Sidmouth Annual June Tournament started as usual with two days of Handicap Play followed by three days of Level Advanced Play, writes Chris Donovan.
The Handicap event was played to an Egyptian format which means players may play as many matches as they wish in the time available but need to play a certain minimum number to be 'in the running'.
At the end of the first day Chris Donovan was in the lead having won all three games. On day two he extended this lead by winning his next two games and thus won the Dwerryhouse Challenge Cup. Colin Walls was in second place with 4/5 and Peter Nelson in third place with 3/4. All three were Sidmouth CC players.
The Class Event was due to start at 9.30 a.m. on the Friday but after heavy overnight rain and continuing rain during the morning, play did not start until after lunch.
This necessitated all games being reduced to two-and-a-half hours rather than three to fit the time remaining. There was a tie for first place in Block A between last year's winner Richard Wood (Sidmouth CC) and Martin Guentner (Sportsunion Wolkersdorf CC [Austria]) both with 5/6 wins, but as Wood had beaten Guentner then Wood was again the winner and received the Challenge Cup.
Block B for the David Rawkins Cup was won by Jon Ball (Sidmouth CC) with 5/6 wins. Runner-up was Philip Harris (Sidmouth CC) with 4/6 wins having beaten Nigel Amos (Budleigh Salterton CC ) also with 4/6 wins.
Block C for the Fortfield Cup was won by Peter Cutting (Cornwall CC) with 4/5 wins. Three players tied for second place, Jane Babbage (Sidmouth CC), Georgeen Hemming (Colchester CC) and Richard Way (The Bears CC) all with 3/5 wins. Georgeen Hemming won the prize for the Fastest Game.
The event saw much play in the rain which did not deter players from throwing themselves down to line up 'peg-outs' - it really is the only way to guarantee hitting the peg with both balls in succession if some seven or more yards away.
Saturday evening saw many of the players attending a Tournament Dinner at the Bedford Hotel before the final day's play. Many outcomes were possible but the players 'behaved themselves' such that the Tournament Manager, Julie Horsley, did not have a mind-bending problem to work out Class Block Winners.
David Temple, the President of Sidmouth Cricket, Croquet and Tennis Club presented the trophies and Peter Nelson, Croquet Chairman, thanked everyone for coming to the tournament with a special welcome to the 2 players over from Austria. He also thanked everyone at the club who had helped in the organising/running of the tournament with particular mention, and a bottle of wine, to Philip Harris - every club needs such a stalwart.
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