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Croquet

Wrest Park

AC Handicap Tournament
14-15 September

l-r Peter Aspinall, David Boxell, George Collin, Geoff Strutt (manager), winner Peter Rothwell, David Woolley, Tim Nurse

“The ambition of most up-and-coming players is the triple peel.” So wrote John Solomon in 1966, and it is as true today as it ever was. Keith Wylie said of the standard triple that “on an easy court it calls for no more than a few simple strokes played with reasonable accuracy”. This somewhat disingenuous description may hold true for a select few, as shown by the peeling statistics in the rankings, but for those of us no longer up-and-coming (if indeed we ever were) the triple can over time become something to be merely contemplated rather than actively striven for.

So hats off to Peter Rothwell who won his first handicap tournament at Wrest Park a year ago playing off 12 and entered this year’s September handicap tournament with his handicap now down to 3½. He completed his first triple peel in his first game, going on to win the tournament again after winning his remaining four games. However one can’t ignore the fact that but for Hunstanton’s David Boxell this would have been an intra-club tournament as five of the six players were Wrest Park members. What does this say about the future of AC handicap tournaments?

Peter Rothwell (3½) beat Tim Nurse +13TP, Peter Aspinall +6t, David Boxell +14, David Woolley +10, George Collin +26

Tim Nurse (7) beat Peter Aspinall +11, David Woolley +24, George Collin +21

Peter Aspinall (11) beat David Boxell +3, David Woolley +3, George Collin +7

David Boxell (18) beat David Woolley +10t, Tim Nurse +10t

David Woolley (10) beat George Collin +20

George Collin (½) beat David Boxell +4

David Boxell in play on lawn 1 on Saturday morning.