And finally ...

The GC Level Club Competition (EV5) was impacted by the pandemic restrictions and some blocks were not completed.  However, semi-finalists were identified and long term friends and rivals Roger Goldring and Ian Shore won to through to play in a tense final.   The Club Chairman had kindly spent his lunch hour swishing Lawn 1 free of autumn leaves so all was set fair for a best of 3, 13-point game final.

Roger (wearing his traditional black shorts) won the toss and his first ball was played to perfect length.  Ian (with his white hat) was aware he had his work cut out.  Could he at least give Roger a competitive afternoon?  The game was played out with a sequence of strokes, many of the highest class (although some distinctly less so!)  The first game ran to 6-6, at which point Ian called on his reserves and his wife, Catherine, arrived for moral support.  The outcome, after some hard fought play at Hoop 13, was a win for Ian after some 90 minutes of play.  

Game two, was characterised by some exceptional play by Roger, some missed hoops by Ian and a result: 7-3 to Roger.  

The third game was started after some discussion about light levels, as it was nearly 1700 hrs. The Black Shorts and the White Hat agreed that their wearers should make the third game a timed game to avoid having to play in the dark.  Ian succeeded in gaining an early lead, arguably slightly against the run of play, which, in the event, proved decisive as he won 7-2.

While the record will show Ian as the winner of EV5 2020, two games to one, a spectator would have seen some examples of excellent positional shots (Ian), a series of exceptional mid-range full-on clearances (Roger), some amazing (lucky?) distant hoop runs, a few jumps, a crush (oops!), playing for the wrong hoop(!!), all combined with the sportsmanship that characterises our game.  Well done to both players. 

Ian Shore