SCCC start R league with a convincing win at Woking

In the SECF R League, 2021 Champions SCCC got off to a good start with a 6-1 win away at Woking on Tuesday 21st June. A good morning session saw Tony Jolly (2) and David King (3) win their doubles match against Bernard Jones (2) and Max Byfield (4) by 2-0. In the singles, there were 2-0 wins for both Graham Tucker (6) against Maggie Boyd (10), and Linda Gavigan (6) against Richard Blythen (6). In the afternoon singles, Tony beat Bernard 2-0, Graham beat Richard 2-1, and Linda beat Maggie 2-0, while David lost 1-2 to Max. Graham’s two wins brought his handicap down to 5.

Matches are Level Play, best of three games. Total team handicaps must equal at least 16, with the two lowest handicaps on each team playing in the doubles. In the afternoon singles, matches are played between players in their handicap order.

David King

Deborah and David win Doubles at Budleigh

There was a small contingent of four players from SCCC at the Veterans' AC Tournament at Budleigh Salterton this year. Only Deborah and David stayed the week and they won the Gilbert Spoons doubles event.  Congratulations to them.

GC Singles Competition 17th June 2022

The competition was in three divisions separated by handicap range. 

The winner of Block A was Morgan Case; the winner of Block B was Vincent L’Estrange and the winner of Block. C was David Dickins. This was a first for Vincent and David.

Congratulations to all three and thanks to Fiona Phillips for managing the event.

Full results

AS originally published this article incorrectly stated this was a first win for Morgan Case in this event. In fact Morgan has won it several times in the past. Apologies to him for this error.

The MidSummer Short Croquet competition is cancelled due to lack of entries.

GC Doubles competition 6th June 2022

Sussex County visited Parkstone on Wednesday to play this match having only just been able to field a team due to holiday commitments and one player being prevented by Covid.
Having posted an appeal on both of the clubs low handicap WhatsApp groups we were very grateful when Ben volunteered to be our fourth player. With Ben’s recent inactivity due to his workload the rules stated that fifty points had to be deducted from his ranking total. This meant our player order was:-

1 Richard -1
2 Liz -1 Capt.
3 Roger 0
4 Ben 2

East Dorset were able to field a much stronger team on paper:-
1 Jonathan Powe -4
2 Steve Leonard -3
3 David Kendrick -2
4 Keith Southern 1 Capt.

For those unfamiliar with the format the top two on each side play a doubles then a singles against their opposite number. The third and fourth each play two singles crossing over the opponents for the second round.
Each round consists of a best of three games.

Although East Dorset’s doubles pairing had a considerable handicap advantage, the Sussex pair had more experience having played more than double the total number of GC ranking games and they were able to put this to good use.
After a tight first game which Sussex won 7-6, I think we took command of the second at the fifth hoop which Richard scored with a good jump shot over both opponent balls to lead 4-1. East Dorset fought hard to recover but we held on to win 7-4.
We went into the lunch break with a 2-1 lead in the match, Roger having won his match 7-2, 7-6 but unfortunately Ben losing 4-7, 3-7.
The afternoon session began with us needing two wins
After a good start Richard lost his singles 7-3, 6-7, 3-7.
Liz had a very good win against her -3 opponent 7-6, 3-7, 7-4.
Roger lost his singles 7-3, 4-7, 5-7.
Ben was our saviour winning 7-6, 3-7, 7-4.

This was an unexpected win for us and we owe thanks to Roger for his commitment in travelling down and playing with his knee causing him a lot of discomfort. Also thanks to Ben for coming in at short notice and with little recent playing experience getting a vital win!

Well done everybody

Richard Brooks 

 100 CLUB WINNERS

Summer Draw
1st Prize  £100 No. 32 ……Jim Mortell

2nd Prize  £75 No. 8…….Paul Brown

3rd Prize  £50 No. 57…..Nick Hamilton

EVENING ROLL UPS IN JUNE WILL BE ON THESE WEDNESDAY EVENINGS

Wednesday June 8th;
Wednesday June 15th;
Wednesday June 29th. 
I need someone to manage the roll up on Wednesday 29th when I shall be away.
There will be no evening Roll Up on Wednesday 22nd June.
There will be no evening Roll Up on Tuesdays in June.
WE WILL REVERT TO TUESDAY EVENINGS ON 5th JULY

Graham Tucker

Wins for Reigate Priory and Royal Tunbridge Wells

16 teams from 14 clubs took part in this year's GC Teams Day at Southwick. The competition reverted to the format used successfully by Bill Arliss (who was able to visit briefly in the afternoon) for many years but unfortunately did not attract as many entries as was hoped. Nonetheless a successful and enjoyable day.

The morning was devoted to doubles play with the competition in 4 rounds. The event was won by Royal Tunbridge Wells with 3.5 wins in 4 rounds; Sussex  A, Sussex B and Roehampton all had 3 wins.

A light lunch was available and Linda Gavigan, who was leading the catering team in between playing for Sussex B, thanked the clubs for their strong support as most players used the service. Thanks to Linda, Fran Box, Frances Low and Trevor Wright for all their hard work preparing the lunch.

The singles competition in the afternoon comprised of 6 rounds; the weather, which had been by turns sunny and chilly throughout the day, gave us a nasty shock in the last round when the heavens opened, fortunately only for ten minutes.

The competition went down to the wire, with Compton and Reigate Priory both ending up with 9.5 wins out of 12 games. Reigate Priory was the winner with 2 net points more than Compton.

Thanks to Martin Peacock who was the Supervising Referee for the day, assisted in the afternoon by Roger Sutton, Robin Wootton and Frances Low (who was also a formidable parking attendant!). The day was managed by John Low who enjoyed his moments of power wielding Pam Arliss' foghorn to start and end the games.

More photos here

Hurlingham win Longman Cup match 4-3

Sussex was represented by Rosemary Faulkner, Robyn Clark, Deborah Marcus and John Low. In the morning doubles the combination of Robyn's good roquet and hooping skills and John's tactical experience meant Hurlingham never really got going as Sussex got round to hoop 8 (John) and hoop 12 (Robyn). John took the final bisque to go round and complete the hoop 12 peel but was hampered on his escape ball so unable to peg out. Instead he split the opposition and laid up with a rush for Robyn's ball to peg which she duly did after Hurlingham missed the long shot.

In his morning singles Guy Hewitt from Hurlingham completed a round of 12 hoops without bisques and went on to win the game against Rosemary and thereby gaining his silver award. Guy is a recent convert to croquet, having had to give up rugby and tennis due to knee injury; invited to try croquet he is now hooked and a rapid improver, reducing his handicap to 3.5 over 3 years. Congratulations on gaining the award.

In the afternoon Rosemary Faulkner took the lead in her match and was able to maintain it after she ran out of bisques.  Despite the best efforts of her opponent to split her balls she made a number of good hits-in to keep the upper hand and stall any attack on her lead, finishing the game +5

Thanks to Deborah Marcus for organising the match and also for organising an excellent lunch for both teams. 

Full results

Longman Cup Match  - Sussex County  v Hurlingham 25 May 2022

7 games
Guy Hewitt beat Deborah Marcus +13
Richard Andrews beat Rosemary Faulkner +15
John Low & Robyn Clark beat Martin Read & Henry Bagwell  +25
John Low beat Guy Hewitt +21
Martin Read beat Deborah Marcus + 15
Rosemary Faulkner beat Henry Bagwell +7(t)
Richard Andrews beat Robyn Clark + 10

Hurlingham beat Sussex County   4 games to 3