Advanced League  Nailsea 3  Parkstone 2

On Sunday Nailsea fielded their strongest team in their last Advanced League Match of the season at home to a team from East Dorset (Parkstone) Croquet Club made up of one very strong player and two weaker players. However, the home team had a shock losing both the morning games. In the singles KRISS CHAMBERS took an early lead against Parkstone’s strongest player, but he broke down at penultimate, when victory was in his grasp, and his opponent punished him dearly for this mistake, beating him with a triple peel. Nailsea was expected to win the doubles and J. DIXON made a nine hoop break on the fifth turn. However, his partner was unable to get his act together and allowed the Parkstone pair to get back into the game. There were plenty of errors on both sides, but Parkstone took the lead, which they just managed to hang on to, to win by two on time.

With Nailsea two games down at lunch, Parkstone were now favourites to win. However, in the afternoon the Nailsea team pulled out all the stops and staged a tremendous comeback. DIXON quickly won with a good triple peel. This was followed by a convincing win by ALEX against Parkstone’s top player. KRISS was kept waiting while his opponent went for a pub lunch, but once they got going he wasted no time gaining a convincing win with the third triple of the match.

This victory means Nailsea finish in second place in the Advanced League with the same number of wins as the winners, Bristol, against whom they had a narrow loss earlier in the season. This is the highest place that Nailsea have ever finished in the Advanced League, beating last year’s record when they came third.

Results:

ALEX LEGGATE & J. DIXON lost -2(T)

KRISS CHAMBERS lost -3TP & won +26TP

ALEX LEGGATE won +22   J. DIXON won +24TP

All England Handicap Area Final

The All England Handicap Area Final was held at Bristol Croquet Club over the weekend. Eleven players from four local clubs, Bristol, Cheltenham, Dyffryn and Nailsea, took part. Nailsea’s qualifier was NICK CARTER, one of last year’s beginners.

At the end of play on Saturday, NICK had won three games out of three and was joint leader with three other players. On Sunday NICK lost his morning game, but still had a chance to qualify for the Final provided he won in the afternoon. He started the game badly, but soon got back to his good form and played very well, taking both balls round to the peg, but failed to peg-out one ball and just pegged out his other ball. His 16-year old opponent from Dyffryn, who was 25 points behind, played brilliantly and beat NICK by a single point. As a result, NICK finished in fourth place and just missed out on a place in the Finals, which take place at Pendle Croquet Club, Lancashire, on the 18 & 19 September.

Results:

1. PENNY CROWE (Cheltenham)

2. DAVID SCOTT (Dyffryn)

3. JAMES MACKAY (Dyffryn)

4. NICK CARTER (Nailsea) 3 wins +26, +9, +1T, 2 losses -8, -1.