Bristol A 4   Bristol B 5    Lansdown 4     Nailsea 11

Nailsea Croquet Club's Short Croquet Team got off to a tremendous start in defence of their National title on Saturday. Four teams took part in the South-West region qualifying tournament - two from Bristol, one from Lansdown and one from Nailsea.

Nailsea and Lansdown both got off to a good start in the first round, each beating the Bristol teams by 3 games to 1. In the second round, Nailsea did even better beating Bristol A, 4-nil, while Bristol B beat Lansdown, 3-1. In the third and final round, the Nailsea team continued to show their superiority by crushing Lansdown, 4-nil, while Bristol A beat Bristol B, 3-1. After two rounds Bristol A had been trailing the rest of the field and they almost pulled off a remarkable comeback in the final round; had they won one more game they would have finished in second place. Nailsea and Bristol B both go forward to the finals at Nailsea in September.

The Nailsea players put up a remarkable perfomance, KRISS CHAMBERS winning all his games despite having to do 3 peels in each game, and DAVID MURPHY and newcomer, JOHN WALLACE, one of last year's beginners also winning all their games. A single loss in the first round by PETER DYKE, the captain of the Nailsea team, prevented the Club from having a clean sweep.

Results:

KRISS CHAMBERS won +6, +6, +7 PETER DYKE lost -6 and won +8, +13

DAVID MURPHY won +8, +5, +5  JOHN WALLACE won +8, +11, +4

SWF Intermediate League - Nailsea v Plymouth (at Nailsea)

Nailsea 3  Plymouth 4

Nailsea got off to a bad start in defence of their Intermediate League title on Sunday. In their first match of the season, at home to Plymouth, they lost the doubles and both morning singles to trail by 3 games to nil at lunch. They made a very good recovery in the afternoon, winning three of the four singles games, the Nailsea captain, GRETA STRINGER, being unlucky to lose her game by three points after being pegged out by her opponent.

All four Nailsea players have had handicap reductions either towards the end of last season or already this season and DAVID MURPHY, who captained the team last year, is no longer eligible to play in the league because of his reduction below nine, the lower limit allowed in the league. The team will therefore find it more difficult to win the league this year.

Results:

IAN WILSON & GRETA STRINGER lost -9

PAT LONG lost -13 and won +14  BERNARD WILSON lost -4 and won +15

IAN WILSON won +13   GRETA STRINGER lost -3