The regional playoffs were held on Sunday 10th December 2023. This year there were representatives from Cashmere, St Martins, Fendalton, Hornby, Akaroa and Holmes Park, who had each won the right to participate by dint of winning a club feeder competition. This year the entrants were all longstanding players with handicaps ranging from 2 to 6. Format was Round Robin over five rounds.
The level of play was excellent and the small group of supporters were treated to some great croquet. Mike Bunce from St Martins won the right to represent the CCA at the national finals in Dunedin, and Grace Leitch from Fendalton was runner-up.
Reasonable weather with good lawns drew three contestants from South Canterbury and made for an enjoyable tournament. With five entries, the 0 to 3.5 grade played a round robin of five games. The 4 to 9 grade, with four entries, a round robin of three games with a finals round deciding the placings from first to fourth. With thanks to John Doyle agreeing to “play up”, there were four entries in the combined 10 to 24 grade who played the same game format as the 4 to 9 grade.
The Cashmere “young guns” swept the board, each of them winning their four games in each grade Josh Winter the 0 to 3.5 grade, Levi Franks the 4 to 9 grade and James Duggan the 10 to 24 combined grade. They were also awarded the Silver Badge for their respective grade and Gay Jones won the 18 to 24 grade. Runners-up in the three grades were John Hearnshaw, Leo van Oosten and Sue Stott.
The grades tournament for premier, senior and intermediate players was held in hot conditions on Sunday November 12th.
St Martins hosted the Premier and Intermediate divisions while the Seniors played at Cashmere. Players from as far afield as Blenheim and Queenstown competed against our locals.
The Premier division was won by Levi Franks beating Joshua Winter 7/3 in a 13 point Final. In the preliminary round Joshua had taken the 19 point game over Levi 10/8. The Final had been reduced to a shorter game to avoid finishing in the dark. A long day at the office.
The Senior division at Cashmere was first to finish. The eventual winner was Terry Green ( Rangiora) over Patrick Conolly ( Cashmere). Earlier in the day these two had been down the list but came through at the end with Terry winning 7/5.
The Intermediate division was won by Brent Cowan (Holmes Park) beating Diana McIlwrick (Wakatipu) 7/4. Brent who still works full time and plays only occasionally was overcome by his win. He qualified 4th after the round robin, but won his semi- final 7/4 to reach the final.
The winners are also winners of the Silver badges.
Janet Scott with Terry Green and Patrick ConollyCheryl Morrall with Brent Cowan and Diana McIlwrickCheryl Morrall with Levi Franks and Joshua Winter
The event was held at St Martins Croquet Club on Sunday 29 October 2023 in fine weather albeit with the dreaded easterly wind.
A field of 20 players contested for the title and Silver Badge. This year we had players representing 8 Canterbury Clubs and also a player from Waireka Club in Ashburton.
With the All Blacks game also being played everyone arrived on time and games were underway by 8:30am This was not a distraction to the excellent games that were played throughout the day. It was encouraging to have a number of players, new to CCA tournaments and we look forward to them playing in more events.
Thanks to all players, assistant manager Janet Scott, referees John Borner and Sylvia MacFarlane and St Martins Croquet Club members for morning and afternoon teas
Results: Winner: Derek Kinley, Cashmere (centre) Runnerup: Cathrine Boyle, St James (left) Third: Geraldine Lummis, Fendalton (right)
Canterbury (NZ) GC Singles Advantage Sunday 24 September 2023
Well, this tournament has been quite a challenge, but all worked out well in the end.
There was an original field of 30 players which gave a format of 5 blocks of 6 with players having 5 rounds of play followed by quarters, semis and finals. Two venues were needed so Cashmere stepped up as the second venue with Gay Jones as manager. However, the day before the tournament I had three withdrawals due to ill-health and there was a big question mark over lawns able to be used because of weather. So plenty of last minute re-arrangements and discussions and decisions. Two replacements stepped up to play so I ended up with 4 blocks of 6 and one block of 5. And late on Saturday afternoon the decision was made to go ahead on the lawns at both venues.
Add to the mix that Sunday was daylight saving time, so players had to ensure they arrived on time…and they all did!
There was a lot of learning using the Advantage format, but players took it all in their stride and there were some very close games with players going to the 14th hoop for the last point. I must thank the players for their sportsmanship and cheerfulness in the event of some rain disruption during the day and having three of the games scheduled at Cashmere having to be played at Fendalton as lawns at Cashmere were unplayable after midday. However, we managed to get the top 8 players identified and were able to continue with quarters, semis and finals.
Jill Smithies from United did not lose a game during the day, except in the final against Terry Green from Rangiora when she lost 7-6 at the 14th hoop. A great game to watch and congratulations to Terry Green for becoming the GC Singles Advantage winner for 2023. Carol Pilbrough from United beat Vince van den Dorpe from Rangiora to take third place.
Full results are on croquet scores.
My thanks go to Grace Leitch who was assistant Manager for me at Fendalton, to Gay Jones for managing and being second referee at Cashmere and helping in all the discussions, to Mike Dawson and Tim Slack for being the referees at Fendalton and to Sylvia Macfarlane for being referee at Cashmere. My thanks also go to those folk who looked after the catering at each venue, it was great.
Vilna Gough-Jones Tournament Manager
Terry running hoop 7 with Jill looking onJill hitting up to hoop 8, Terry having won hoop 7Vilna with TerryVince, Vilna, Terry, Jill and Carol
The CCA Agnes Dick Handicap Doubles competition was held at the Elmwood park club on the weekend of the 13-14 March.
Eight pairs in two groups contested the trophy over the two days in an event somewhat affected by a very wet first day. Those who had difficulty with the heavy conditions were disadvantaged by the rain.
The final was contested between Steve Costigan and Leonie Clarke (from Fendalton) and the husband and wife pairing of Alister and Hilda Newey (Rangiora). The trophy was won (22-12) by Steve and Leonie.
The Don Reyland Stars is a handicap GC competition with club and association playoffs and a national final.
The final was held 16 to 19 March at the Rangatira Croquet Club in Dannevirke that was established in 1911. Day 1 warm, Day 2 showers all day, Day 3 clear and warm. Sixteen associations were represented.
Patrick Conolly from Cashmere, representing CCA won the tournament, with one loss from 15 matches. Runner up was Doug Cowie from Auckland who he beat on Hoop 13 with a tricky angle jump shot.
The CCA GC Open Doubles tournament was held on Sunday 12th at Cashmere Croquet Club. Following heavy dew the day turned sunny and warm, cooling down as play continued into the early evening.
Four doubles combinations entered, and the format was a best of three round- robin with the potential for nine games. As it turned out each combination played eight so it was a big day at the office.
Geoff Price (United) and Helen Webber (Hornby) combined to be a winning combination. Not having played together before they soon got to know each other’s play and surprised with a 7/5, 5/7, 7/6 win over St James combination of Jono Hart and Marguaritte Rogers. Both had their chances at the thirteenth, with Geoff taking it with a short, angled jump shot.
Meanwhile on the other lawn the Barrington pairing of Rachael McLeod and Marie McDonald had a shock 7/6 win over Gay Jones (Cashmere) and Sue Cleveland (Geraldine) in the first game. Gay and Sue prevailed 7/4, 7/4 in the next two games to take the match.
Round 2 was a quicker affair with Jono and Marguaritte overcoming Rachael and Marie in two games, 7/4, 7/4. Geoff and Helen again surprised with 7/6, 7/1 wins over Gay and Sue.
With two matches under their belt Geoff and Helen were leading the tournament when they faced Rachael and Marie in the final round but needed a match win if the winner was not to be decided on a countback. The Barrington girls took the first game 7/3 and Geoff and Helen followed up with a similar score in game 2. Taking the third game 7/5 they ended the day with three match wins and the title. Gay and Sue, after winning their match with Jono and Marguaritte, were runner–up.
The bi-annual South Island Association’s GC Teams Event will be held at Waireka Croquet Club, Ashburton on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 March.
One player from each grade; Premier, Advanced (Senior), Intermediate and Primary are selected by each Association. The Association competing this year are Canterbury, South Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson and Otago.
Congratulations to the following players from Canterbury: Levi Franks, Geoff Price, Mike Bunce and Geraldine Murphy
The criteria for selection was that players had played in a CNZ or CCA event and the results achieved throughout the season and were available to play this weekend.
Finally, after two postponements the Primary Grades were played on 10th March in sunshine albeit at 8:30am there were a few spots of rain.
A field of 26 players representing 9 Clubs were divided into blocks with two being played at Cashmere and 4 at St Martins. All players managed 5 games before the 2 semi-finalists from Cashmere joined the St Martins semi-finalists at St Martins.
The semi-final games of Patsy Clegg v Graeme Johnston (St James) was won by Graeme 7 – 4 and the other between Herman Zegerman (Hornby) and Steve Stokes (Cashmere) saw Steve win 7 – 5.
The final and the 3rd and 4th playoffs were watched by many players and supporters.
Well done to Steve Stokes who prevailed in the final over Graeme Johnston 7 – 4. It was a hard fought game with both players starting to feel the effect of the sun and their 7th game. Patsy took third place in another great game against Herman.
It was pleasing to have entrants from players new to tournaments and also the number of Clubs represented.
Thanks to all players, to St Martins for hosting the event and Cashmere as second venue, referees Sylvia MacFarlane, Vilna Gough-Jones and Bruce McLay who were kept busy, kitchen staff at both venues for the fabulous morning and afternoon teas, the lawns setters on the day and last but not least the grounds people for the wonderful playing lawns which were appreciated by all players.
Croquet Canterbury 