Chris Higgins (Bishop Monkton) won the A Level Tournament Cup at Bury, defeating Sarah Clements (Chester) (7-2, 7-5)
The A Level 2-day tournament returned to Bury this year, unfortunately only 8 players were able to attend. Despite the small numbers and the rain on Saturday, the match play did not disappoint and throughout the weekend we witnessed exciting shots and closely fought games.
On Saturday the format was “All Plays All”. Richard Leach (Bury) and Robert Strover (Bishop Monkton) both won 5 of their 7 games, Chris Higgins (Bishop Monkton) and Sarah Clements (Chester) both won 4. Tony McCann (Backworth), Edwin Bone (Cheltenham), and Pamela Dawson (Southwell) each won 3 and Michael Bilton (Gainsborough) won 1.
Sunday thankfully saw better weather and started off with the 19-point Quarter final matches. These resulted in Michael Bilton, Sarah Clements, Edwin Bone and Chris Higgins going forward to the semi-final for the Cup. Semi-final places for the Plate went to Richard Leach, Tony McCann, Robert Strover and Pamela Dawson.
The Semi Final matches were 13-point best of 3. Chris Higgins took only 2 of his games to get through to the final for the Cup; with the other 3 competitors playing all 3 games to win their place in their respective finals.
The playoffs were 19-point matches. Tony McCann beat Pamela Dawson (10-3), to finish in 7th position, but Pamela put up a good fight.
Edwin Bone and Michael Bilton competed in the 3rd and 4th place playoff with Edwin beating Michael (10-6), to finish third
Richard Leach and Robert Strover competed in the final for the Plate and in a good match Robert had to play all 3 games to win the Plate (7-4, 3-7, 7-4).
Chris Higgins needed only 2 games to achieve victory over Sarah Clements (7-2, 7-5) for the cup but it was an excellent match with exciting play and great shots from them both.
Club President, David Barrett presented the trophies and wine.
Thanks go to the referee, John Crossland, the tournament management Team, the grounds team and the catering team, who all contributed to make the weekend an enormous success. It was great atmosphere and there was sense of camaraderie amongst everyone all weekend.
Full results can be seen on Croquet Scores – https://croquetscores.com/2026/gc
Report by Sue Worth
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