This is the re-titled Blewbury version of this year’s AC All-England Handicap, which was cancelled at National level, but not before we had collected ten individual entries from Blewbury and other nearby clubs. So we decided to play the Blewbury local heat anyway, for the players’ benefit.
Update
The event was played in two American blocks – that’s all-play-all in a block – and the top two in each block qualified for a decider, played as two semi-finals followed by a final and a third-place play-off on Sunday, 13th September. Anthony Hardwicke was the first winner of the Berkshire Handicap, beating Peter Allan +6 in the final and taking home the trophy, which had previously been competed for as the Blewbury and Harwell Weekend Handicap Cup.
In the third-place play-off, the closest of games, Brian Jamieson beat Deirdre Cochrane +1.
In the semi-finals, Anthony had beaten Brian +9, and Peter won +22 against Deirdre. The final standings in the block stage had been as shown below.
| Pos | Player | Played | Wins | Net | Hoops |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Hardwicke | 3 | 2 | 8 | 49 |
| 2 | Deirde Cochrane | 3 | 2 | 4 | 43 |
| 3 | Carol Jamieson | 3 | 1 | 0 | 43 |
| 4 | John Harrison | 3 | 0 | -12 | 35 |
| Pos | Player | Played | Wins | Net | Hoops |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Allan | 4 | 3 | 38 | 66 |
| 2 | Brian Jamieson | 4 | 3 | 14 | 69 |
| 3 | Andy Robertson | 4 | 3 | 2 | 55 |
| 4 | Michael Kay | 4 | 1 | -22 | 42 |
| 5 | Minty Clinch | 4 | 0 | -32 | 40 |
The places were decided primarily on number of wins, but if that wasn’t enough, tie-breakers were applied in this sequence until a definite order is reached: who beat whom; net hoops scored; total hoops scored; and as the ultimate incentive, whoever first reported their final game result to the manager.