SCA v CA 2023
26-27 August 2023, Meadows
The annual match between the SCA and the CA was played over the English August Bank Holiday weekend at the Meadows. There was a change to the format this year as, due to a family bereavement, one of the English team had to drop out at the last moment. Rosemary Saunders Robertson graciously withdrew from our team so we ended up with two 5-man teams which, in turn, created a flow of emails to agree a revised format. The new format consisted of a mix of singles and doubles for the first four rounds and concluded with a round of singles where each member of the team played their opposite number in ranking order.
Saturday evening saw the completion of the first three rounds with the SCA trailing by one point so both teams repaired to the Tempo Perso in good heart and enjoyed a very pleasant dinner. Lunch on Sunday was a slightly more sombre affair as, after the completion of the fourth round, the SCA were left with having to win four of the five singles to lift the trophy. A tall order as, on paper, the SCA had much the weaker team and every member would be playing a much more highly ranked opponent. But, as I was once told, the game is not played on paper and, failing to follow the captain’s lead, the remaining four players each won their games in relative comfort. So, somewhat against expectations, the SCA regained the Quaich and many congratulations are due to Roger Binks, Alastair Burn-Murdoch, Stefan Colling, and George Plant.
David Magee
Results
(Also on Croquet Scores)
Saturday
George Plant lost to James Hopgood -16
Magee & Binks beat King & Staples +4T (15-11)
Burn-Murdoch & Colling beat Killick & Skelton +10T (23-13)
Alastair Burn-Murdoch lost to Joe King -25
Magee & Colling lost to Hopgood & Staples -13T (9-22)
Roger Binks beat Stephen Skelton +6T (20-14)
George Plant lost to Andrew Killick -4
David Magee lost to James Hopgood -26tp
Stefan Colling beat Roger Staples +9
Alastair Burn-Murdoch lost to Andrew Killick -5
Plant & Binks beat King & Skelton +3T (17-14)
Sunday
Plant & Colling beat Killick & Staples +1T (21-20)
David Magee lost to Joe King -15
Burn-Murdoch & Binks lost to Hopgood & Skelton -6T (14-20)
David Magee lost to Andrew Killick -25
Alastair Burn-Murdoch beat James Hopgood +15
George Plant beat Joe King +18
Roger Binks beat Roger Staples +17
Stefan Colling beat Stephen Skelton +15
