Geoff Strutt beat Neil Chalmers +11

Peter Aspinall lost to Peter Brown -17

Cliff Hayes lost to David Haslam -6


v Watford (away)      18 May      won 5-2

Report by Richard Keighley

In stark contrast to the downpour of the previous day, Cassiobury Park was bathed in warm sunshine at the start of  this match. It was a magnificent sight with majestic mature trees in new leaf and a newly erected bandstand which was fortunately not in use.

In the morning session, David Woolley (7) and Richard Keighley (18) lost their doubles game when seemingly poised for victory after their opponents hit in from the full length of the court on two inconvenient occasions. Team captain Peter Aspinall (11) found his form was fluctuating in his singles and eventually succumbed, but John Tew (9) snatched victory in his match by running the winning hoop after time was called.

A 1-2 scoreline meant that Wrest Park had to win 3 out of 4 singles in the afternoon to progress to the next round. As the weather deteriorated, the team found inspiration  from John Tew’s speedy second victory of the day and won all the singles games to give a match result of 5-2.

Results:

David Woolley (7) & Richard Keighley (18) lost to John Bee (5) & Wendy Spencer-Smith (20)    -3T

John Tew (9) beat John Smallbone (3.5)  +1T

Peter Aspinall (11) lost to Robin Barry (10) -10

David Woolley beat John Smallbone  +6T

John Tew beat John Bee +14

Richard Keighley beat Robin Barry +8T

Peter Aspinall beat Wendy Spencer-Smith +12

© Wrest Park Croquet Club