Club

Croquet

Wrest Park

Inter Club Championship


22 September     v Nottingham B (away)     Lost 1-6

Bryan Harral (1) and Rod Ashwell (-½) lost to Paddy Chapman (-2½) and Miranda Chapman (-1½) -26

George Collin (1½) lost to Richard Huxley (0) -5

John Bevington (1) lost to Ailsa Lines (-½) -11

Bryan Harral lost to Paddy Chapman -11TP

Rod Ashwell lost to Miranda Chapman -19

George Collin lost to Ailsa Lines -24

John Bevington beat Richard Huxley +17

It may have been the B team but it was certainly A class, and the result was rather to be expected. The sun shone and the lawns had held up well to rain the day before. In the doubles Bryan hit the tice but then slightly overdid the take-off to the opponents on the East boundary, and that was that. George came off worst in a tight pegged-out ending against Richard, and even though John eventually managed to get a ball round Ailsa hit in when it mattered, so we were 0-3 down at lunch.

Rather than eat at the club we were treated to an excellent lunch at a nearby pub. Byan and Rod did at least get some play in their singles but were overcome by Paddy’s TP and Miranda’s accuracy. George was unable to hit in, and it was left to John to prevent the whitewash when he had a straightforward finish from 4-back and peg after Richard failed to get through 4-back off his partner ball. Never mind, it was fun while it lasted.


13 July    v Sussex County (home)     Won 7-0

Bryan Harral (1) and JohnBevington (1) beat Alan Cottle (-½) and Paul Castell (0) +6

Rod Ashwell (0) beat Luc Berthouze (2) +16

George Collin (2) beat John Taylor (2½) +15

Bryan Harral beat Alan Cottle +16

John Bevington beat Paul Castell +21

Rod Ashwell beat John Taylor +10

George Collin beat Luc Berthouze +13

This should really have been an away match, but in making the arrangements reference had been made to the archive material on the CA website, which erroneously had Sussex County as the home team in the club’s previous encounter in 2010!

After Rod and George had won their singles Bryan and John struggled to finish off the doubles. John missed the pegout but his own ball ran onto the peg, leaving Bryan on his own while Paul was creeping round. The game eventually had to be paused while we had lunch – another feast from Sharman Harral with help from the Wine Society. Shortly afterwards Bryan hit in to finish, so we were three up with four to play.

John then sealed the match with a quick win against Paul. Bryan and George completed their wins and we then waited for Rod who was determined to finish in spite of already being two hours late for an engagement.


16 June    v Nottingham (home)     Won 4-3

Rod Ashwell (0) and Howard Bottomley (½) lost to James Death (-2) and Richard White (-1) -21

John Bevington (1) beat Martin Beacon (2) +19

George Collin (2) beat Paul Swaffield (-1) +1

Rod Ashwell lost to James Death -20

Howard Bottomley beat Richard White +22

John Bevington lost to Paul Swaffield -15

George Collin beat Martin Beacon +3

The match got under way at about 11am in gusty conditions. In the doubles Richard went to 4-back and there was the odd error and a few hoops for Wrest Park before James finished with a double peel and all four clips in his pocket. John had a steady win against Martin, but George’s game had the spectators reaching for steadying drinks before he pegged out.

Play resumed after lunch at about 3.30, whereupon James did all the peels of a sextuple but failed the pegout, winning shortly afterwards. However Howard found his form, quickly had one ball round and got the first peel of a triple in before beating Richard. John then lost to Paul which left the match poised at 3-3.

The outcome depended on George’s game against Martin, which swung to and fro before George won the race to peg out the opponent’s rover ball and finally finished after setting up a wired rush to the peg with Martin having no shot.

This has to go down as one of the club’s best wins of recent years, and our reward is a trip to Southwick to play Sussex County in the next round.





Howard, James and Paul look on from a safe distance as the deciding game reaches a climax.

© Wrest Park Croquet Club