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!