A review of the National Short Croquet Competition has recently been completed by Beatrice McGlen and a new format for 2020 decided. Here are the details:

NATIONAL SHORT CROQUET INTER-CLUB COMPETITION

Following the review of the National Short Croquet Competition the decision has been taken to modify the format so that preliminary rounds are Federation based. The handicap requirements of the teams have been changed in response to requests from many of the previous participants. The competition will therefore be run as follows in 2020:

Team Selection and player eligibility
Each Federation may select one club team to represent them in the National Short Croquet Competition. The way that the Federation chooses that club team is left to their discretion. If a club enters more than one team in any preliminary rounds organised by their Federation then the players in any fielded team cannot have played for the other team/s at any stage in the competition in that season. In line with all other CA competitions, the players must be Individual Members of the CA, and playing members of the clubs they are representing. Players cannot represent more than one club in a season in this competition.

Team make-up
Each team of four players must have at least one player with a SC handicap of 6 or more. The maximum handicap for any player is SC 10 and there is no minimum handicap. Details of short croquet handicaps can be found on the CA website athttps://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=games/association/handicapping/short (being updated shortly).

National and regional finals
If more than 4 Federations wish to take part then regional finals will take place so that 4 teams go through to the National Short Croquet Final. The regional finals would be held in a single day at a venue to be decided. Where possible these will arranged at a weekend but may have to be on a weekday, depending upon lawn availability.

The National SC Final will involve 4 teams, so two semi-finals, a third/fourth play-off and a final will take place at a predetermined venue. In 2020 this will be Bowdon Croquet Club on 12/13 Sept 2020.

Format of finals
The final (including regional finals) will consist of 3 rounds of singles and 1 round of doubles and singles, so there will be a total of 14 games of singles and 1 game of doubles in each match. Time limits will be 75 minutes for each game. The doubles will be played in the first round. Singles games will be double-banked but doubles games will be single-banked. All games will be played full bisque.

Order of play
The order of play will be as follows, where 1-4 represent team 1 in handicap order (lowest to highest) and A-D represents team 2:

Round 1: 1&4 versus A&D (doubles); 2 v B; 3 v C (singles) Round 2: 1 v A; 2 v C; 3 v B; 4 v D (all singles)
Round 3: 1 v B; 2 v A; 3 v D; 4 v C (all singles)
Round 4: 1 v C; 2 v D; 3 v A; 4 v B (all singles)

Timetable for National Final
Since travelling distances could potentially be large, the National SC Final will be held over two days, starting at 12.00 on day 1 and finishing at 16.30 on day 2, which gives an opportunity for a social gathering on the intervening evening.

Day one (semi-finals)
12.00 – 13.15 (1 game of doubles and 2 of singles) Lunch
14.00 – 15.15 (4 games of singles)
15.25 – 16.40 (4 games of singles)
Tea
17.00 – 18.15 (4 games of singles)
Social gathering at local pub/café

Day two (Finals and 3rd/4th playoff)
9.30 – 10.45 (1 game of doubles and 2 of singles) 10.55 – 12.10 (4 games of singles)
Lunch
12.55 – 14.40 (4 games of singles)
14.50 – 16.05 (4 games of singles)
Tea and presentation

Entry procedure
The entry fee will be the same as the Secretary’s Shield (£30 per Federation). Entry will be via the CA’s on-line entry system. The closing date for entries is 9th March 2020. If more than four Federations enter an announcement will be made on 16th March 2020 regarding regional finals. Federation Secretaries should inform the tournament director no later than 7th August 2020 which club has been selected to represent them.

Beatrice McGlen
Tournament Director Short Croquet Competition
20 Nov 2019