Tue 29 May 2012 - SWF Golf Croquet League        (played at Cornwall CC)

Cornwall Rosevear v Sidmouth

May 29th saw Cornwall Rosevear entertain Sidmouth for Rosevear’s fourth league match of the season. The season had started with a win against Cornwall Porthpean, but this was followed by a narrow loss, 9.5-10.5 to Nailsea, and a further loss to Budleigh Salterton. Conditions were perfect, with warm sunshine and little wind. Sun umbrellas appeared in the afternoon, and players were even seen without sweaters or coats!

Things started well enough for Cornwall in the first set of singles, and the match remained finely balanced at lunch, with equal points scores for each team. A number of close games followed in the afternoon, but as against Nailsea, the momentum shifted towards Sidmouth, who finally ran out 11-9 winners.

One of the features of the match was the number of very close games – of the 20 games played, 6 ended in draws, and a further 7 were decided by just one hoop. One of the doubles was unduly slow and draggy, as evinced by a score of only 4-3, and brought forward a request from the referee to speed up. One game, agreed as a draw, could have been a Cornwall win, but one hoop was left with no marking peg on it, and neither player could recall with certainty who won it, and it was agreed as being Sidmouth’s. Another hiccup was when one of the last doubles was seen to have considerably overrun its normal 45 minute duration – nobody could find the timer – abducted by aliens? Fortunately, this error did not affect the final result.

Overall, another enjoyable day, but with a strong “if only” feel about it for Cornwall.

Final Score:    Sidmouth 11, Cornwall Rosevear 9

Photos by S. Read.

Jenny Burrows running the Golden Hoop	Maggi Dawson runs hoop 9
The Cornwall Rosevear & Sidmouth Teams