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This is the Croquet Way

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What a Leave!

Carefully and with great skill one of the north wests best players (Mr J Hawkins) attempted a Sextuplet at the North West Federation Festival of Croquet last Sunday and produced a perfect cross wire as part of his leave.  Breathtaking in its beauty, accuracy and simplicity, which drew gasps from the watching crowd.

Just admire this cross wire of his opponents balls:

Now if we just pull back the camera, we realise why the crowd were left aghast:

 

“Collapse of stout party”.  Just goes to show, even experts can still amaze us.  

We recommend more practice and perhaps a read of the best selling Croquet book – Complete Croquet: A Guide to Skills, Tactics and Strategy – written by a certain Mr J Hawkins.

England Win Home Internationals at Southport Croquet

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England Win Croquet Home Internationals – Southport 10/11 June 2017


Following heavy overnight rain, the start of this year’s Irish-hosted Home Internationals at Southport was delayed due to significant puddles on all five courts. Ongoing drizzle (with intervals of heavy showers) kept them topped up, so the usual all-play-all format was amended to a knockout format. The randomly drawn semi-finals were:  England v Wales and Ireland v Scotland

Play finally got underway at 11am on court 5, with court 4 becoming available later in the day. The wet conditions made some play heavy going, with one of the first matches being an eight-hour epic, which Jane Morrison won for Ireland (-5 +13 +23). A quick 13-minute TP in the fading light by Simon Williams over Campbell Morrison (+26 +23tp) gave Ireland their test win 3-1. (Martin Murray having won the single point for Scotland). The England/Wales test was further behind, with England having an overnight 1-0 lead (Christian Carter beat Garry McElwain +18 +18tp), and only one other game completed (James Hopgood leading Chris Williams +4)

There was no further rain overnight, and Sunday morning revealed three playable courts. This was enough to start all remaining first round matches. England won all games played against Wales, to win the test 3-0. At this point (~11am), all games in play were abandoned in order to start the next round. All five courts were now playable, so all 20 players were . Courts 2 and 3 had dried sufficiently for all matches to be started.

Final: Ireland v England
3rd/4th place play-off: Wales v Scotland

These two matches were one-sided affairs, with Scotland and Ireland winning only three games between them before Wales and England won their matches to take 3rd and 1st place respectively. Play finished at around 5pm, as initially planned, allowing everyone to stick to their travel plans and the manager to claim that everything had been under control all along. Danny Johnston, on behalf of the Hosts, Ireland, presented the Frank Cooper trophy to England Captain, David Maugham.


Full Results

Semi Final: England beat Wales 3-0
David Maugham led David Walters +26tp; Samir Patel led Ian Burridge +17 ;  James Hopgood beat Chris Williams +4 +17;  Mark Avery beat John Evans +26tp +16tp;  Christian Carter beat Garry McElwain +18 +18tp.

Semi Final: Ireland beat Scotland 3-1
Danny Johnston led Sam Murray +26;  Simon Williams beat Campbell Morrison +26 +26tp;  Andy Johnston beat David Magee +17 +26tp;  Evan Newell lost to Martin Murray -17 -10;  Jane Morrison beat Alan Wilson -5 +13 +23.

3rd/4th Place: Wales beat Scotland 3-0
David Walters trailed Sam Murray -17;  Ian Burridge beat Campbell Morrison +26tp +18;  Chris Williams beat David Magee +15 +19;  John Evans beat Martin Murray +25 +21;  Garry McElwain led Alan Wilson +20.

Final: England beat Ireland 4-1
David Maugham beat Danny Johnston +3 +17tp;  Samir Patel tied with Simon Williams +5 -11otp;  James Hopgood tied with Andy Johnston -17tp +17tp;  Mark Avery beat Evan Newell +17tp +25tp;  Christian Carter beat Jane Morrison +22tp +17tp.

Liverpool Members Battle for Southport Croquet Title

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Southport Jubilee Advanced Tournament (22/23 April 2017)

SBCC Chairman Don Williamson presents the Jubilee Adv Trophy to Winner James Hawkins

Two members from Liverpool Croquet Club, James Hawkins and Paul Rigge, battled it out in the Southport Jubilee Advanced tournament.  Under wonderful sunny Southport weather, the two finalists demonstrated Croquet skills of a very high order, but with James Hawkins producing sublime shots to take the title.

Manager James Hawkins reports:

There was much to entertain the spectators on the Sunday. In the deciding game of their best of three semifinal, Peter Wilson pegged out one ball leaving a three-foot shot to finish next turn, with Hawkins far behind on 2 and 4b. James hit his last shot, played 11 hoops under control, wired Peter from the peg and left him a 30-yard shot. Peter missed and James immediately finished with a +1 score.

James then faced an identical scenario in the final against Paul Rigge. Paul had several attempted shots at the peg, but was tempted into one trap too many and James limped round to steal a second consecutive +1. In the second game, Paul failed to capitalise on James’s messy play around hoops. By the time he’d pegged out James’s forward ball he was already too far behind, and James took the final 2-0.

SBCC Chairman Don Williamson presents the Runners Up prize to Paul Rigge

RESULTS:

KNOCKOUT:  James Hawkins bt Liz Wilson +22;  Dave Nick bt Alan Pidcock +23;  James Hawkins bt Dave Nick +3;  Peter Wilson bt Peter Taylor +19;  Paul Rigge bt Jerry Guest +13;  Richard H Smith bt Mark Lloyd +21;  James Hawkins bt Peter Wilson +4 -14 +1;  Paul Rigge bt Richard Smith +24 +17;  James Hawkins bt Paul Rigge +1 +14.

CONSOLATION EVENT:  Peter Taylor bt Liz Wilson +1T;  Peter Wilson bt Alan Pidcock +1T;  Jerry Guest bt Mark Lloyd +10;  Dave Nick bt Peter Taylor +17;  Liz Wilson bt Alan Pidcock +11;  Mark Lloyd bt Peter Taylor +12;  Richard Smith bt Dave Nick +9;  Peter Taylor bt Paul Rigge +15;  Mark Lloyd bt Dave NIck +6;  Richard Smith bt Liz Wilson +20;  Alan Pidcock bt Jerry Guest +7;  Richard Smith bt Peter Taylor +15;  Mark Lloyd bt Liz Wilson +22;  Dave Nick bt Peter Wilson +10.

Finalists Paul Rigge and James Hawkins with SBCC Chairman Don Williamson

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