News
World AC Team Championship
International teams come to Southwick 17 to 22 July 2017
Update!
Full results in the tournament can be found at
https://croquetscores.com/2017/ac/wtc-tier-2
The tournament has been and gone and was on the whole a great success. A huge amount of effort was put in by the Club and its members and I know so many players were very grateful for that.
Unfortunately the weather defeated us on the final day. We got the mornings play (starting at 8am in the case of Tier 3) but in the afternoon there was the most tremendous cloudburst that flooded the lawns; after a valiant attempt to restart play we had to admit that play would have to be abandoned and the results declared on the games completed by then.
Over the next day or so I will add some further photos here and in the album area of the website. In the meantime here is a summary of the results from each of the three Tiers.
| Tier 2.1 | Tests | Matches | Games | Hoops | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Losses | Draws | Wins | Losses | Wins | Losses | For | Against | Net | |
| Wales | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 29 | 13 | 948 | 588 | 360 |
| Scotland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 28 | 12 | 848 | 613 | 235 |
| Ireland | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 26 | 485 | 812 | -327 |
| Spain | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 25 | 478 | 746 |
-268 |
| Tier 2.2&3 Stage 1 | Tests | Games | Hoops | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Losses | Draws | Wins | Losses | For | Against | Net | |
| Canada | 4 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 7 | 945 | 422 | 523 |
| Sweden | 3 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 16 | 783 | 610 | 173 |
| Germany | 2 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 19 | 687 | 707 | -20 |
| South Africa | 1 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 23 | 591 | 758 | -167 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 35 | 408 | 917 | -509 |
| Tier 2.2 | Tests | Matches | Games | Hoops | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Losses | Draws | Wins | Losses | Wins | Losses | For | Against | Net | |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 139 | 186 | -47 |
| Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 186 | 139 | 47 |
(Declared as a Tie)
| Tier 2.3 | Tests | Games | Hoops | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Losses | Draws | Wins | Losses | For | Against | Net | |
| Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 322 | 201 | 121 |
| South Africa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 259 | 272 | -13 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 223 | 331 | -108 |
Chris and John (Managers)
Background by Ray Hall
The long-standing MacRobertson Shield contest became part of the World Croquet Federation team series in 2010, and the Association Croquet World Team Championship was established to extend the opportunities for team competition to other countries. Tiers 2.1, 2.2 and 3 were established on a format based on the “Mac”, and Great Britain separated into component countries.
In that inaugural year Wales took 2.1, Scotland 2.2 and the Czech Republic took tier 3. In 2014 Tier 2.1 was played in Ireland and was won by the hosts. The lower tiers were played at Southwick where Spain won tier 2.2 and are now promoted to tier 2.1 at the expense of South Africa. For 2017 all three tiers will be hosted at Southwick, taking the whole week from 17 to 22 July.
Tier 2.1 teams will be Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Spain. Each team will play a full two-day test match against each of the other teams, as in the MacRobertson Shield, finishing on Saturday 22 July. Scotland finished only marginally above SA in 2014, so much hinges on whether Spain can maintain their 2014 form.
Tiers 2.2 and 3 will be run as a combined competition between Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, South Africa and Sweden. In 2014, when played entirely as a single block, the order of the current entrants was Sweden (4 wins) Germany (3) Canada (2), Czech Rep (0) so we shall see how they cope with South Africa.
From Monday to Thursday each team will play against the other four in 'Jamboree format '. This entails one doubles and two singles each day, which enables all five teams to complete a full test match format. Tier 2.2 will be determined by the two top teams then playing a full test match on Friday and Saturday. The remaining three teams will play a modified Jamboree, which minimises repeat encounters, to determine the tier 3 result.
The opening ceremony is on Sunday evening, 16 July; international skittles on Tuesday evening; tournament dinner on Friday; and trophy presentation on Saturday evening 22 July. Spectators will be welcome throughout the week, though we cannot guarantee a repeat of the 2014 sunny weather.
Ray Hall
SCCC