Scottish Croquet Association 
29-30 June 2013, Alexandra Park
The SCA Summer Weekend is usually in July, but it was scheduled earlier this year to avoid a clash with the match against the Welsh Croquet Association. Ten players took part, with handicaps ranging from Fergus McInnes's 2.5 to Richard Sparrow's 20. It was the high bisquers who had the best of it, with Richard winning the quaich and getting his handicap down to 18, while David Houston took second place and won a reduction from 16 to 14.
22-23 June 2013, Meadows
James Hopgood won the Meadows Open, with 6 wins from 7 games, ahead of George Noble with 5 out of 7.
George was one of six visitors from Surbiton taking part in the tournament - all of them also being members of the Surbiton team that played a match here against the Meadows Club on the preceding day (won 7-5 by the home side).
As the final round of games began on Sunday afternoon, George and James were both on 5/6, George having beaten James earlier in the day but lost to Campbell Morrison on Saturday. If George beat his clubmate Ian Vincent in the last round, or James lost to Brian Murdoch, then George would be the winner (on who-beat-whom if not outright).
In fact James beat Brian +26TP, making the result of the other game critical, and this was a much closer game. George did the three peels of a triple, but didn't jump yellow high enough through rover to avoid hitting red, which had only just gone through in the previous stroke. He sent it close to the peg, made a roquet of nine or ten yards on Ian's black ball, and attempted a combination peg-out by bombarding red with blue, but this did not quite get red onto the peg, and he pegged yellow out, leaving Ian with an opportunity to catch up from hoop 2 and 4-back. Ian's finishing break had its scary moments, especially when he got very angled position at rover and had to play an excellent jump shot to run the hoop - but this he did to win +1 and deny George the Muffin Dish.
Ian finished the tournament in joint third place with 4/6, alongside Fergus McInnes and Jane Morrison.
http://www.croquetscores.com/2013/ac/meadows-open/meadows-open
Fergus McInnes
8-9 June 2013, Meadows
This tournament was an interesting challenge for the manager, with seven players entered but one of them playing Saturday only and two playing Sunday only. The solution was a format in which all those present on Saturday played one another at least twice (with most of the games on Saturday, but some on Sunday) and those present on Sunday all played one another at least once. It could have produced a tie, in which case a final would have been played, but in fact there was an outright winner after the scheduled 14 rounds - Bill Spalding, who had won nine of his 12 games, ahead of Fergus McInnes with eight out of 12.
15-16 June 2013, Alexandra Park
There were seven entrants for the 2013 Middle Bisquers tournament, with handicaps ranging from 4.5 to 18: Robert Inder, Janice Duguid, Jamieson Walker, Joe Lennon, Hamish Duguid, Robert Lay and Jola Jurasinska.
It was originally intended to run the event in a seven-round all-play-all format. But because the Duguids did not expect to be available until Saturday afternoon, there would not have been quite enough time for all seven rounds to be completed, and so it was decided to play the tournament as a "flexible swiss".
3 June 2013, Kinross
This year's tournament had five entrants with two from the host club and three welcome first-time visitors from Crathes. Although it was disappointing not to see any visitors from the Edinburgh clubs, with only one lawn in operation it ensured a format where all played all but still left time for the customary leisurely lunch in the Green Hotel. Whilst Brian Smith decided a day's play might be too tiring, he made a welcome appearance at lunch and stayed to lend his support to the afternoon proceedings.
It clearly took the visitors time to adjust their game to the Kinross lawn which was playing rather more slowly than they were accustomed to. On the day, Brian and Simon were playing off Crathes allocated handicaps and it was later suggested they should most probably alter to play off no more than 16 and 14 respectively. Whilst Elaine only just failed to win two of her games, she demonstrated that she has the aptitude to make rapid improvement - a point probably not missed by Bob Burnett who, I believe, has her as a doubles partner at a forthcoming event!
It was to be Brian Clark who best conquered the conditions and the opposition by winning all of his games. As the visitors had a lengthy return journey north and the outcome was clear, it was agreed the few outstanding games would not be necessary. All that remained was for Brian to receive his well deserved winner's bottle of wine.
Hamish Duguid
