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!