The CCA Open GC Singles Tournament was played on Sunday 26th February at Cashmere Croquet club. We welcomed one player from Geraldine, all the 11 others were from round town. There was a good spread of handicaps, from -4 to 7, so everyone had opportunity to play against others of a similar level.
We kicked off bright and early in slightly overcast conditions. Despite the gloomy forecast the weather progressively improved and it became a very pleasant day on the lawns. Play started with two round-robin blocks to sort out initial rankings, followed by playoffs between similarly ranked players in each block. The top four players then went into a semi-final/final challenge. Patrick Connolly and John Borner battled it out for 3rd place with John winning 7-3, and Josh Winter prevailed over Levi Franks in the final 10-6 to win the 1st and 2nd placings.
Overall it was a full day with the finals finishing early evening.
The Carol Hayward competition was sponsored by the Margaret Stoddart retirement village. It is a handicap association croquet event open to players over the age of 60 years.
As usual, it was held over six Tuesday mornings from 31 January to 7 March 2023. One 18-point 21/2 hour game is played each morning with a break for a well-catered morning tea. It is run as a flexible Swiss so players can choose to play each week. A player must complete at least five games to be elligible for a prize.
We were fortunate to have good weather for all games.
It was a small field this year with 14 entering the competition with the number of games each week varying from four to six.
Sue Stott won all six of her games to take the trophy. Tim Slack was beaten only by Sue and was runner-up. John Doyle won three out of five games to take third place.
Lyn Dawson spoke about Margaret Stoddart providing respite care of her husband so she can play croquet and do other activities.
John Yarrall managed the competition and played one game when there were an odd number of players.
The 2023 AC Open was played at Barrington Park Croquet Club. It was initially scheduled to be played over three days from Friday 3 March 2023, but was reduced to the weekend because only six players entered.
It was played as a single block with three 3-hour games Saturday and two games scheduled for Sunday. Owen Evans played Joshua Winter on Friday as Owen was not available Sunday afternoon. The lawns were on the slow side and hoops were set to 0.8mm clearance.
John Yarrall was the tournament manager who also played.
In spite of the forecast rain, Saturday was dry, if overcast and grey. The highlight of the day was Joshua Winter completing his first triple peel to earn a gold merit award.
Sunday started wet, and an effort was required to get the length of the lawns. Rain was intermittent, but got heavier late morning.
The fourth-round decider between Joshua and Jarrod created interest. Josh pegged out Jarrod’s and his ball with Josh on 1-back and Jarrod on hoop 5. When both balls were on 3-back an impass developed, requiring a study of the laws before the game was restarted. Jarrod finally won the game 26-23.
When Jarrod started his final-round game with Peter Parkinson, the rain increased making play impractical. At this stage, Peter withdrew leaving Jarrod on four wins out of four games to win and Josh on three wins out of four as runner-up.
The CCA Association Croquet Grades Tournament was held on the weekend of 11th to 12th February 2023. It also incorporated the Canterbury Silver Badge competition with winners decide by the outcome of games where both contestants were eligible. With too few players in the lower handicap ranges the 10 to 16 and 18 to 24 handicap ranges were combined.
Good weather and lawns that were rated by players as “just right” made for an enjoyable tournament. With six 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 the final round a playoff for first and third. With five entries, the 10 to 24 grade would play a round robin with four games and a bye. Unfortunately sickness meant that one player could not compete on the Sunday so all her games were deleted and only three games are included in the results.
All players in the 0 to 3.5 grade had a win but with four wins Carolyn Fordyce pipped John Hearnshaw on net hoops. John won the Silver Badge as Carolyn’s region is South Canterbury. The 4 to 9 grade saw Leo van Oosten undefeated with Tony O’Donnell runner-up. Sue Stott was also undefeated in the 10 to 24 range with Alice Spittle runner-up. They were the Silver Badge winners in the two grades.
Winner of the 0-3.5 grade, Carolyn Fordyce and Tony O’DonnellRunner-up of the 0-3.5 grade, John Hearnshaw and Tony O’DonnellWinner of the 4-9 grade, Leo vanOosten and runner-up, Tony O’DonnellWinner of the 10-24 grade, Sue Stott and Tony O’DonnellRunner-up of the 10-24 grade, Alice Spittle and Tony O’Donnell
On 29 January 2023, 38 players turned up at Fendalton Park Croquet Club to play doubles croquet and hopefully win the trophy. The lawns were good, the weather just right and the camaraderie and sportsmanship a delight. There were three groups of five teams and one group of four teams. The groups of five teams played 5 rounds of 13-point games, with one team having a bye each round. The group of four teams played three rounds of 19-point games, which led to much learning in determining extra turns and deciding what order hoops were to be played. The top teams in each group were determined by number of wins and then net points. It was a close contest!
These four players then had a semi-final followed by a final.
Winners of the trophy were Owen Evans & Patrick Connolly (Cashmere)
Runners-up were Maria Narbey & Frances de Latour (Akaroa)
Thanks go to Tim Slack for being the referee for the day, and to Fendalton under the guidance of Tricia Morrow for providing a great morning and afternoon tea.
Vilna Gough-Jones (Manager), Patrick Connolly and Owen EvansFrances de Latour, Vilna Gough-Jones and Maria Narbey
The Golf Croquet Grades tournament for Premier, Senior and Intermediate was held in very hot conditions on Sunday October 30th. There were good fields of Premier (6 players), Senior (12 players) hosted at St Martins, and Intermediate (10 players) hosted at Cashmere. Catering at both clubs was highly praised, as were lawns. A very sincere thanks to both clubs.
As the day progressed at St Martins one of the Premier players had to withdraw. This impacted on the Premier draw and some players had long waits as the day progressed. They were playing 19-point games on one lawn. However at one part of the day it was noted that the lawn was empty. Savouries had been served and the young men were keen not to miss out so they had delayed play. The presentation of the Peter Couch Trophy was made as the Seniors continued to play.
The winner was Logan McCorkindale (Waireka), and runner up and winner of the CCA Silver badge was James Duggan (Cashmere) The Premiers posed for a great photo at the end of the day.
Meanwhile over at Cashmere, a player had become unwell and was taken to hospital by ambulance as a precautionary measure. Without too much delay the tournament, including two players from Rotorua and one from Blenheim continued. After a full day of play Patrick Conolly, the promising young junior from Cashmere prevailed over Terry Green (Rangiora). Terry had beaten Patrick 7/6 in block play, but Patrick turned the tables in the final with a 7/4 win.
Patrick won the Peter Couch Bowl and the CCA Silver badge. Runner up was Terry Green with Mike Bunce (St Martins) in third place.
Meanwhile back at St Martins there was some mention of sunset at 8.04pm as a very long semi- final between Gay Jones and Melanie Stevenson (both from Cashmere) finally finished after an hour and three quarter match. Bruce McLay (United) who had had a much shorter semi with Dave McMillan (Akaroa) was waiting in the shadows ready to pounce in the 19-point final.
Bruce McLay (United) won the trophy and the CCA Silver badge with a 10/6 win over Runner up Gaylene Jones (Cashmere). Dave McMillan (Akaroa) came in third.
We put our lights on to drive home after another “big day at the office” for all involved.
Sixteen players from Canterbury travelled to Ashburton to play South Canterbury in the AC interprovincial on Sunday 18th September.
The match was played as three rounds of doubles with the total number of hoops determining the winner. After a strong first round, Canterbury narrowly beat South Canterbury with a two-hoop lead.
Full results are below.
The winning Canterbury team with Marghuaritte Rogers holding Basil the ram
On Sunday 25 September 2022 on a cool but fine day, there were 28 players taking part in the Inaugural GC Handicap Advantage Tournament. Due to numbers, the event was run over two venues with 20 players in three blocks at Fendalton Park Croquet Club and 8 players in one block at Holmes Park Croquet Club.
Canterbury Croquet Association in New Zealand is the first to run an Advantage Handicap Tournament with so many players, and there was some good feed back from the players to send to the organizers in the UK to improve the system further. Auckland also ran Advantage Handicap Tournaments on Sunday with fewer players and limited handicap ranges.
The overall response from our players was very much in favour of this new system of handicapping and as the UK organizer noted, we are still learning and refining. The different starting score and method of using pegs for a positive or negative score was taken on board by the players with some great croquet being played. I wish to thank the players for their sportsmanship, great atmosphere and being willing to learn about the different method of scoring and pegs.
My thanks go to Gay Jones as the assistant manager at Holmes Park, and to Mike Dawson and Sylvia MacFarlane as referees for the day and to the host clubs.
The final results were Winner: Patrick Conolly from Cashmere Croquet Club with Runner-up Kevin Freeth from Blenheim. Third was Neville Turner from Rangiora and fourth was Mike Bunce from St Martins.
South Island AC Teams Event – Report from Alister Newey and Steve Costigan
The AC South Island Teams event was held at the Waireka Club in Ashburton on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th March.
Teams from Nelson, Canterbury, South Canterbury and Otago competed and each consisted of 1 player from each the A, Intermediate, B and C grades.
The Canterbury team consisted of: Peter Parkinson, Steve Costigan, Alister Newey and Betty Hall.
The format was level doubles with the 2 senior players of each team playing together and the 2 junior players making up the second pair.
Each pair played a round robin against the same half of the other 3 teams each day, making 6 x 2-hour games for each pair and a total of 12 games per team.
The weather was cool to start with both days, (8.30 start) but turned out calm and hot for the most part. The lawns were in good order and quite fast.
The Canterbury team performed well enough to come in first place with 10 wins from their 12 games.
Peter and Steve lost just 1 game when unluckily the opposition gave little chance for them to get started and that game was all over in 1hr 5min.
Alister and Betty also lost only 1 game, their last one, on golden point, to a miracle roquet shot of 21 yards by the opposition, to their 2 balls set up to run the next hoop in order by Betty and unfortunately also the next hoop in order for the opposition striker as well. That’s sport.
We all had shots and games we would like to have again however let’s celebrate the result and the silver tray.
WELL DONE CANTERBURY
Left to right: Steve Costigan, Alister Newey, Betty Hall and Peter Parkinson
The CCA Atkins Competition was played on Saturday mornings from 29 January 2022. The finals were held at Fendalton on Saturday 26 March 2022 in brillant weather. Congratulations to the following top 8 teams who competed for the trophy and plate this year: Akaroa 1 & 2, Cashmere 1 & 2, Hornby 3, Fendalton and United 1 & 4.
Play started on lawns with a small amount of dew present however as the morning progressed these dried out making for better playing conditions.
Atkins Trophy
The trophy 19 point semi finals provided viewers, including those who were out walking their dogs watching over the fence, with great clearances and hoop running. The score for United 4 and Cashmere 1 went hoop for hoop however midway through United 4 went out to a 2 point lead only for Cashmere 1 (Gaylia Powell and Dick Sainsbury) to level the score at hoop 16. United 1 (Louis and Bettin Inglewood) managed the last two hoops giving them a win 10 – 8 and progressing to the final.
The second semi between Hornby 3 (Helen Webber and Wendy Berkett) and Fendalton (Cheryl Morrall and Julie Mills) was very similar to the other semi, with the game being won by Hornby with a successful boundary hoop shot on hoop 17. Winning score 10 – 7.
The final also played as a 19-point game and untimed was between United 4 and Hornby 3. Both teams had supporters from their respective clubs with everyone enjoying the good croquet being played.
Congratulations to Hornby 3 who replicated their previous score winning 10 – 7 with United 4 finishing as runner-up.
Plate
The Atkins Plate were 13-point timed games.
The first round results were : Akaroa 1 ( Carolyn Smith & Ian Bain): 7 v Akaroa 2 (Maria Narbey & Graham Jones) : 4 Cashmere 2 (Ken Lowe & Steve Stokes): 7 v United 1 (Geoff Price & Lee Ferguson): 2
The Plate semi-final this year included the trophy losing teams.
Cashmere 2 v Cashmere 1: the Cashmere 2 team were on a roll after their first game beating their club mates 7 – 3.
Akaroa 1 played Fendalton who held off a determined Akaroa team to win 7 – 5 and progress to the Plate final against Cashmere 2.
Final
A great game to watch the tactics and strategy of the more experienced Fendalton team and Cashmere using their extra turns to try and counter the moves. Well played Fendalton and Cheryl your jump for joy at hoop 12 when your ball went through the hoop said it all. Score 7-5.
Well done to everyone who played in the Atkins this season and we hope to see you all back next season. (Psst: If you’re really organised Interclub teams due in August).
Don’t forget CCA Prizegiving on Sunday 10th at 1:30pm at Fendalton.
Photos (51) Left to right; Helen Webber, Wendy Berkett, Louis Inglewood, Betty Inglewood
Photo (17) Left to right: Cheryl Morrall, Julie Mills, Steve Stokes, Ken Lowe
L-R: Atkins winners Helen Webber & Wendy Berkett (Hornby), Runners up Louis Inglewood and Betty Inglewood (United)L-R: Plate winners Cheryl Morrall & Julie Mills (Fendalton Park), runners up Steve Stokes & Ken Lowe (Cashmere)
Croquet Canterbury 