CROQUET NEWS:  Mike's Bright Future

28 July 2006
in the Sidmouth Herald, Sidmouth, Devon, England , UK

Mike Taylor and Peter Dart.

Twelve enthusiastic low handicap players began their tournament in a cool sea mist on Friday.

They were divided into two blocks of six, each player playing all the others in their block. One-ball is a good competitive game of Association croquet played with one ball each instead of two, using the usual Association sequence of roquet, croquet and continuation shot.

However, with only two balls on the lawn, a mistake can prove very costly as one's opponent can be left with an easy chance to get into the game. Each game lasts a maximum of 30 minutes, depending how closely it is fought, so by lunch time the block winners had been established.

In the afternoon sun each semi-final was played between the winner of one block against the runner-up of the other. Peter Hills (Block B runner-up) beat Tony Dustan-Smith (Block A winner) by three hoop points, while Block B winner David Temple won the other semi by four points over Block A runner-up Sheila Blenkinsop.

The final between Peter and David was a close fought game with many successful roquets, enabling both players to make progress through their own hoops while putting their opponent in a far corner of the lawn away from the hoop they needed to run. In a thrilling finish, with both players for the peg, David Temple just managed to peg out first.....fortunately only in the croquet sense!

On a lovely day - thankfully not as hot as previous ones - Peter Hills took on the task of managing the the One Ball Croquet Tournament for Higher Handicap (16+) players.

Twenty players were split into four blocks of five, the top two in each block going through to the quarter finals.

Some interesting quarter and semi-final games led to losing semi-finalists Ann Ractliffe and Martin McInerney placed equal third.

The final was between one of the most senior and respected club members, Peter Dart, and promising newcomer Mike Taylor, who only learnt the game three months ago. With the help of a remarkable hoop run through Rover from the far corner of the lawn, and without getting round to using the two bisques (free turns) to which he was entitled, Mike pulled off an easy victory.

Well done, Mike - you seem to have a bright future in the game!