2010
RESULTS - ASSOCIATION CROQUET |
Wednesday August 18th
SCF League
vs Phyllis Court
(home and away) |
Blewbury beat Phyllis Court 3-1
Away leg:
David Spear lost -1
David Moren-Brown won +13t
DM-B writes: The away leg was played in the most glorious weather and the Phyllis Court
lawns were in excellent condition: it needed very careful "reading"! Our
hosts were good fun, excellent & looked after us in a most generous way.
Home leg:
Deirdre Cochrane(7) beat Brian Bucknell (8) +13
Paul Wolff (14) beat Arthur Cox (18) +9t
Both Blewbury players won on the home courts, even if Paul had to grind out
a win without getting very near finishing in the 3 hours. Deirdre won properly.
At least we had the light until 8:30. Afterwards, the Phyllis Court players
reluctantly declined the hosts' offer of a pint at the Red Lion, pleading
the need for an early night before another match the next day.
Our record of 3 wins and 2 losses this season ensures we will finish 2nd
in the SCF League North behind Oxford University who once again had
an unassailable lead with 4 wins and a draw.
|
Tuesday August 17th
SCF Advanced League
vs Reading
(home) |
Blewbury beat Reading 2-0
Nick Butler (-0.5) beat Steve Woolnough (-0.5) +22
Deirdre Cochrane (7) beat Andrew Myers (6) +4t
Once again Blewbury made full use of their home advantage to overcome an evenly matched Reading team.
The only down side being that Nick failed his triple peel attempt which would have given them a bonus point
and ensured that the trophy return to Blewbury, but with a record of 2 wins and a draw in the
competition we now have to wait for the other results to come in to find out if we have won.
Later information - we did! The Advanced League trophy for season 2010 comes to Blewbury Croquet Club.
|
|
July 31st
Longman Cup
Round 2, vs Reigate
(home) |
The morning looked good, with Blewbury taking a 2-1 lead in to lunch.
But afterwards, everything turned around. Blewbury never got going in the afternoon.
A 2-5 defeat means we have to wait another year to get our hands back on this trophy.
|
Morning
Stuart Parks (6) and David Moren-Brown (20) beat
Jim Knight (20) and John Timberlake (9) +16 David Spear (7) beat Neil Coote(5) +15 Bruce Gallop (16) lost to John Bristow (12) -15
|
Afternoon
Stuart Parks lost to Neil Coote -24 David Spear lost to John Timberlake -14 David Moren-Brown lost to John Bristow -15 Bruce Gallop lost to Jim Knight -3
|
|
Tuesday August 3rd
SCF Advanced League
vs Aldermaston
(away) |
Blewbury drew 1-1 with Aldermaston
Nick Butler (-0.5) beat John McMordie (0.5) +1
Avril Rangoni-Machiavelli (7) lost to Bob Harris (1.5) -12
The Blewbury pair had to contend with some very tricky lawn conditions at Aldermaston, and as a result
both started slowly but eventually worked their way back into their games. Avril put up a brave fight against
a much better opponent who finally pegged out just as time was called. Nick's was an extemely eventful
game. After John had failed a triple attempt with one peel done, Nick hit in and tried to peg him out but
realised just before the peg-out that he had forgotten to peel rover! Nothing was made from the
subsequent contact but both had a couple of half chances to finish before John got round but missed his
4 yard peg-out by a whisker taking one ball off. Nick then hit the 10 yard lift shot and finished from hoop 5
to steal the game by a single point.
|
Wednesday July 28th
SCF Advanced League
vs Hamptworth
(home) |
Blewbury beat Hamptworth 2-0
Nick Butler (-0.5) beat Richard Dickson (-0.5) +16
David Spear (7) beat Richard Stevens (6) +8
Home advantage was all that separated these two evenly matched teams with the visitors sometimes
struggling to judge the pace of croquet shots on lawns much slower then they are used to. After a few
scares Blewbury ran out comfortable winners, contriving to both peg out within 10 seconds of each other!
|
Wednesday July 21st
SCF League
vs Harwell
(all at home) |
Another warm, sunny evening, with a marked breeze. Scores, as usual with Blewbury players first:
Nick Butler (-0.5) beat Gerald Mitchell (6) +12
Paul Wolff (14) beat Helen Walker (18) +1 on time
Alan Stubbs (16) lost to Steve Fisher (20) -7 on time
David Moren-Brown (20) beat Kevin Colton (20) +14 on time.
In their game, Nick ran out a clear winner over former club member Gerald. The rest of us
seemed to struggle to make progress, and all the remaining three games went to time.
But it was a 3-1 win for Blewbury, which brought our league performance for the season
so far up to a very middling tally of played 4, won 2, lost 2.
|
Thursday July 8th
SCF League
vs Eynsham
(away leg) |
A fightback, with honours even on the evening (is that really what evening means?).
Paul Wolff (14) beat Stephen Wright (2.5) +10
Bruce Gallop (16) lost to David Lockett (8) -6 on time.
We played double-banked on one Eynsham court, while their non-playing players enjoyed a club
evening on the other one. They aren't provided with artifical irrigation, so the court
was markedly faster than our home lawns at Blewbury, while a handful of spectators
paid close attention to the state of play. The end result was, overall, a 1-3 loss for Blewbury.
The final blow is that it was then too late for us to stay on for a pint in one of Eynsham's many pubs.
Eynsham solved that for next year by proposing a Saturday morning match, all home or all away,
the venue alternating in subsequent years. We thought that sounded good.
|
Wednesday July 7th
SCF League
vs Eynsham
(home leg) |
A bit of a setback, with both Eynsham players overcoming their Blewbury opponents.
Nick Butler lost -26
Deirdre Cochrane lost -16
A 0-2 deficit to make up the next day...
|
June 30th
SCF League
vs High Wycombe
(home leg) |
A win for Blewbury on the evening and overall.
Paul Wolff (14) beat Giles Thorman (10) +13
Bruce Gallop (16) beat Michael Bowker (14) +8
Bruce and Paul on their separate courts each played red and yellow.
Each reached the peg playing yellow, and each initially failed to peg out
their red ball, but succeeded with the yellow, and walked off their
respective court holding a yellow ball in one hand, simultaneously, before
catching sight of the other. Very droll. After some nervous one-ball
play, we each managed to finish and seal our win.
|
June 29th
SCF League
vs High Wycombe
(away leg) |
An improvement in our second league match. On a fine, very warm and dry evening,
double-banked on a single three-quarter sized court which played very fast, we won one
game within the time limit and lost the other narrowly, in a sudden-death ending
after the players were level after time at the expiry of the extension period.
David Spear (8) beat Chris Donovan (?) +10
David Moren-Brown (20) lost to Geoff Youd (?) -1 on time
Still all to play for in the following evening's home leg...
|
June 27th
Longman Cup
Round 1, vs Woking
(home) |
The morning started very well, with a comfortable and fairly quick win for Blewbury in the doubles game.
The two singles were harder fought, but we still took a 3-0 lead to lunch in the Red Lion.
The afternoon was a different matter, Paul's going into sudden death extra time as both
players were level at the end of the regular extension period. Two wins apiece
in the afternoon still left us a happy Blewbury team.
This 5-2 win takes us into Round 2, against Reigate.
|
Morning
David Spear (8) and Paul Wolff (14) beat Bill Wood-Roe (6) and Bernard Jones (6) +24 Deirdre Cochrane (7) beat Chris Gay (9) +9 Bruce Gallop (18) beat Michael Holland (8) +22
|
Afternoon
Deirdre Cochrane lost to Bill Wood-Roe -4 David Spear beat Bernard Jones +24 Paul Wolff lost to Michael Holland -1 on time Bruce Gallop beat Chris Gay +25
|
|
May 15th
SCF League vs
Oxford University(away) |
The opening match of the season, and Blewbury were only able to field a reduced team of three.
Perhaps we also hadn't really warmed up this early in the season. Results:
Harry Fisher (4) beat David Spear (8) +5
Stephan Hoyemsuol (14) beat Paul Wolff (14) +4 on time
Seb Pike (20) beat David Moren-Brown (20) +11 on time
Overall, a 4-0 defeat. As usual, the Oxford team generously took us to an enjoyable
lunch afterwards in the pub of the moment, which this time was the Eagle and Child.
|
2010 RESULTS - GOLF CROQUET |
Sunday May 16th
Spring Doubles
|
Four hardy pairs
turned out on a damp, breezy and very cool Sunday morning to play in this first tournament of the club's own season.
After two rounds, the players were obliged to retire to the clubhouse for hot coffee and tea,
sandwiches, and cake. After the third round, Jim and Prue having won all their games were undeniably worthy
winners of the tournament.
|
|
Wins
|
M & DE
|
P & JW
|
JB & PA
|
BG & ST
|
Mike & Diana Elliott
|
1
|
|
7-3
|
4-7
|
5-7
|
Paul & June Wolff
|
0
|
3-7
|
|
4-7
|
5-7
|
Jim Bartlett & Prue Adams
|
3
|
7-4
|
7-4
|
|
7-6
|
Bruce Gallop & Susan Tilbrook
|
2
|
7-5
|
7-5
|
6-7
|
|
|
