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Match Reports and News 2007
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Full CA report on the Treasurer's Tankard
Louise Bradforth wins Treasurer's Tankard
The Treasurer's Tankard is the 4th of the CA's 'Eights' which are designed to allow the top 8 players in the UK to test themselves against each other over 4 days.
The competition took place at the East Dorset Club in Poole and Bradforth won 10 matches out of 14 beating an all male field in the process. For a full report see the link above.
12th September 2007
Hayes achieves rare 12 hoop 2 ball break
On the final day of the 2007 season Bath Chairman Roger Hayes achieved a very rare croquet feat.
During the final of the club's One Ball competition he completed a full 12 hoop 2 ball break and peg out in one turn. This left his bemused opponent David Perkins with his original 3.5 bisques still standing unused!
7th October 2007
Federation League team reach Semi-Finals
Bath Croquet Club's Federation League team of Nigel Amos, Andrew Willis, Peter Miles, Michael Brown, Roger Bell, Jim Field and Bob Whitaker won 4 out of 4 matches in the league this season.
They therefore qualified for the regional semi-final which was played on Sunday 9th September on netural soil at Swindon. Prospects looked good, but Bath came up against a strong Dyffryn team and lost narrowly by 4 matches to 3.
11th September 2007
Hayes stars in Trophy despite Relegation
After winning promotion to the Parkstone Trophy in 2006 with 4 wins out of 4, Bath's team of Roger Hayes (captain), Daniel Mills, Eugene Chang, Louise Bradforth, Jim Field, and Tony Doughty were narrowly relegated on points difference after winning just 1 match out of 4 in 2007.
In many matches the Bath team were up against team's containing only players with minus handicaps and so it was always going to be a tough season. Nevertheless captain Roger Hayes (with a handicap of -0.5) managed to defeat all his opposite numbers in the various fixtures in which he took part. This is an impressive individual achievement and the players in question were namely David Harrison-Wood (handicap -1.5, East Dorset), Martin Murray (-0.5, Bristol) and Ben Ashwell (-1, Cheltenham)
The team will be confident of bouncing back next season with another promotion out of the Parkstone Qualifer. A number of promising newer players such as Andrew Willis, Nigel Amos and Peter Miles should push themselves into contention in 2008.
1st September 2007
Willis and Amos star at Budleigh
Two of Bath Croquet Club's rising stars took part in a recent week long tournament at Budleigh Salterton in Devon. Andrew Willis and Nigel Amos were lucky enough to enjoy one of the hottest weeks of summer 2007, and both made the most of the fine weather by producing some magnificent performances.
Andrew Willis (handicap 6) won the handicap event outright. He won 4 out of 5 matches in the preliminary stage, and then defeated Jonathon Toye (6) in the quarter-final by 14 points. In the semi-final he overcame Brian Lewis (10) by just 1 point on time. In his final turn, Willis made four hoops playing with only two balls and then peeled his partner ball through one more hoop at a very tight angle to win the game. He won the final convincingly againist John Taylor (9) by 15 points. He was presented with a fine silver cup by the tournament sponsor (a local Estate Agent) and was also rewarded with a handicap reduction to 5.
Nigel Amos reached the quarter finals in the handicap event and ended the tournament with a handicap reduction from 4.5 to 4. In the B class event (level advanced singles for players with handicaps below 5) he won 3 out of 5 matches, and overall won 8 out of 13 in the whole tournament. Amos also achived his Croquet Association Bronze and Silver Awards during the course of the week.
7th August 2007
Roger Hayes reaches National Seniors Final
Bath Chairman Roger Hayes put in a superb performance at the National Seniors Championship held over 3 days at Budleigh Salterton in July.
In the A Class block he won 6 out of 8 matches including wins over two players with handicaps of -1 and three who were -0.5.
Unfortunately, in the best of 3 final he came up against Medway player Dave Mundy (-1) who is ranked 49 in the UK and lost -22, -6. Nevertheless it was an excellent tournament for Hayes who has moved up in the UK ranking from 122 in June to a very healthy 93 now.
22nd July 2007
Andrew Willis wins the 2007 Millennium Cup
Glastonbury Festival-esq weather greeted the 16 intrepid competitors at Bath Croquet Club's flagship handicap tournament on the last weekend of June. The weather had been so bad in the run up to the tourament that one competitor even phoned the tournament secretary to check that the event was going ahead - and he was the cup holder!
Despite the constant drizzle and rain on the first day the standard of play, high spirts and good humour amongst the players was excellent. The players were divided into 4 blocks of roughly even handicaps and played the other 3 members of their block. Performance of the first round came from Bath President and twice winner of the Millennium Cup Bob Whitaker (10). George Woolhouse (4) of Letchworth was dispatched +26 in less than an hour with one bisque standing! Both Andrew Willis (7) of Bath and Chris Donvovan (4.5) of High Wycombe left it very late to beat Rosemary Bradshaw (18) of Fowey in Cornwall and Julie Horsley (14) of Budleigh Salterton respectively by just 3 points. Richard Smith with a handicap of 0.5 was by far the lowest handicap player in the event and also had to come from behind to defeat Bath player David Perkins (11) by 7 points. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds Ian Lewis (4) of Bath (the 2005 winner), Andrew Willis, Chris Donovan (the holder) and Gordon Weir (7) of Cheltenham all showed good form and recorded comfortable wins, ending the day top of their respective blocks with 3 wins out of 3.
Sunday saw tournament manager Daniel Mills arriving 30 minutes late, but thanks to mobile phone technology the playing schedule was communicated to Referee of the Tournament Bob Whitaker before 9-30am! In the most closely fought of the quarter-finals Michael Poole (7) of Bear of Rodborough came through by just 2 points against Gordon Weir. Richard Harris (18) of Ryde on the Isle of Wight had improved during Saturday's play after losing his first game, but he was no match for Ian Lewis in the quarter-finals and went down by 19 points despite having 14 bisques! Andrew Willis beat Julie Horsley by 14 and Chris Donovan overcame Rosemary Bradshaw by just 6 points.
In a closely contested semi-final Ian Lewis eventually defeated Chris Donovan by 9 points. In the other semi-final Andrew Willis was in unstoppable form in beating Michael Poole by 25 and actually scoring hoop 1 for Michael in the process! The final was also a rather one sided affair because Andrew armed with 3 bisques simply went round twice and won by +26, giving Ian only 2 shots. The whole weekend was a magnificent performance by Andrew, who has only been playing croquet for 2 years, and in the process he won his silver award and a handicap reduction to 6.
(Andrew Willis and Ian Lewis are pictured above)
2nd July 2007
Andrew Willis wins Wrest Park Handicap
Sixteen players competed over the long weekend of 18th to 20th May 2007 at Wrest Park. The tournament was run as two blocks of eight, with everyone from one block playing everyone in the other. George Collin suggested a scheme for dealing with time limits by checking how many points had been made per hour and imposing a limit if this number fell below a certain amount, but in the event only one game came close to having a limit applied and in fact was concluded some 20 minutes later. Players seemed to respond to the lack of time limits; play was positive and there were no awkward delays. The lawns were easy paced and the weather fine apart from some rain on Friday.
Poor Colin Hemming suffered a breakdown en route and missed out on the first day’s play, which saw the visitors in dominant form, Nigel Polhill, Ken Pickett and Andrew Willis all with three wins. The high (or should it be low?) point of the day was the appearance of a glider which came across the lawns at about 200 feet, heading west into a stiff breeze, and landed in the field between the park and the A6. Some time later a light plane appeared, landed in the field and towed the glider back into the far corner pointing into the wind. A towrope was attached, the glider pilot climbed back in, his female companion held the wing steady, and the plane then moved off and got the glider up, clearing the A6 by not very much, and they disappeared, leaving the girl on her own in the field. The 51st way to leave your lover?
Saturday saw the local players on better form. Ray Pearcy picked up another win to go with one the previous day. Elaine Newman had two wins and George Collin three. For the visiting players Ken and Nigel faltered, but Andrew continued to be unstoppable, and George Woolhouse was also undefeated on the day.
On Sunday Andrew made sure of things with wins against Owen Bryce and George Collin (who held him up for some time). The nearest Andrew had come to losing a game was in his second game against Steve Jones, who was all set to win until he played the wrong ball after running rover. Steve was a candidate for the shot of the tournament when at one point he ran 4-back from corner 1 while trying to roquet a ball in the middle of the lawn.
Andrew was chased all the way by George Woolhouse, but it turned out some time later that George had been playing off the wrong handicap all weekend! Our thanks to George Collin and John Wheeler for extra mowing and to everyone who turned out to help with the catering, in particular Margaret Marshall who supplemented Saturday’s provisions with chicken drumsticks, pork and a large rum and pineapple cake.
Ray Pearcy and Geoff Strutt earned bronze awards and Ray’s handicap was cut to 20 (he had been playing off 20 in the tournament but had a club handicap of 24) as a result of his three wins. Andrew won 8 matches out of 8 and his handicap was cut
from 9 to 8, and on his present form it will be rather less than that by the end of the season.
(Report by John Bevington of Wrest Park Croquet Club)
21st May 2007
New Season Report 2007
More than 20 members took part in Bath Croquet Club's 2007 opening day at the Bath Recreation Ground on Saturday. The weather was unusually warm and sunny for the time of the year and the club's members are looking forward to a successful season.
This year for the first time in their history the club are entering the Mary Rose which is a prestigious national competition for a team of 4 players.
Bath Croquet Club enjoyed a successful 2006 season and held 3 high profile national tournaments on the Recreation Ground. Star player Eugene Chang was runner up in the Croquet Association's Selectors event, defeating many higher ranked players. The club finished the season with 5 members ranked inside the UK top 200.
(Report courtesy of The Bath Chronicle, www.thisisbath.co.uk)
April 2007
Bob Whitaker and Mike Cope CA Diplomas
Two of Bath Croquet Club's longest serving and hardest working members were recently honoured by the Croquet Association. Both were presented with prestigious CA Diplomas at the CA's recent AGM infront of both the Chairman and the President of the CA. Bob Whitaker and Mike Cope were both nominated by Bath Croquet Club for their hard work and commitment to the club over many years. Congratulations to both of them.
February 2007
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