HWCC member wins tournament ... with (legitimate!) help from a fellow member

In the blistering heat of 21st and 22nd July, High Wycombe Croquet Club co-hosted an AC C-Level (7+) Advanced Tournament. The first day was held at the lovely riverside setting of Phyllis Court Henley with the eight players playing two full games then ‘pegging down’ the position of the balls and clips halfway through the third game. Play resumed at our club the following morning with the completion of that game and two further games. 
 
The tournament attracted players from as far away as East Dorset, but included HW members myself (Robin Morrison) and Raghu Iyer. Listed among the special conditions was ‘Players must be prepared to play until dusk.’ Well, sunset these days is pretty late, but we were all glad of the slight reduction in temperature towards the evening.  Thanks to a very early start from Raouf, setting hoops, we were able to get going early on day two at High Wycombe. 
 
The competition was hard fought with three players finishing in joint second place with three wins. Despite an erratic start to this season, everything came together for me at this event – even hitting in at 33 yards at one point. I won my first four games and hence first place, despite losing my fifth game to the excellent and bold play of Noel Harris from Eynsham. As luck (for me) would have it, Noel was robbed of victory in his previous game by Raghu running his ball round to peg in his very last visit to the lawn to win by one point. Otherwise, it would have been four wins apiece and the trophy to Noel! Raghu is definitely my favourite person at the moment and at the end of two intense, hot days I put a £20 note in the box and we all enjoyed a well-deserved cold beer!

Robin Morrison