Author: David Long

Despite an overnight drenching, our lawns passed an early morning pitch inspection for today’s annual AC Hi-Lo Doubles. After a couple of late withdrawals, the field was reduced to 10; half with handicaps of 20+, and half with handicaps ranging from -1 to +10. That split was pretty much ideal for an event as much about providing an enjoyable coaching experience as it was about the competition.

The two AC novices, David Weston and Hugh Coghill-Smith, were paired with Joe King and Peter Allan respectively. Sandy Millikin was paired with Andy Evason, Claire King with Deirdre Cochrane, and Minty Clinch with Brian Jamieson.

The format was 5 rounds of 14-point, alternate stroke AC, played to an hour’s time-limit, with handicaps set to a base of 2.5 so that every pair got 5-6 bisques per game.

After the first 3 rounds, played in a mix of dry spells and showers, Deirdre & Claire were undefeated. And, after calling time in the 4th round – just as Peter & Hugh were walking off court at the end of a break – Deirdre & Claire were able to gain a 9-7 lead against them too. But they mistakenly thought that the end of the match, and left their balls invitingly close together: Peter was able to hit-in, and he and Hugh were able to win the match 10-9.

Although Deirdre & Claire were still the only team on 3 wins, they had now completed all their 4 matches: Peter & Hugh (who had only lost against Joe & David) would now win the tournament if they could win their last-round match against Andy & Sandy.

But alas! That 4th round had been played through heavy rain and – although the skies were now brightening – there was standing water on the courts and the last round had to be abandoned. Rather than using the incomplete blocks method to compute the winners, it was agreed to share the title, with prizes awarded to both the teams concerned, in keeping with the friendly spirit of the day. Every pair had won at least one game, and everyone left with smiling faces; however bedraggled they had become.

A still and sunny day greeted the 4 semi-finalists for this year’s Prebendal Manor Trophy. Joe King, Andy Robertson and Peter Allan (three times) had all won the competition in the last 7 years, and Deirdre Cochrane hoped to add her name to that trophy.

The first semi was all over within an hour. Joe was 11-0 up before Andy got his first break. After Andy then played the wrong ball, Joe quickly completed an 18-0 rout. The other semi was much tighter. Deirdre took an 11-3 lead, but only after using all her bisques. Peter steadily fought back to 15-all, despite a free drop that Deirdre was awarded after a very long scrutiny. The match could have gone either way, until Deirdre missed a shot with all 4 balls on the peg: game over (18-16).

So Peter and Joe met in a re-run of last year’s final, which Peter had won 26-0. Peter had also beaten Joe in last season’s Founders Cup final: Joe described Peter as “my bete-noire, who I’ve never beaten competitively”. Meanwhile Peter seemed bemused by being given 1.5 bisques (“I’ve forgotten what to do with these”): indeed, they were used up quickly as he opened with a modest 2-hoop break. However, at the hour-mark, a 12-hoop break had taken Peter to 17-0, with his red already on the peg; while Joe was really struggling to find his form after lunch.

But Joe finally ran Hoop 1 (at the 4th attempt!), and his confidence steadily grew as another 11 hoops followed: having taken his own ball to the peg, he pegged out Peter’s red. There was over an hour still on the clock, though Joe was 6 hoops down (12-18). Joe played cautiously, making sure each leave minimised Peter’s chance of a long hit-in, and drawing on both his 1-ball and his peeling skills to slowly inch his way back. The tension built. The wind started gusting, and was blamed by both players for a couple of missed chances. But Joe wasn’t throwing any caution to the wind. With nerves of steel, he levelled the match at 20-20 just as the 5-minute warning was announced. That was still the score when the timer sounded, at which point Joe pegged out his rover ball, while putting too much distance between the last two remaining balls for Peter to reply. With this 21-20 victory, Joe could finally lay to rest the ghost of last year’s defeats.

The AC Handicap league gives higher handicappers an opportunity to play competitively against other clubs. Last year, our squad just achieved 1 win from their 5 matches, and our first match of the season had started in similar vein with a 4-0 defeat at Phyllis Court.

Undeterred, on 18th May our team of 4 confidently gathered in the Blewbury sunshine, ready to take on Oxford Uni. And when Oxford arrived, they were a player short, having found themselves only able to raise 3 players amid the exam season. So David Long stepped down, and agreed with their captain – Charlie Sharpe (son of Aussie croquet star Alison) – to provisionally score one game as a walkover to Blewbury: that result was subsequently ratified by the SCF, but only due to the lack of notice given (individual games should normally be rescheduled, assuming 72-hours notice).

Despite that 1-0 advantage, we still nearly lost the match: Charlie proceeded to beat Andy Evason 26-9; and Deirdre Cochrane lost by the same score to Oxford’s Mark Baker. However, in the last match to finish, Andrew Petit achieved the squad’s first game win of the season; with a 26-15 victory against Rob Pearson to square the match at 2-2. All 7 of us retired to the Red Lion to lick our wounds over a convivial and tasty pub lunch – on a day possibly better remembered as being that of Blewbury’s annual beer festival.

A bright sunny day, with lawns looking and playing well, greeted the semi finalists for the Prebendal Manor Cup, our internal AC Handicap competition.

On Court 1, Brian Jamieson took an early 4-2 lead against Peter Allan, but was eventually overwhelmed 18-6. Brian was still recovering from a significant operation on one hand, but made no excuses – it wasn’t his day. In the other semi-final, Claire King used all but two of her many bisques in her initial break to take a 10-0 lead against husband Joe (the first time they’d played competitively at Blewbury: they’d once met about 25 years ago at Caversham). She got another chance when Joe played the wrong ball, but otherwise his play was solid; once she was out of bisques, the match rapidly slid away from Claire. A score of 18-12 gave Joe a confident overture for the final.

But Peter has only lost one AC match since the start of August (to High Wycombe’s Richard Peperell), wins that included defeating Joe in level play in the Founders Cup. With a two bisque cushion, he had cause for optimism in the 26 point showdown. Joe won the toss and went first. Playing the fourth ball, his first shot with yellow, Peter used a bisque to set up a break that took it round to the peg. Joe had only played each of his balls once and he was 0-12 down. A intelligent leave challenged him to hit in from a distance: when the long roquet missed, he never got another chance.

Remarkably Peter played most of his second break with three balls, only picking up Joe’s black from the yard-line as a pioneer when he reached three back. Using his second bisque to avert a breakdown, he completed his merciless 26-0 rout in little over an hour. So it’s the big triple for Peter, who also won the GC level play Championship. Don’t expect an AC handicap reduction to +1/2 to be much comfort to future opponents. Very well done indeed, Peter.

The Prebendal Manor Trophy is our club’s annual internal AC Handicap competition. After Group stages and then quarter-finals, lasting through the summer, today saw the semi-finals and Finals matches take place in predominantly glorious sunshine.

The two semi-finals took place in the morning. Duncan’s didn’t last long: using his bisques effectively, he completed an 18-0 rout against Joe King. Joe only had 3 shots all match, all of which were long-range. The semi-final on the other court between Peter Allan and David Long was much tighter: a 10-hoop break in the middle of the game swung it in Peter’s favour, as he won 18-15.

In the afternoon, Joe beat David to 3rd-place with a 26-15 victory, finishing the match with a 14-point break (10 hoops, 2 peels, and pegging out both balls).

But all eyes were on the Final, where Duncan had quickly established a 12-0 lead – taking his yellow up to the peg before Peter had scored his first hoop. However, Peter fought back with a resolute 12-hoop break of his own before pegging out Duncan’s yellow and establishing a narrow lead. It was nip and tuck but, with Peter leading 16-15, Duncan got in again and was able to set up an almost-impeccable 3-ball break. Almost. After running his final hoop with the score at 25-16, Duncan then missed a 10′ roquet to give Peter one unexpected last chance. Peter made two hoops and seemed to be getting into his stride, but then disaster struck as his ball stuck in the jaws of 1-back.

Duncan’s ball was 20′ from the peg, but his aim was true… and so he won the Final 26-18, to receive the trophy from Joe (below). Commiserations, Peter, but congratulations, Duncan.