Croquet England AC Inter-Club Championship

Sussex County secured another tight win, this time over Bristol, in the AC Inter-Club Championship to earn a place in the semi-finals for only the third time this century, and the first time since 2008.

The match went to the wire. With the games scores standing at 3-2 to Southwick, Bristol’s David Goacher embarked on a triple peel against Southwick’s Dom Nunns, always looking under control.

Meanwhile on the adjacent lawn, the innings was exchanging hands multiple times between Southwick’s Paul Castell and Bristol’s Dom Aarvold. As David was lining up his short range peg out, Paul clattered into partner while trying to get his own rush to the peg. Moments after David levelled the match at 3-3, Paul played his 5 yard peg out … and missed. But Dom narrowly missed his hit in, and Paul clinched the fourth point for Sussex.

Congratulations to the Sussex team of Dom Nunns, Gabrielle Higgins, Tudor Jenkins and Paul Castell. Commiserations to the Bristol team of David Goacher, Dave Kibble, Dom Aarvold and especially Richard M Smith who didn’t take croquet all day.

And huge thanks to High Wycombe Croquet Club for sacrificing a weekly roll-up session to host us, offering lawns that were a delight to play on, exemplary hospitality, and perfect weather to boot.

Gabrielle Higgins

Croquet South East U League: Sussex County v Compton

Sussex County had another excellent win today in the U league, beating Compton 6-1.

We only lost the doubles and there were some excellent wins by the team comprising Steve Chapman, Deborah Marcus, Simon Fenn-Tye and Nigel Billingham.

That’s 4 wins out of 4 in this year's competition which puts us in a strong position to once again win the Croquet South East U league.

Nigel Billingham

Sussex and Compton teams

CqE Secretary's Shield Competition

Sussex County played Caversham in the semi-final of the Secretary's Shield (a Croquet England competition for last season's winners of each region's AC handicap league) on Sunday 13th July.

Caversham, in contrast to Sussex County, is a one-lawn club and so the match was played at Southwick. All of Sussex's players were giving bisques to their opposite number which gave rise to fears of banditry which were largely unfounded.

David Gillett and Robyn Clark lost the doubles by one point and Steve Chapman also lost but Simon Fenn-Tye kept Sussex in touch at lunchtime.

Wins for Simon and Robyn and a loss for David made the score 3-3. Steve's game went to extra time and he scored to put Sussex County into the final against either Peterborough on Middlesbrough.

David Gillett

U league Match versus Surbiton

Our team travelled to Surbiton today for our third U league fixture.

Thankfully temperatures were lower but strong winds made for less than ideal playing conditions.

The morning session saw us ahead 2-1 , with both David Gillett and Nigel Billingham wining their respective singles matches. We won the afternoon session 3-1 , with David narrowly losing a tight match.

Overall a 5-2 win against tough opposition. So far it’s 3 wins out of 3 for the club's U league squad. Compton up next!

Nigel Billingham