A win for Chester against Oxford University
in the first round of the Secretary’s Shield 2017
As a result of Chester’s win last year in the North West Federation’s weekend handicap league, the club was entered automatically in this year’s all England Secretary’s Shield knock-out competition. The first round match was against Oxford University which was played on neutral ground at Nottingham Croquet Club on Saturday, 10 June.
Representing Chester were David Boyd (captain), John Dawson, Robin Tasker and Brian Walton, and the team line-ups were as follows:
| Chester | Hcp | Oxford | Hcp |
| John Dawson | 4 | Ian Plummer | ½ |
| David Boyd | 7 | Sophie McGlen | 11 |
| Robin Tasker | 9 | Mo Karaminjadrandjbar | 20 |
| Brian Walton | 18 | Jasper Theodor Kauth | 24 playing off 20 |
The morning session saw the two lower handicappers from each club playing the doubles with the higher handicappers playing singles. By lunchtime Oxford had taken a lead of 2 games to 1, Chester having pegged out to win only the doubles. The afternoon session was off to a storming start, when John Dawson, no doubt inspired by his recent appearance at the ‘Inter Counties’, pegged out 26 – 0 in just forty minutes to win his game with Ian Plummer, (fortunately the murmurings about performance enhancing substances soon subsided) and now with the score at all square there was still everything to play for.
The remaining three singles were much more ‘pedestrian’ with two of them lasting until ‘timed-out’. Two of these remaining games were won by Chester and one by Oxford giving a final result as a win for Chester by 4 games to 3.
| John Dawson & David Boyd |
beat | Ian Plummer & Sophie McGlen |
+6 (P) Chester |
| Jasper T Kauth | beat | Robin Tasker | +5 (T) Oxford |
| Mo Karaminjadrandjbar | beat | Brian Walton | +1 (T) Oxford |
| John Dawson | beat | Ian Plummer | +26 (P) Chester |
| David Boyd | beat | Sophie McGlen | +5 (T) Chester |
| Mo Karaminjadrandjbar | beat | Robin Tasker | +10 (P) Oxford |
| Brian Walton | beat | Jasper T Kauth | +1 (T) Chester |
Final score: Chester 4 v Oxford 3
Chester play against St Albans in the next round.