Cornwall Croquet Club

Tue 12 May 2015 - SWF 'B' League (Played at Cornwall CC)

Cornwall v Sidmouth

In windy, but fine, conditions and minus the team captain, Cornwall set out to do battle with Sidmouth at Porthpean. The Cornwall team consisted of two 24, one 18 and one 16 handicaps, and Sidmouth fielded one 24, two 20 and one 18. The doubles pair (Jenny & Ron), usually a strong combination, could not get going, with Ron making long roquets across the lawn and then missing a three-footer, or the hoop, and leaving good openings for the opponents (who were both very accurate when hitting in). However, Ron woke up in the final innings, with a break of 4 hoops, only to see the ball stick in hoop 5, with hoop 6 and a game win beckoning. Unfortunately, both Barry and Pam were also beaten. That meant that, at the lunch break, Sidmouth had won all three of the morning matches, with four to come in the afternoon.

After a very good lunch, provided by the Cornwall Team, there were four singles games for Cornwall to win, if the match was to be claimed. Jenny beat her opponent, pegging out to win 14/10 and Barry got both her balls around to the peg with her opponent having one on the peg and one on hoop 4. Unfortunately, her opponent rallied and snatched victory in the next innings. Meanwhile, Ron was desperately trying to stop his opponent from scoring any more hoops because, at 7/6 to Ron (who had one ball on the peg) and only 5 minutes left. However, the scores were levelled but Ron placed the balls, in his final normal-time turn, to ensure that he could win the golden hoop and win the game. Pam. was doing well, and heading for a win, until her opponent had a rush of blood to the head with two breaks that took her beyond Pam’s reach, at 9/5, in the time remaining.

So, a match that might have been a win ended in a loss by 5/2 for the Cornwall team. But we all enjoyed it.

Final Score: Cornwall 2 Sidmouth 5

Report by Ron George.