This event attracted 15 entries – unfortunately Carol Jamieson had a problem with her shoulder and had to drop out rather early on. The rest played a Swiss with six rounds. It was slightly disappointing that the entrants were all local, with High Wycombe as the most distant club represented.
Deirdre Cochrane provided an excellent lunch and the rounds continued.
Duncan Sinclair (Blewbury) won all six games and so won the tournament. David Long (Blewbury) was just behind with five games and then Rick Lilley (Phyllis Court) with four.
Duncan received the Armada trophy which he will keep for the year and yet another Blewbury glass to add to his growing collection.
Ryde LTCC had the pleasure of hosting this doubles competition on a lovely sunny day with a gentle breeze. The competition was contested by 8 pairs, four from the “North Island” and four from the Isle of Wight (“South Island”). Combined handicaps varied from the allowed minimum of 6 up to 24. The preliminary rounds consisted of two blocks of four, North & South, all-play-all.
These results determined seeding for the Knockout rounds, which took place after lunch. Unexpectedly the top seeds both fell at the first hurdle, leaving the way clear for a North v South final between the two second seeds Johannes & Mark Hamann (East Dorset) and Joan Grove & Jim O’Keeffe (RLTCC). A close final ended with a 7 – 5 victory for the oldest pair in the competition, Joan & Jim.
The A-Level league has been won by High Wycombe. They had the same points as Aldermaston and had won the same number of games but High Wycombe won the match against Aldermaston. The B-Level league has been won by Hamptworth. The runner up was Oxford University with the same number of points but less games. The Northern Handicap league has been won by High Wycombe with Caversham as runner up and the Southern Handicap league has been won by Ryde with three wins and a draw. The second place goes to Winchester with the same number of points and games as Hamptworth but Winchester won the match between the two teams. There is one result yet to report between the two lowest placed teams: Littleton and Aldermaston. The final, between North and South, was played at Blewbury on Sunday 24th October and was won by Ryde. The Short Croquet league was only contested by two teams. Blewbury won. Unfortunately neither club was able to send a team to the national finals because of the rather extreme handicap limitations. It is expected that these restrictions will be eased next year.
After an enforced one year delay, the SCF Armada Trophy tournament took place at Winchester CC on 15 June. Previously an AC doubles event, the Armada has been re-cast as an AC “one-ball” tournament with the aim of attracting more players.
Sixteen players from nine clubs participated, ranging from experienced players to “first-timers” at this variant of AC. In a busy day of five rounds of handicap one-ball in “Swiss” format one player won all his matches – five out of five and so became the first winner of the re-born Armada: Chris Pegrum (h’cap 12) from Caversham CC is a recent graduate of Lincoln College, Oxford but has learned his croquet under College auspices rather than as a member of OUACC. He will be changing jobs shortly and moving to Amersham, so will come within the orbit of High Wycombe CC – a talent to be watched!
Presentation by Brian Jamieson
The winner, Chris Pegrum
The runner-up with 4/5 wins was Ian Harrison (-2) of Basingstoke and Winchester who was pipped at the peg by a stunning 12 yard peg shot by Glynis Hassell (15) of Dogmersfield and Winchester. Just to prove that it was not a fluke, Glynis repeated the feat in her following game against Artur Da Costa (10) on the other court!
The weather was glorious and the day was greatly enjoyed by all the participants, including those for whom it was a fairly steep learning curve. Hopefully, Armada one-ball is here to stay.
This event was held on the 13th April at Hamptworh in fine, sunny but chilly weather.
It was organised as two blocks of seven competing for the annual GC Champion of Champions Trophy on the 14th April at Hamptworth playing seven point handicap games.. These were winners or representatives of their club handicap GC competitions.
The final had two players from Hamptworth both of whom had 5 wins. Tim O’Donnell beat Dudley Blundell at the golden hoop.
Tim O’Donnell receiving his trophy from Richard Jenkins
Twelve players competed for the annual Champion of Champions Tropy on the 14th April at Hamptworth. These were winners or representatives of their club handicap AC competitions. They played four rounds of 14-point games on an unusually cold day. Ten clubs were represented with handicaps ranging from one to fourteen .
Congratulations to Blewbury for providing the winner in Peter Allan. Peter also won the last time, in 2019 though on that occasion as the Harwell champion. Roger Barnacle was the runner up.
Peter Allan receiving his trophy from Richard Peperell
The Handicap league North vs South final was played on Sunday 18th October at Hamptworth between Hamptworth and Phyllis Court.
This turned out to be an incredibly exciting match.
In game one, Richard Peperell (PC) played Chris Weedon (H). Their game went to +1 on time with Richard edging it on a golden hoop. Meanwhile in game two between Raghu Iyer (PC) and Nick Beard (H) a similar battle ended +1 to Nick on golden hoop.
Hamptworth 1 – Phyllis Court 1
In the deciding game, Chris Roberts (PC) and Tim O’Donnell (H) slugged it out. It could have gone either way but eventually Tim and Hamptworth prevailed.
Winner: Hamptworth was declared the overall winner of the SCF 2020 Handicap League.
Socially distanced presentation of the cup!!
Thank you to Ann Beard for the photos marking the event.
