winner Joe King receives his trophy from Tournament Manager, David Long
This year the Roger Cambray Memorial Shield, our annual One-Ball championship, returned to its traditional Easter Monday slot. And the glorious weather made the event a fitting formal start to our summer season.
16 contestants – including our two newest members, Tim Leverton and Chen Woodward – competed in 4 tightly-fought blocks through the morning with the top 8 progressing to the afternoon knock-out. Joe King and Nigel Cox convincingly won their blocks with 3 wins out of 3, but the other two blocks required tie-break rules to determine not only the winner, but also the runner-up: David Vincent and Carol Jamieson progressed as block winners, with Philippa Turner and Andrew Petit just behind them; Deirdre Cochrane and Andy Evason were only narrowly eliminated.
Joe’s traditional Easter spit-roast provided a splendid centrepiece for the lunch that followed, with equally delicious salads and desserts provided by Philippa Turner, Sandy Millikin and Tim Leverton.
The afternoon saw the morning’s top 8 in quarter-final action, while the rest competed for a “plate” event. The four semi-finalists in the main event were Joe, Nigel, and the runner-ups from their two blocks. While David Long went on to beat Andy Robertson in the 3rd-place play-off, Nigel took an early lead against Joe in the Final, using his bisques well. But Joe was on unbeatable form, slowly clawing his way back to draw level, before pulling away to a 13-7 victory. After previous wins in the Founders Cup, Prebendal and KMT, Joe has finally – and deservedly – now got his name on the last of our AC trophies.
It was nearly a clean sweep for the Kings, with Claire reaching the final of the plate event; but there she met Deirdre Cochrane, the reigning champion (and 7-time winner) of this competition: Deirdre might have been knocked out of the main event this year, but she made sure she went away with a consolation prize.
The event acted also as our heat to the National Charity One-Ball competition (to be held at Surbiton on 16th May). Our donations raised an impressive £177.50 for Save The Children, Croquet England’s chosen charity for this season.