The Sussex open championships were held this weekend. We had an entry of 22 which was an awkward number to deal with But the weather was fine and there close fought matches in all of the blocks.

On the Saturday the tournament was divided into four blocks two having 6 players and two having 5 players. The format allowed the top four in each block to progress to the first round of the knockout on Saturday afternoon which was a single 19 point game.

The local interest saw Liz Farrow, Richard Brooks, Ben Harwood, Jonathan Isaacs and Robin Wootton progress into the last 16.

On the Sunday the quarter final - again a 19 point match - saw Richard Brooks and Ben Harwood progress to the last 8. Richard played an old club member Neil Humphreys and won,  putting him into the Semi Final.

Ben had a very close match with the eventual winner of the tournament Miraslav Havlik, Miraslav winning through by 10 hoops to 8.

The semi final saw Richard against Andrew Hobbs and losing a best of three match 5-7 7-3-6-7.

The final, another close match, saw Miraslav beat Andrew Hobbs 7-6 7-6. The playoff for 3rd and forth places Alex Wood beat Richard Brooks 7-6.

Elsewhere, the Shield for positions 9- 16 was won by Richard Gardiner who beat Stephen Custance-Baker 7-3, 7-5 The play off for the Shield was won by Liz Farrow who beat Gerald O Brien 10-8.

The Plate which was for players who did not qualify for the Championship Knockout was won by Paul Green who won all 4 of his block matches.

Sussex Champion Miroslav Havlik

Andrew Hobbs, runner-up

Colin Britt, Bowl winner

Richard Gardiner, Shield winner

Paul Green, Plate winner

Thanks to Roger Sutton for managing the competition and to Andrew Fall for photos

Full results

Championship Knockout

3rd-4th place playoff

Alex Wood beat Richard Brooks 7-6

Shield Knockout

Shield playoff

Liz Farrow beat Gerald O'Brien 10-8

Bowl Knockout

Saucer Knockout

How to enjoy yourself and play croquet

Video by Bill Arliss

GC Open Singles 30th August 2025

After the long hot summer the weather did not look particularly promising for the singles competition on Saturday. In the end we managed to get through event without any disruptions. Just an odd light shower.

There were four divisions with six players each so everybody only had to play five games each.

The first division, Division A, had a clear winner with Tony Jolly winning all his 5 games. With the other divisions things were a little closer.

Division B had four players with three wins each and Francis Ainley and Andrew Fall each had net hoops of +4. Andrew had however beaten Francis so was declared the winner of the division.

Division C was again decided on net hoops with five players having three wins each. Joanne Crosby was the winner on +9 against Phil Harrison with +5.

Tim Bick came out the winner of Division D with four wins after a last game decider which went to the Golden Hoop.

We managed to get away before the rain set in around 4pm.

Andrew Stewart

Thanks to Andrew for managing the event

Tony Jolly

Andrew Fall

Jo Crosby

Tim Bick

Full results

Despite a valiant effort, the Southwick underdogs could not overcome the mighty Surbiton team of Samir Patel, Stephen Mulliner, Phil Eardley and Adam Swinton in the semi-final of the AC Interclub Championship. With a team including the current numbers 4 and 8 in the world, whose combined grade was nearly a thousand points more than the Southwick team of Dom Nunns, Gabrielle Higgins, Mark Fawcett and Paul Castell, Surbiton’s 6-1 victory was perhaps not entirely unpredictable.

It was nonetheless an enjoyable day, with the weather at least comfortably bettering the forecast. Samir and Stephen making swift work of all their matches, completing triple peels in all three with Dom and Gabrielle making a mere 2 hoops between them, allowed Stephen an opportunity to introduce Samir, Dom and Gabrielle to Peel Croquet, a variant of AC with much greater interactivity requiring much more accurate and adventurous play and offering much more tactical complexity. And a team of novice caterers have learned that if everyone brings a little extra ‘just in case’ you will end up with far too much food, so we were well fed.

We wish Surbiton the very best of luck in the final against Bowdon.

Gabrielle Higgins

Croquet South East GC Level Play League Sussex County v Compton

On 28th August Sussex County played the last of their four 2025 fixtures in the Croquet South East GC Level Play League which was a home match against Compton Croquet Club

The prolonged summer dry spell had just decided to come to an end on that very day, making it one of those days when thoughts of ‘should or should not additional clothing be added to the kit bag’ came into reckoning. Those who took heed of the forecast were right to do so as, at the very moment the first ball was struck, the rain began to fall. A quick scramble for waterproofs was made by the majority and yet, after ten minutes, the sun was shining once again.

Play was like that for the most of the morning with players disappearing into the courtside huts or under nearby trees for brief spells when the rain just got too much and at other times, shedding their outer layers to enjoy the welcome periods of sunshine.

This Hokey-Cokey style of play clearly suited the Sussex County team who found themselves 3-0 up at lunchtime without dropping a single game.

The rain passed through during lunchtime making play in the afternoon far more consistent in terms of wardrobe choices. Sussex County continued to play strongly and won three of the four afternoon Singles matches making the overall result 6-1 to the home side.

In the excitement of achieving this result, which made it four wins out of four in this league, a team photograph was completely forgotten! However, well done to Brian Aikens, David Dickins, Ben Harwood and Morgan Case for their victory in this fixture and to all players who have represented us in this league over the 2025 season.

Brian Aikens

The entry form for one day competitions is currently broken. I will fix it as soon as possible.

If you want to enter a competition, please email the webmaster.

The system is now working normally.

Sussex County Annual Tournament 26-27 August 2025

24 players from across the country (and indeed, the world, as we welcomed back Dennis Bulloch from New Zealand) gathered for the annual AC tournament. Sufficient players this year for the three classes of advanced level play in near perfect weather for croquet.

The August dry conditions had made the hoops tough to run and a lot of games went to time as a result; there were no recorded peels. An easy schedule of five games over the two days meant a fairly relaxed competition with time to chat between games.

Thanks to Linda Gavigan, aided by Rosemary Faulkner, Robyn Clark for the excellent BBQ which was very popular with the players and did a very good trade.

With 8 players in each of the three classes, the format for each was the same: each class was divided into two blocks of four; the top two players in each block played semi- and final for the trophy and the lower two played in a notional plate knockout, so the class was to be played out to all 8 places. In practice, the non-championship players preferred to play someone they hadn't already met in the last round so there was a general mix-up rather than a strict order.

The A Class trophy, the Abbbey Challenge Cup, was won by Thomas Cullis who beat Antipodean visitor Dennis Bulloch in a tight match which ended +2. Thomas was previously a club member and has now returned so we welcome him back.

The B Class trophy, the Scott Cup, was won by Simon Turner who beat David Houston by one point in the final. David had won all his games in his block, whereas Simon, in the same block, had only one win and got through on net hoops (the remaining three players all on 1 win were not resolvable by matches won between them). Simon met the winner of the other block Tony Elliott in the semi-final and beat him, setting up the very close final victory.

The C Class tropy, the Daldy Cup, was won by up-and-coming Sussex member David Dickins. Both David and his opponent, Adam Newbould, had won all their games in their blocks; Adam was probably favourite to win but was convincingly beaten +12. 

It was a pleasure to manage such a friendly group of players and I hope to see everyone back again for next year's competition.

John Low
Manager

Thomas Cullis with the Abbey Challenge Cup

Simon Turner with the Scott Cup

David Dickins with the Daldy Cup

Full results

Class A

Knockout

3rd-4th playoff: Paul Castell beat Jonathan Isaacs +13

Class A 'Plate'

Class B

Knockout

Class B 'Plate'

Class C

Knockout

Class C 3rd-4th Playoff: David Gillett beat Chris Williamson +2

Class C 'Plate'

There’s just over two weeks to go until our fundraising day for Prostate Cancer UK on 13th September, 1pm- 5pm.  Please turn up at any time.

Last Saturday, we were trying out some of the fun and games!  How many shots will it take you to get your ball around the obstacle course? 

How many skittles can you knock over?

There’s many other activities including a raffle.  So please bring your mallet, some cash for raffle tickets and a sense of humour!  The bar will be open and tea and cake served from 3pm.  Donations for the raffle should be left in the labelled box in the veranda room (although it has at times made its way into the committee room!).  

If you’re unable to make it, please donate via our Just Giving page:

www.justgiving.com/page/sussexcountycroquetclub 

We look forward to seeing you on 13th!  Thank you for your support. 

Jo and team. 

R league v Dulwich

The hot morning in London ended with Sussex County 3-0 up. Phil Harrison and Jo Crosby won a tight doubles match in 3 games (7-6,6-7,7-3), Mark Barnham also a tight singles in 3 (5-7,7-5, 7-4), with Kathy McColgan cruising her morning singles match.

The afternoon brought two straightforward wins for Mark and Kathy, a defeat for Jo (who gets the wooden spoon!), and a brilliant win for Phil who played magnificently for a 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 win.

So the overall result was 6-1 to SCCC. A great team effort. Now we wait on other results to see if we’ve won the R league.

Jo Crosby

AC matches to follow

The AC Inter-Club for Federation Teams (Secretary's Shield) 2025

This event is for those teams who won their Federation Handicap AC league in 2024. Our team won the Croquet SouthEast U league and so are able to take part.

Sussex County Croquet Club are now through to the final against Peterborough and our team of 4 will be travelling to a neutral halfway venue at Watford on 23rd September.

The team will be Gabrielle Higgins, Jonathan Isaacs, Simon Fenn -Tye and David Dickins. We expect Peterborough to put out a very strong team as well so it should be a good, close match.

AC Interclub semi-final

Here’s a match those of you who love AC may want to come and watch.

On Sunday 31st August Sussex County Croquet Club will be hosting Surbiton in this semi final.

Our team is Gabrielle Higgins, Dom Nunns, Mark Fawcett and Paul Castell.

Again, we expect a very strong team from Surbiton, so it will be a great opportunity to see world class players in action.