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 Brookshank (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, and 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 match, the pair had been equal on that too, with 62 hoops apiece. So Colin’s last two hoops against David proved decisive, and won him the trophy.