Having played in the Phyllis Court/Blewbury AC C level tournament on the hottest days of the year just 2 weeks ago, it was a shock to be playing round 2 of the Longman Cup against Kington Langley at Blewbury on possibly the coldest day of the summer! At one point the clubhouse thermostat went down to 11 degrees and with continuous rain and increasing winds, it felt even colder.

In the morning, Avril and Nigel contended in a neck-and-neck doubles match, eventually losing by just 2 hoops, 15-17

Meanwhile, in the singles, KL had brought a super-weapon in the form of one Robert Corbin, who only started the game about 2 years ago and has been rapidly improving, and reducing his handicap accordingly. By the time of our Longman match it was down to 10, which still gave him 5.5 bisques against Andy Evason (4.5)

Robert used his 1st bisque to set up a flawless break of 11 hoops and a good leave, presenting – even Andy – only a very small chance of hitting in at great distance.

Andy failed to roquet, and Robert repeated the process with his 2nd ball, going on to beat Andy 26-0, with poor Andy having only had about 4 shots in the entire game.

Meanwhile, I (Andrew P) had a relatively easy time of it, winning my morning game 26-7. However this meant we were 1-2 down at lunchtime and would have to win 3 of our 4 singles matches in the afternoon.

Fortunately, the rain which had been forecast for the whole day, had eased off by lunchtime, but the wind was gradually increasing to what felt like gale force. At times it made accurate casting impossible.

Andy E, undaunted by his morning defeat (or the wind), comfortably beat Ian Wills (Andrew’s morning opponent) 26-8.

Blewbury 2: KL 2

On the other court, things were much more exciting, with Nigel winning his match by just one point, 20-19. However, unfortunately Avril repaid the compliment, by losing her match by just 1 point, 17-18.

This left me against the super-weapon Robert, who this time had a mere 4 bisques to my 1 (we played off base 6). Robert continued his very high standard of play, if not quite flawless. By full-time, all bisques had been used, 3 balls were on Rover and one on hoop 6. Unfortunately, the hoop 6 ball was mine. Score 22-16 to Robert.

Robert wisely, used his final go to leave his balls in corners 3 and 4. Amazingly, I succeeded in bringing out my best play for the last-ditch effort. I managed to make 4 hoops with just my own two balls (OK, my ball had started centrally in the jaws of hoop 6, so that one was quite easy!).

After 3-back I managed to pick up Robert’s corner 4 ball for a good rush, leaving me with a short approach to 4-back – certainly a lot easier than the previous 3 hoops. At this point, I thought (somewhat flabbergasted) “I might now actually make 4-back and 5-back and force a golden hoop – or maybe even make Rover and win outright!”

However, as so often happens, pride comes before a fall and I over-cooked my approach to 4-back, leaving me a very acute angle shot at the hoop. You’ve guessed it dear reader, I fluffed the hoop and the dream was shattered! I lost to Robert 20-22 and so Blewbury lost to KL 3-4.

Such is the glorious game of Croquet!

It’s probably not very often that the first instruction given by the Tournament manager to the players at the beginning of a tounament is “Don’t kill yourselves!”. However, given the record-breaking temperatures in the last week of May, and the various medical conditions of some of the 8 competitors in the Phyllis Court/Blewbury C level AC tournament, this was not unreasonable advice! It was followed by practical instructions to pause the timer, should any player need to take on more water or just recuperate from the unrelenting heat.

I’m not sure if any availed themselves of pausing the timer, but certainly two were ready to drop out at different times on the first day (Tuesday 26th May), including our own Steve Fisher, recovering from a recent medical incident, and who had bravely taken a long bus journey from Abingdon to Henley, to arrive on time.

Although I had the lowest handicap (7) in the tournament, my expectations were not high, since, counter-intuitively, I also had the 2nd worst D-grade and I had also come 2nd to last in last year’s tournament. Nevertheless, I managed to win my first two matches and so got off to a flying start. I was also very glad for the shade afforded by the beautiful big trees at Phyllis Court, which began to invade Court 2 as the afternoon progressed.

However, as so often happens, my form mysteriously left me for the 3rd match against Colin Spencer, our furthest traveller from Downham CC in Norfolk. Shade or not, I was very glad to reach Peg-down, by which time, Colin had reached 2-back and set up a leave for my lift, while I had one ball still on hoop 1 and the other only on hoop 3 after repeated failed attempts. Score: 2-8

Wednesday was at Blewbury and another baking hot day, without a cloud in the sky. After carefully placing our balls in accordance the the Peg-down ‘map’, the 3rd match continued where we had left off, as did our respective standards of play! Colin was constantly hitting in, while even though I was playing a little better than in the first half, I was making little progress. However, despite Colin’s great roquets, he didn’t seem to be making much progress either! After 30 minutes or so I rediscovered my mo-jo and eventually won the match 16-11

In the 4th match I played Rick Lilley – another gifted GC player from Phyllis Court! Rick is still getting used to changing to the Solomon grip and had only won 1 of his first 3 games. However, he chose his game against me to find his form and proceeded to make a 10 hoop break with his first ball. This gave me a rare ‘contact lift’, but by now my long spell on the side-lines was having its effect, and I only managed to make hoop 2 before breaking down again. From then on I steadily got worse and worse, missing shorter and shorter roquets, while Rick raced to a speedy and decisive victory of 26-2.

By the 5th round only 6 of us were still playing, 3 of whom were on 3 wins: the said Colin Spencer from Downham, the veteran Martin Burger from Aldermaston, and myself. Due to the ‘who-beat-who’ principle in case of a draw, Martin and Colin had not only to win their final match, but were dependent on the result of the other match as well. I was down to play Martin and if a beat him, I won the tournament. I had beaten Martin last year in a handicap match when he was a 6 and I had the benefit of two bisques, but sadly for Martin, who is getting on a bit, his handicap has gone up to 8 in the last 12 months. Anyway, one benefit of losing so quickly against Rick is that I ended up having a very long, restful lunch-hour, waiting for Martin’s 4th round match to finish. Maybe that was what enabled me to beat him 19-11 and win the cup. Just goes to show – I may have come 2nd to last 12 months ago, but there’s always hope!

A gloriously sunny Bank Holiday weekend saw just 6 competitors battling it out for this year’s Hi-Bisquers trophy: Carol Jamieson & David Long represented Blewbury; against Charles Briggs & Neil George (both Caversham), Colin Carver (Enfield), and Graham Brooksbank (Cheltenham). Apart from Colin (on a 16 handicap) and Carol (on 20), everyone else was on the competition’s minimum handicap of 14.

With time for an all-play-all league, draws were allowed to keep the competition running smoothly. After 3 matches on the first day, Carol had a clear lead with 2 wins and a draw. Three players were behind her on 1 win and a draw (yes, two of the 9 games played had been draws, and others very tight – vindicating the match format of 18-point games played to a base of 4).

Going into the last match, only two players could win the tournament, fittingly the two highest bisquers: Carol was still the player to beat, with one victory more than Colin. But Carol’s previous form deserted her as she lost 11-14 to Charles, while Colin slowly overhauled David to a 13-8 victory. 3.5 wins each – so let’s see, what were the stated tie-break criteria?

First was who-beat-whom… but the first-round match between Colin and Carol had been one of the draws (15-15). The competition result would hinge on total hoops scored: prior to that last round, the pair had been equal on that too, with 62 hoops apiece. In the end, it was Colin’s last two hoops against David that proved decisive, and won him the trophy.

Colin Carver receives his trophy from Tournament Manager David Long

The Founder’s Cup, our AC level advanced play competition, was held this weekend, earlier on in the season to avoid some of the more congested tournament periods later in the year. Six players contested the knock-out format over three rounds.

Andrew Petit was drawn against Paul Wolff in the first round, as was Deirdre Cochrane against Andy Robertson. Andy Evason and Joe King had seeded byes in round one due to their lower handicaps.

Andrew, fresh from his handicap reduction won the opening and set off on his first break which he took round to 4-back (hoop 10). Paul missed the lift shot and Andrew played another good break this time stopping at 2-back (hoop 8), after his ball rolled back into a very tiny rabbit run in the jaws. Paul got in but sadly was hampered by the peg en route to 2-back (hoop 8 again). Andrew soon pegged out 26-9 and advanced to the semi-finals.

In her game, Deirdre took control of much of the early play and built up a fine lead. Andy had a number of narrow misses and couldn’t get going. But with an hour to go, Andy found more rhythm and as time became a factor had a break that would have got him back on to level terms. Unfortunately his approach to 2-back (hoop 8) wasn’t quite good enough and he failed the hoop. Deirdre kept her nerve as time expired to win 24-15.

Andrew faced Andy Evason (also fresh from his handicap reduction) in the first semi-final in a match-up of regular sparring partners over the winter. Both set off with good breaks and soon there were three clips on 4-back (hoop 10). Andy was the first to get a ball to the peg with Andrew on Rover and Rover (hoop 12). Both players had had opportunities to press on to the finish when Andrew left Andy a 13-yard shot which if he hit would likely be decisive. As it was Andy missed by a whisker and Andrew managed to run Rover and peg out 26-21.

In the second semi-final Deirdre played Joe. She took command of the opening and quickly advanced to a seven-hoop lead before Joe had taken croquet. She failed hoop 4, and Joe picked up a break going to 4-back (hoop 10) with a new standard leave. Deirdre then hit the lift but didn’t manage to advance her clips. Joe got in again and tried to set up a triple peel attempt, but was stymied by the peg. So he had to be content with a break to the peg with a vertical spread leave, with Deirdre’s balls in the jaws of Penult and Rover. Deirdre missed the lift this time and Joe finished 26-7.

The final started with Andrew playing the wrong ball on turn five. Joe made hoop 1 from the mistake but then under-approached hoop 2 letting Andrew back in. Shortly afterwards Joe had another opportunity, approaching hoop 1 with a stop-shot approach; but underhit it, leaving a long hoop which he missed, allowing Andrew to get a break going. It looked as though Andrew was in good control until a slightly awkward backward take off at hoop 4 left an angled hoop Andrew failed. 

Joe then took his hoop 1 ball round to 4-back with an old standard leave, Andrew missed the lift which followed, Joe got going with his hoop 2 ball taking it round on a three-ball break until he could get the fourth ball into play after 2-back, Andrew faced a cross-peg leave and elected to shoot down the lawn, glancing off the peg and missing his ball by a whisker. Joe finished 26-4.

The weather was cold in the wind but spared us the prolonged rain suggested by the forecast.

On a beautiful final day of April, four of us joined battle in the opening heat of the
All-England Handicap championships: Joe, Andy Evason, Deirdre, and Andrew Petit.
The joy of handicap play is that anyone might win! And so in the first round Andy E beat Joe 14-1 and in the 2nd round Andrew beat Joe 14-0 ! Meanwhile Andy went on to beat Deirdre and Andrew in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, and so now progresses to the next stage (an area final in August). Who knows where this might lead !

Meanwhile, Joe executed a just revenge (or reward?) on Andy and Andrew. Having judged that they had both become bandits over the winter, he had been threatening to reduce their handicaps for the last couple of months. Their decisive victories over him in this contest were the final straw! Andy’s AC handicap has been reduced from 7 to 4.5 and Andrew’s from 9 to 7. Neither know whether to be shocked, delighted, or just resigned !

Andrew Petit

Here’s Andrew Petit’s report on this week’s Longman Cup triumph…

On Wednesday, April 22nd, we had our first victory in the AC Inter-Club handicap tournament since 2017.

On a beautiful Spring day we hosted the first-round match — and the first CqE AC match of the season —against Bristol, who have often been our nemesis in the past.

We got off to a flying start with Andy Evason and Andrew Petit gaining two comfortable victories in their morning singles matches.

 Meanwhile, Deirdre Cochrane and Nigel Cox were battling it out in their doubles match against Bristol’s captain Margot Soakell and Simon Rye. Having got off to a very shaky start, Deirdre and Nigel valiantly fought back to 17-all at full time. Both teams had good opportunities to win the golden hoop, but it was Bristol that finally made it on the third attempt.

So the lunchtime score was 2-1, with four singles matches to be played in the afternoon.

Blewbury managed to win two of these through Evason and Petit, which was enough to bring about a 4-3 victory.

In the next round, we play Kington Langley. They beat us last year — but this time, we will have the home advantage.

We have written into the diary April 30^th – next Thursday – as the date for our qualifier heat to the All-England handicap competition.

The All-England handicap is open to all AC players, playing handicap games, and starts at club level, then moves on to area finals played in your region and then the national final.

We have hosted the finals a year or so ago and will do so again in 2028.

If you would like to take part in the qualifier then please let Joe King know. It will start at 9:30 or 10:00am and run into the afternoon, depending on how many entrants we have. We need a minimum of 4, and have 3 signed up already. So if you’d like to play please let Joe know over the weekend. Depending on numbers we may need to postpone.  

The format for the regional and national finals is 26pt timed games, played full bisque to a base of 6. Depending on number we’ll use a format ensuring players have multiple games during the day.