Sidmouth Croquet Club’s golf croquet team were handsome winners in their latest outing, writes David Butler.

The team travelled to Porthpean, St Austell to take on Cornwall Croquet Club in a South West Federation match and returned triumphant to the tune of an 11.5-8.5 victory.

The four players were superb throughout and, by lunchtime, the result of four doubles and four singles games, saw Sidmouth into a healthy 5.5-2.5 lead.

After lunch the Cornish side came back strongly.

At one stage in the contest, with 12 singles still to be played, the home side held a6.5-5.5 lead (a half point is scored for each drawn game).

However, the Sidmouth players dug deep and rediscovered their form from earlier in the day to go on and win six of the last eight matches, thus winning the tie overall.

The Man of the Match was undoubtedly Michael Hide who, across the encounter, won two doubles and three of the four singles matches he contested.

The team of Graeme Pryor, Philip Harris, Andrew Thomas and Michael Hide have to be commended on their stamina – early morning departure, two hour journey to Cornwall, six games to play, each lasting 50 minutes, and then a two-hour journey home!