On Monday, 19 August, Chester played away against Bowdon in the North West Federation association croquet full lawn 14 point handicap league. This was the club’s last match of the season in this new league. Team members were Robin Tasker (captain), John Hampson, Brian Walton and Andy Wilson-Chalon.
The lawns had been cut recently and were playing well. The whole day was overcast and the rain held off until after lunch but then lasted only an hour. An experienced Bowdon team, armed with their bisques, made for a challenging day. Most of the Chester team had some successes, which was rewarding for the individuals, but overall it was disappointing to finish the 14 point season with a 5 – 11 loss for Chester.
As it was the first season for the new 14 point league, all members of the squad are being invited to offer their views on all aspects of the format in anticipation of a general post mortem by the Federation in planning for next year.
On the following Saturday, 24 August, Robin Tasker and Brian Walton were in action again together with David Boyd in a three man team in a home match against Bury in the North West Federation advanced B-level league.
In the morning, on another cool August day, Robin Tasker and Brian Walton played the doubles game and, after a slow start by both sides, pulled away with two good breaks to take the lead. David Boyd playing the morning singles game established a healthy lead early on but a late break by his opponent made for a tense finish with Chester winning by a single point for 2 – 0 lead at lunch.
The three singles games in the afternoon were all competitive. Robin Tasker lost to his much lower handicapped opponent whereas David Boyd comfortably beat his higher handicapped opponent. The third singles was an excitingly tense match with Brian Walton behind for much of the time against an opponent hitting in and running hoops fearlessly. However a late break by Brian saw him overhaul his opponent to give Chester a 4 -1 victory for the day.
With later confirmation that Chester’s forthcoming match against Pendle has been conceded by Pendle, Chester has moved to joint top of the league level with Bowdon and the two clubs are due to compete in Chester’s last match of the season for this league this coming Sunday, 1 September, though Bowdon have one further match to play.