News Item 14a; 11 May 2009
NEWS INDEX 2009 PAGE
Photograph courtesy of Tony Thomas.
The 2009 Peels players experienced everything at Southport last week (7-10 May) - Thursday required libreral doses of suncream, Friday winds almost blew players away, Saturday required wet gear and Sunday weather was almost boring with grey skies. However, the lawns looked superb, the croquet very competitive and as always, catering excellent. The most ornate trophies in the croquet world went to: Liz Maltby and Nigel Graves (Mixed Doubles); Abdul Ahmad (Mens Singles); Amanda Hames Keward (Ladies Singles).Ken reports from the Peel Tournament at Southport between May 7th - May 10th 2009
It was with some trepidation that I approached this Tournament knowing that I would be playing from a Handicap of 20, the highest permitted at this event. The wind blew continually, the rain came in bucket loads and occasionally the sun shone, but the croquet continued. The play was split into Men Singles ( 10 players ) and Mixed Doubles ( 8 pairs ) In the singles I played above my normal standard winning 4 out of my 5 games all within time and one in one and a quarter hours ! The game I lost was to Abdul who went on to win the Singles with 5 wins leaving me a surprised runner up. I put my improved form down to three factors, 1. I have studied a book on tactics 2. At every hoop I could hear Lee telling me to follow through 3. And at every other shot there was Liz saying Slow down ! In the Doubles I was lucky enough to be paired with Gail Curry the current Gazette editor and a one time minus player now on Scratch. Her game is based on phenomenal rushes precisely positioned. We won our first two rounds but unfortunately lost in the final largely due to my habit of missing easy roquets at critical times. So runner up again. I have to say here what an education it was to paired with Gail. Her tactical thinking was a revelation. So after all my efforts, my Handicap was cut to 18. This must have been because I beat Don +17 and still had bisques standing. What a mistake ! Finally Southport Croquet club and the managers Don and Diana did an excellent job and as for the catering , that was superb. Altogether an excellent tournament with the usual bunch of friendly and helpful people.