Scottish Croquet Association

Aberdeen Tournament 2022

11 September 2022, Albury

Due to considerable fox damage on the croquet lawn, and potential for similar damage on the bowling green, a full tournament was not possible. However, four people played a one-day all-play-all tournament with the usual 18-point format (both clips starting on hoop 1). Bill Strachan had moved the hoop holes to avoid the damaged areas being a problem near the hoops, and there appeared to be no significant impact on the play.

Bill Strachan started using his bisques early against John Owen and kept John off the lawn for over half an hour, but ran out of bisques quite early, allowing John to make a break round to peg then finish the game soon after, winning 18-8. The early finish allowed John to go to watch the coffin of Queen Elizabeth pass by on its way from Balmoral to Edinburgh. Meanwhile, Derek Knight was winning 18-7 against John Henderson.

In the second round of matches, Bill made no mistakes in a convincing 18-0 win over Derek. The match between the two Johns was an exciting affair. John O took the lead with a good break, but John H used his two bisques to move ahead. A couple of very long hit-ins rescued the game for John O who prevailed by the narrow margin of 18-16.

Derek started his last match with John O by playing the wrong ball on turn 3. This allowed John to score a hoop, which proved to be crucial in the long run. Apart from blobbing hoop 2, Derek played very well after that, giving John no chance and winning 18-1. This left John O and Derek tied on two wins, but, crucially, John had 37 gross points compared to Derek’s 36. Only Bill now had the chance to overtake John. His match with John H ebbed and flowed and was close for much of the time, but thanks to some bobbled hoops by Bill resulting in easy starts for John H, he eventually pulled away to win 18-10, leaving John O as the winner.

John Owen has a handicap reduction to ½.

Results

 Winner decided by: 1 Most Wins, 2 Gross Hoops, 3 Who beat Whom