Cornwall Croquet Club

Sat-Sun 28-29 Aug 2010 - Jenning's Short Lawn Club Tournament (AC)

Fourteen members of the Cornwall Croquet Club gathered for the annual Short-Lawn Tournament at Porthpean over the weekend, prepared to play six games each, in two blocks of seven. Each game was to 14 points, or one-and-a-quarter hours.

The lawns were quite slow to start with, due to the heavy dew, but by mid morning they had dried out and were playing quite fast. By the end of Saturday, possible block winners had emerged, but there were more games to play on Sunday, and some players had played fewer games than others.

On Sunday, the lawns were dry, but the weather had turned very windy, which affected the balls and could deflect a mallet during a shot. By lunchtime, Colin Hadley was a clear winner of Block ‘A’ but, with one more set of games to play, Block ‘B’ could be won by David Edwards, Tony Jennings or Ron George. Ron, needing seven hoops to ensure a place in the final, scored a break of six, which was immediately matched by Tony Jennings. However, Ron, with a number of bisques at his disposal, played himself into the Final.

Both finalists were unbeaten in their blocks.

Ron played first and, with his second ball, roqueted Colin’s ball on the east boundary. With the aid of several of his 8 ½ bisques, he reached the peg (6 hoops run). Colin was unfortunate to have a take-off ball stop against the hoop, and was forced to take the last of his 3 bisques in order to get a break started. However, he had to keep splitting Ron’s balls, rather than making progress with his own; eventually missing a long hit-in and leaving it for Ron to peg out with the score at 14-4.

The final was well contested by both players; a fitting climax to a most enjoyable weekend’s Association Croquet.

Tony Jennings presented the Cup to Ron, who thanked Tony for organising the weekend.
General thanks were also given by Howard Rosevear, the Club’s President.

Final Score: Ron George 14 Colin Hadley 4