Short Croquet is enjoying a surge of interest at Bowdon Croquet Club in the south Manchester area, where several of the club’s stronger players have been attracted by the challenge of mandatory peeling to complete with a full range of other handicaps in the local federation SC league.
The club ran its first midweek Short Tournament in 2023 and its sixteen places were rapidly filled. An extra two lawns were allocated for 2024, allowing the event to expand to 22 entries from six different clubs over the two days.
Tournament manager Brian Medley said, “It was a pleasure to welcome so many players, and to incorporate the North West Federation’s Millennium Short Croquet event alongside our own Trophy competition. The Bowdon Trophy winner Roger Brooks proved almost unbeatable after being defeated in his first knockout game, and rewarded spectators with virtuoso displays of peeling. Everyone was able to play as many games as they wanted and all were delighted with the quality of the lawns.”
Several players, including Roger, managed to complete a healthy eleven games over the two days.
Bowdon’s own Cas Sinclair, who dispatched Roger in the first round of the knockout event, went all the way through to the final. A point of law arose in her semi-final, and play had to be suspended for twenty minutes while all the available referees congregated to discuss the status of mandatory peels during the extension period of a timed ending. Despite the interruption, Cas won the game and also the Millennium event’s final 14-0 against club president Brian Storey to clinch the trophy.