GC A level series final 24-25 September

report by Richard Keighley, photo by Ross Bagni

Mike Hills won the final of the A-Level (0+) Series, the first occasion on which it was contested on a blocks and knockout basis rather than by an accumulation of points throughout the season.

Manager, Les Heard welcomed 16 players representing clubs from almost every Federation area on a bright and sunny morning spoilt by a rather chilly wind. In Block A, top seed Stephen Custance-Baker (Taunton Deane) had a rare poor day and it was left to David Frost (Enfield) and Marc Colson (Budleigh Salterton) to lead the group with five wins apiece. The two remaining qualifiers were Andrew Loakes (Camerton & Peasedown) and Duncan Brinkley (Unity) with four wins each. An unlucky Thomas Halliday (Enfield) also had four wins but missed out on countback by a single hoop.

Block B was more straightforward with both Glynis Davies (Northampton) and Ross Bagni (Leighton Linslade) achieving six wins each followed by Mike Hills (Northampton) and David Cornes (Crake Valley) with four wins each.

Sunday dawned fine with a gentle breeze for the best-of-three quarter-finals. Glynis beat Duncan and David Cornes beat David Frost in two straight games, but the remaining matches went to three closely contested games with Andrew beating Ross and Mike beating Marc.

The semi-finals featured an all-Northampton clash between Mike and Glynis with Mike emerging as the winner. David accounted for Andrew in two games. The final produced a treat for spectators as both Mike and David found their best form. David won the first game 7-6 and came back from 2-5 down in the second game before Mike prevailed at the golden hoop.

The deciding game was nip and tuck throughout and the golden hoop was inevitable. Mike Hills ran it from a narrow angle to claim the trophy. In the meantime, Stephen Custance-Baker rallied to win the Plate by beating all seven of his opponents.

Quiller Barrett, the CA President soon to stand down after 13 years of great service, kindly presented the trophy and prizes. He thanked the Wrest Park Club, the manager and the members who had helped to stage and cater for the tournament and he congratulated the players for coming from far and wide to take part. Finally, Les Heard appreciated the help of Robert Archer as scorer and Sandra Cornes for logging the scores on croquetscores.com, on which all the detailed results can be found.

Mike Hills receives the trophy
from Quiller Barrett

Club

Croquet

Wrest Park

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