Chester Croquet Club’s annual Mason Cup association croquet handicap competition is played during the season, where the top scorers from the group stage qualify for the semi-final and final. This year the final, between Brian Walton (hcp 16) and David Boyd (hcp 6), was played on Saturday, 30th September. Brian Walton immediately took the initiative and, making effective use of his 10 bisques (extra shots) , built a commanding lead by reaching peg and four back. Meanwhile David Boyd had managed to score just two hoops, 19 points behind, with a mountain to climb to get back into the game. Eventually he managed to get a break together taking 10 hoops and was then able to peg out Brian’s forward ball. Having 2 remaining bisques Brian ran 2 more hoops before David steadily worked his way round with his second ball, finally pegging out to win by two points. An epic game and a narrow finish!