Author: Hugh Bray

As the croquet season draws to a close Chester have a few matches left in order to establish good positions in the north west leagues.
On Saturday 2^nd September the Chester team of John Dawson, Helen Brophy, Mike Miller and David Guyton played Bowdon St Mary’s in the weekend association handicap league and won narrowly by 4 games to 3. There is one remaining game at the end of the month.

CHESTER CRASH OUT OF NATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Having reached the semi-final in the national Secretary’s Shield knock-out competition, Chester, representing the North West, had to play Sheffield for a place in the final. Despite having the advantage of playing on their home turf, the Chester team of David Boyd (Captain), Mark Lloyd, John Dawson and Robin Tasker were 3 / 0 down by lunchtime as the strong team from Sheffield soon got to grips with the Chester lawns. Chester fared little better in the afternoon losing 3 of the 4 singles games giving a final score line of Sheffield 6 : Chester 1.

In beautiful weather one of our Association Croquet teams suffered a defeat to a team from Bury. The Chester team of Sarah Andrew, Alan Clare, David Guyton and Paul Watson met an on-form team from Bury and only won 2 of their 7 games. The winners were David Guyton and Paul Watson. The Chester lawns have suffered from some neglect this year making conditions difficult even for the home team.

Chester moved to the top of the North West midweek league following a close win over Bowdon Griffins on Monday 13^th August. The team of Helen Brophy, Paul Watson, Michael Miller and John Dawson were 2-1 up going into lunch. The afternoon singles were split 2-2 as Chester secured the win 4-3.

This win was consolidated on Friday after the team of Robin Tasker, John Dawson, Michael Miller and Paul Taylor beat Bowdon Earls 4-3. The match was all square until the last game when Robin Tasker secured the win with a golden hoop after time had gone.

Chester croquet club are also leading the golf handicap league, with two matches left to play in the season.

A group of people from Mensa, pictured below, had their annual croquet day at the club at the weekend. They had a wonderful time and were very grateful for all the help they received. Even the weather was kind, with the first drops appearing as the deck chairs were being put away.

 

On Wednesday 9^th August, the Chester team of David Guyton (captain), Paul Taylor, David Boyd and Michael Miller played against Crake Valley in a rescheduled match in the NW association croquet handicap league. Under patchy skies and on equally patchy lawns the Chester team won the doubles and the two singles games in the morning giving a 3 – 0 lead by lunchtime. However, the Crake team were stronger than implied by the half-time score and, fortified by lunch and increasing familiarity with Chester’s lawns, showed their truer metal in the afternoon with Crake and Chester both winning two of the four singles games. The final result was a useful 5 – 2 win for Chester.

On Saturday 12^th the Chester NW golf croquet league team comprising Roger Haigh (captain), Janet Jackson, Chris Thomas and Jill Foley beat Bury South by 10.5 points to 7.5 points, with one match drawn, in a good spirited match on the Chester lawns. Special mention should be made of Jill’s performance in her first match for the club. She played well and the experience will set her in good stead for future club matches.

The national level play golf competition was hosted at Chester croquet club on the weekend of August 5^th and 6^th. After some late cancellations, 12 people played for the Maggie Cowman trophy over the two days of play. The final match for the trophy was contested by David Boyd of Tarporley CC and Garry Greenwood of Chester CC. In a best of three format, the winner was Garry Greenwood who received the trophy and a personal medal. As runner up, David received a bottle of the exclusive ‘Sloping Lawn’ wine, vintage 2017. The Chester Bowl was won by Steve Marsh (Bakewell); he received bottle of 2017 ‘Slanting Lawn’. After a very tight final game, Jayne Taylor (Chester) won the Telfords Plate and a bottle of 2017 ‘Tilting Lawn’

On Wednesday 2^nd August, Chester Centurions beat Bowdon Sinners at Chester in the North West level play golf competition. The team of Trevor Farrell (captain), Jayne Taylor and Pauline Walters won 11-7.

On the same day the Chester Chariots level play team of Pat Clare (captain), Alan Clare and Janet Jackson played away at Southport. The welcome was warm but the weather was atrocious. The rain was very heavy, the wind was gusty and the sun shone occasionally just to confuse the lawns. The final result depended on the last game which Chester lost, making the final score 10-8 to Southport.

Chester are hosting the All-England open golf croquet competition on Saturday 5^th and Sunday 6^th August. There are 5 Chester players amongst a field of 16, so please come along and support them. There are also two or three ladies who have worn an England shirt, so their games will be worth watching too.

All 4 lawns will be in use, so our monthly Sunday social event is moving to the following Sunday, 13^th August.

The two national competitions that Chester croquet club are competing in resulted in mixed fortunes this week.  Chester is representing the NW Region in the national Secretary’s Shield knock-out tournament for 2017.  Having beaten a team from Oxford University in the first round, by 4-3, they went forward to the quarter final, in which they played against St Albans, Hertford at Nottingham last Sunday.
The Chester team of David Boyd (captain), John Dawson, Robin Tasker and Brian Walton had secured an impressive 3-0 lead by lunchtime, by winning the doubles and the two singles games.  St Albans then took the first game in the afternoon, giving them some hope of a recovery but this was soon foiled when Brian Walton won his game giving Chester the vital fourth point.  Each team won one each of the remaining two games to give a final score line of Chester 5 St Albans 2. Chester now play Sheffield in the semi-final.

In the Longman Cup Chester narrowly lost to Bowdon by 4-3. The team was John Dawson (captain), Paul Watson, Robin Tasker and David Boyd.

The Chester/Pendle and Craven mid-week croquet match was held at Chester on Wednesday July 26^th.  The weather forecast for the day was abysmal, and started with heavy rain, but due to delays on the M62 two Pendle players arrived mid-morning by which time the rain had stopped.
Initially the lawns were a bit wet, but by the afternoon the weather cleared and it was sunny and hot and the lawns dried out nicely.  Chester were also hot as the team of Alan Clare (captain), Helen Brophy, Paul Taylor and David Guyton won the match 6-1.

The quarter final match between Chester and St Albans in the Secretary’s Shield tournament was played at Nottingham CC on Sunday 23^rd July

The team line-ups were:
St. Albans: Jon Palin (hcp 2), Chris Frost (hcp 4.5), Roger Bowman (hcp 14), Geoff Morrison (hcp 18)
Chester: John Dawson (hcp 4), David Boyd (hcp 7), Robin Tasker (hcp 8), Brian Walton (hcp 18)

The first result of the morning session was from the doubles game, when John Dawson and David Boyd pegged out for Chester. The two singles games also finished before time, with Robin Tasker and Brian Walton gaining wins for Chester and giving them a 3 / 0 lead by lunchtime.

In the afternoon three of the four singles games also finished with peg-outs, the first of these being a win for St Albans, in the Jon Palin vs John Dawson encounter giving St Albans the encouragement of a possible come-back. However, the next result in cut this short, when Brian Walton pegged out against Geoff Morrison to give Chester that vital forth point.

The only game to go to time, during the whole day, was that between Chris Frost and David Boyd, which was a nip and tuck struggle and could have gone either way finishing just short of a peg-out at 23 / 21 for Chester.

Score Sheet summary:
John Dawson and David Boyd beat Jon Palin and Chris Frost 26 / 8 Chester
Robin Tasker beat Geoff. Morrison 26 / 18 Chester
Brian Walton beat Roger Bowman 26 / 7 Chester
Jon Palin beat John Dawson 26 / 7 St. Albans
David Boyd beat Chris Frost 23 / 21 Chester
Roger Bowman beat Robin Tasker 26 / 13 St. Albans
Brian Walton beat Geoff. Morrison 26 / 12 Chester

FINAL SCORE: Win for Chester 5 – 2

Only one match was fought by Chester croquet club this week, away at Culcheth. The team for Chester Centurions level play was David Crawford (captain), Chris Slater and Sally Slater. They won 12-6.