Winner: Deirdre Cochrane
This year’s Roger Cambray was hosted at Hall Barn, at the kind invitation of the Cochranes; keen to reprise the balmy summer parties that had kicked off the competition in 1998, and in celebration of its previous 25 winners.
With 15 entrants, the morning and early afternoon were spend in 3 blocks of 5, leading to semi-finals and final for the top 4 players. The block playing at Hall Barn saw Deirdre come second to David Seed – though David Seed had pre-announced that he would be retiring from the competition at the end of the block matches, so was unable to proceed to the knock-out stages.
Meanwhile, at the Croquet Club, two blocks were playing on half-sized lawns. Block 1 was easily won by Robin Brown, who was able to race through all 4 of his victories during the morning session, with Brian Jamieson narrowly pipping reigning trophy holder, David Long, to the runners-up spot. Block 2 saw Edmund Shirley triumphant, with Steve Fisher a close 2nd.
Robin and Edmund were seeded into separate semi-finals, as the block winners, and matched against Deirdre and Brian respectively as the highest-achieving runners-up. On Hall Barn’s lawn it was Deirdre and Brian who triumphed to reach the final which Deirdre proceeded to win; all 3 knock-out matches finishing 13-9. This was Deirdre’s 7th victory in this competition, 25 years on from her first, and she was fittingly presented with the shield by Chris Cambray, Roger’s son.
David Long
Tournament Manager