Chester hosted the NW Federation Millennium 26-point AC Handicap Tournament on Saturday, 25 July. Only four players – two from Bowdon and two from Chester – had entered the tournament which was disappointing but those present enjoyed a competitive day on Chester’s fast courts and showed great skill from the start.
The day began in warm sunshine and in the first round of matches, Mike Flannery (11) from Bowdon beat Ant Fletcher (12) 18-4 as Ant struggled to get the measure of the court. Meanwhile Sally Slater (14) was narrowly beaten by Bowdon’s Robert Cutts-Watson (10) 15-18 as she came back strongly as time was reached.
After an early lunch the second round matches pitted Sally against Ant who following the break found his touch and playing neat controlled croquet – well mostly anyway! – won 18-9. The other match between Mike and Robert was of high quality with some excellent breaks. Mike established a good lead but then Robert pegged him back and got to within 3 hoops of parity but just failed to get position on 3-back. This allowed Mike to run out the 21-16 winner.
The tea break allowed all to recuperate with the help of chocolate fudge cake, strawberries and squirty cream ready for the final round.
Robert and Ant fought out a tough match which by their admission was not one for the crowds with Robert holding on to a 17-11 win. Meanwhile in the other match Sally started strongly and established a small lead but Mike replied with some excellent and precise croquet to peg out in just over two hour of play to win 26-13.
Once all the results had been compiled and points calculated Mike Flannery was the deserved winner of the 2026 Millennium AC 26-point Handicap Tournament remaining undefeated through the day and with 65 hoops run in the process. His was a fine display of consistent hitting in, controlled croquet shots and excellent hoop running on the rapid Chester courts.
With the manager’s failure to recover the Tournament trophy from a previous winner in time, Mike was presented with his very own Chester mug as a surrogate prize for his endeavours. The real thing will follow in due course!
