Maui Croquet Club CROQUET NEWS:  Solomon Trophy Won by Great Britain

World Rankings as of 13 March 2005
  Rank   Player
  #1   Great Britain Robert Fulford (Eng)
  #15   Great Britain Ian Lines (Eng)
  #17   Great Britain Matthew Burrow (Jer)
  #18   Great Britain John Gibbons (Eng)
  #20   United States Damon Bidencope (NC)
  #22   Great Britain James Death (Eng)
  #24   Great Britain Stephen Mulliner (Eng)
  #39   United States Jerry Stark (CA)
  #48   United States Bob Cherry (NC)
  #84   United States Danny Huneycutt (NC)
  #97   United States Curtis Drake (KY)
  #103   United States Jeff Soo (NC)

25-27 March 2005
Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, California, USA
By Leo Nikora
Commentary by Jeff Soo
Scores by Chris Williams at Croquet Records

 
Death, Gibbons, Lines
Mulliner, Fulford, Burrow 		 

Great Britain remained undefeated winning the 16th Solomon Trophy 14-7 over the United States of America. USA was captained by Jerry Stark of California, while half the team was from North Carolina. GB was captained by Robert Fulford of England.

Player Jeff Soo wrote, "The 2005 Solomon Trophy is the first time a US team has led or stayed even with GB through the event's first four rounds. Tied 7-all (with GB leading in the pegged-down doubles match) at the start of the final day, the Americans had a real chance of winning the test match for the first time ever. But the Brits quashed that hope quickly and completely, winning all seven of the remaining matches. Thus, despite the strong start, USA did not even equal their high-water mark of eight wins, achieved in 2002."


  Fulford Burrow Mulliner Gibbons Death Lines
Stark -7, -16sxp -17tp, +25, +26tp        
Drake +20tp, +20tp -17, -26tp        
Bidencope     -26tp, +25, -13tp -26tp, -17    
Cherry     +20, +24tp -26tp, -17tp    
Soo         -25tp, +15tp, -12tpo +26, -11tpo, -26tp
Huneycutt         -15, -26tp -26, -26tp

  Fulford & Lines Mulliner & Death Burrow & Gibbons
Stark & Drake +17tp(D), -17tp(L), +14tp(S) +26tp(S), +14otp(M) +4tp(S), -20tp(G) -18
Bidencope & Cherry -17tp(F), -26 -15tp(D), -10 -26tp(G),-11tp(B)
Soo & Huneycutt -14, -5tpo(F) +17, +20 -8, +25, +26

Stark & Drake v Fulford & Lines match went 7 turn, 6 turn and 8 turn. In the first game one lift was missed, in the second game there were no errors, and in the third game there was one mistake, when Lines stuffed the third hoop and one missed lift by Fulford.

In the Stark & Drake v Mulliner & Death match, the first game Mulliner failed to get started after which Drake hit in from H2 to H4 went to 4B, Death declined the lift shooting at a half ball toward the peg and missed. Stark finished with a triple. In the second game Mulliner set the supershot, Stark hit and crossed wired at the peg, Death shot near Stark leaving Drake a double from C1. Drake hit and ran to 4B, Mulliner hit and TPO'd Drake. Stark set a squeeze at H1, Mulliner went to C4, Stark went through H1 to the north boundary hit Death and was a bit short on the roll and missed the severly angled hoop staying almost on one upright. Death joined Mulliner in C4, Stark went softly in the jaws of H2. Death took off from Mulliner and went 3-4 yards north of H2, he missed Stark bouncing toward the west boundary, Stark scored H2 and just snicked Death's ball. A good roll to H3 and the game was finished.

Soo & Huneycutt v Burrow & Gibbons. Game 1 was scrappy, with several errors. Huneycutt had the first nine hoops, but Soo could never put together a clean turn. Gibbons eventually made it round to the peg with a good leave, and Burrow finished. Soo had the first break in game 2, set up by Huneycutt with a turn 3 roquet of a short Duffer tice. A few turns later Huneycutt went round with no peels to a B spread, leaving a wide join. Another missed lift, but Soo failed to finish. Soo eventually two-balled the final three hoops, with an opponent ball near corner I, but missed a long peg-out. Gibbons broke down at 2, Huneycutt took a gentle shot at the peg, which missed, but left Gibbons and Burrow with effectively no shot. In game 3 Huneycutt went round fourth turn, Gibbons missed the long lift, Soo broke down at 2 (off partner). Burrow cornered, Soo set a rush at 2, Gibbons played a wide join. Soo went round, Burrow missed the short lift, and Huneycutt finished. Quite a contrast to Curtis and Jerry's world-class play, but a win nonetheless and a good debut for Huneycutt.

Drake v Fulford. Drake performed magnificently against the world #1 Fulford. He did make one error in the match, croqueting a ball off the lawn while making his 4-back leave in game 1. Fulford went to 1-back with a defensive leave, peeling Drake through 1 and leaving a wide join in corner III. Drake hit the 35-yarder, took off to the corner ball, getting a good rush to his hoop. He then organized a break and a delayed-triple finish. In game 2 Drake again had the first break, this time with a proper leave. Fulford hit the lift and went round to 1-back, as usual peeling Drake to 2. He again attempted a defensive leave, but didn't quite get his ball into the jaws of 3 as he intended. Drake hit another "tea-lady" shot and finished with a standard triple.

Stark v Fulford. The best turn of the day was Robert Fulford's sextuple peel. As it happened, the test match was already decided at that point. But GB's captain put on a crowd-pleasing performance, essentially accomplishing everything he wanted on the turn, peeling 1b after 2, 2b before 4, 3b before 5, 4b (on a rush peel) before 2b, penult before 3b, and finishing with a straight rover peel from a few inches in front of the hoop.

Discussion of strategy in Stark & Drake v Mulliner & Death.

Nick Parish Fresh from Chris Clarke's (excellent) coaching course, where we did a lot on pegged-out endings, I've been wondering about the pegged out match in the Solomon.

With the wise benefit of hindsight, do the experts agree with the decision of the England pair to take off from C4 to the ball in the jaws of H2? Presumably the idea is to take the rush down to H1 and make that, but with partner presumably very close to C4, isn't it still going to be very difficult to get a game-winning break together from there? And the long take-off from C4 to north of H2 isn't without its dangers either - not only what actually happened, but also partner could go off the lawn or you could finish in a position where the shot on the jawsed ball was limited.

Another option would presumably be to set up a trap in C4 with a rush to C1 - which would leave Stark at least a 30-yarder after running H2. Or perhaps do the same in C1 (albeit leaving a shorter shot)?

Interested to hear the views of others.
Robert Fulford Conditions were exceptionally easy so wasn't outrageous to think James might finish taking off from corner 4.

Thought the best play for James and Stephen immediately after Jerry's miss was for James to deliberately miss corner 4 on the right to give Stephen a rush to corner 1 rather than shooting. Now if Jerry plays into hoop 2 Stephen rushes James's ball to between 1 and the south boundary and then props his own ball on the front of hoop 1 so it can't be rushed to hoop 3.
Stephen Mulliner ...which was exactly what we thought at the time. The ball in 2 provides a guaranteed rush in directional terms to 1 and, with partner in 4, there is a well-worn path to a 3-ball break (make 1 with control, rush to 2, make 2 with a rush to 3, get a forward rush after 3, bang that to the S boundary anywhere E of the 3-4 line, take off behind the C4 ball and rush it to the E of 4, stop-shotting it to 5 etc etc.

2nd prize is at least depriving Jerry of hoop 2 so he has no double squeeze if he gets in again.

However, if we hold back by one tempo to give James the rush to hoop 1 from near C1, Jerry gets to run 2 and thus resurrects the double squeeze threat. He can go to C2, C3 or the E end of A-baulk, all of which offer some degree of threat to us.

Given how James had shot in other games, his miss was low probability and Jerry only just shook the atoms when he roqueted James.