Nailsea and District Croquet Club

The Croquet Courts are in Kenford Park
off Avening Close, Trendlewood Way, Nailsea, North Somerset.

Advanced League Match Dyffryn V's Nailsea

Nailsea 5 - Dyffryn 4

Nailsea's first advanced league match against Dyffryn couldn't have been any closer with the final result. With Nailsea fielding their strongest team being Marcus Evans (-1.5), Kriss Chambers (-1) and John Grimshaw (2.5) and Dyffryn fielding their strongest team being Chris Williams (-1), John Evans (-1) and Gary McElwain (0), it was set to be an exciting match.

When the Nailsea team arrived, the lawns at Dyffryn were not at their best, possibly because it was the beginning of the season.With John Grinshaw's banter about noticing every hole and rabbit runs in both lawns didn't help Nailsea's nerves. Before start of play Marcus Evans noticed that the milk being used for the coffee was last years and Kriss Chambers arguing with the team about playing a 5 game match instead of a 9 game match didn't help either.

The first round match saw Marcus playing John Evans. Marcus struggled at the start getting his ball round to 1 back then breaking down, with John not taking the advantage. Marcus struggled round with both balls 1 being on the peg and the other on 3 back. John got the innings and struggled round to 2 back and peg pegging Marcus's ball out but follows onto the peg with his own ball making it an exciting 2 ball game which Marcus eventually won by 2 points. John Grinshaw's game was against Gary McElwain where both players stopped and started on their breaks with John coming through with style winning by 11. Kriss played Chris Williams, and at the start of the game Kriss was playing well and got round to hoop 4 (yes I said hoop 4. Probably his best break during the day) with a moan every 10mins when he missed a shot or hoop, he wasn't getting on with the slow and bumpy lawns and lost the game -9.

The second round match saw Marcus playing Garry McElwain with Marcus set in his stride and coping with the lawns, he won comfortably by 14 points. John played Chris Williams and despite John having a good start, Chris showed his skills by beating John by 13 points with a triple peel. In Kriss's game he played John Evans. He started well by making 4 - 5 hoop breaks and getting to 4 back but when John hit the lift and started to over take Kriss, Kriss's emotions with the lawns started to show by continuing his moaning and not making any opportunities when he had the chance. Kriss was not playing well and with John on 4 back and penault and Kriss on 4 back and 1, it wasn't looking good for him. Kriss finally got a chance and slowly making his way round in about 6 turns (YES 6 turns) to the peg to get in front with the game and with time called, Kriss had one turn to finish the game off, which he did in his amazement and won by 7 points.

With Nailsea 4 - 2 up we only had to win 1 more game to take the match.

The third and final round saw Marcus play Chris Williams. With Marcus failing at hoop 2 he didn't take croquet again with Chris showing his A level class by not making a mistake and finishing the game with Marcus only making one point. John was playing John Evans with both players playing well not making too many mistakes. John Evans slowly took the lead beyond Johns reach and won by 14 points. This meant that the score was now 4 all and the deciding game was with Kriss to win so the Nailsea team would win the match. Did I mention that Kriss wasn't playing well? well that carried on with his 3rd game against Gary McElwain. Kriss slowly made his way round to 4 back and with Gary missing the lift, all Kriss had to do was concentrate on just making a decent break round with his other ball, but it wasn't to be, with him failing at hoop 1 giving Gary an easy break pick up for him to go round to 4 back. With Kriss out watching Gary , the banter started again with Kriss saying we should of played a 5 game match as his confidence to win his final game was slowly going. Kriss's moans continued as he missed short roquets and hoops making it easy for Gary to pick up breaks. Gary made a mistake and a "come on" from Marcus and John put some confidence back in Kriss. With Kriss edging round giving Gary long shots as much as possible, Kriss slowly edged his way into the lead. Time was called and john had the innings and a good break set up to take his ball all the way round to over take Kriss on points. With Gary only making another 3 hoops before breaking down, maybe because of the pressure, saw Kriss win his game by 7 on time and a 5 - 4 victory for Nailsea.

As this was the first match of the season, the Nailsea team felt that they didn't play as well as they could of with Kriss having the worst day out of the 3 by not being up to his usual A Level standard. Apart from that, Nailsea played well and kept their cool against, on paper a better side and a win for Nailsea against last year's winners of the league.

Please pay us a visit. Visitors and new members welcome at any time.
We supply all equipment.  All you need are flat soled shoes to wear on court.