CqE v SCA 2026
5-6 September 2026, Chester
The annual AC match between Croquet England and the SCA took place in Chester over the 5-6 September weekend. David Magee was appointed captain, a role he is not unfamiliar with. While there is always handicap matching in team selection, we had one Scottish member dropping out which posed a late challenge to the running of the event. Fortunately, Brian Durward was able to step in at short notice, albeit at a lower ranking than the player he replaced. The SCA team was delighted to welcome Fiona McCoig (from Essex) – pleased to be playing for the nation of her birth. The other members were Stefan Colling, David Houston and Roger Binks.
The Chester club were brilliant hosts with several volunteers looking after our every need in respect of catering: ready tea and coffee, excellent lunches and afternoon teas from their cosy clubhouse at the end of the four lawns. Much like Meadows, their lawns were side-by-side with no gap in between. Unfortunately, the grass was very sparse and had suffered from the long dry season in England. So, the lawns were generally quite fast and there was also a significant slope from NE to SW over the whole lawns area that both teams had to deal with. Chester had done their best in the preparation of the lawns and there were three adjacent canopies erected to provide shelter from any rain – very useful on Sunday morning. Apart from that, the weather was generally kind to us in Westminster Park, SW of Chester city centre.
The traditional 3x doubles start on Saturday was played enthusiastically but did not go well for Scotland – neither did the second doubles session in the rainy Sunday morning. It was most unusual to have no SCA doubles wins to record in the entire event. Perhaps the (1-6, 2-5, 3-4) format in ranking pairs used should be revised.
We tried to make up for this in the 3x 6 singles sessions but achieved only 7 wins out of 18 games. It was not for the lack of trying. For example, David Houston treated the spectators to three very close finishes in his singles: the first was a long rush to rover down the slope from the east boundary which was not quite straight enough to make rover and peg out to convert a -1 into a +1; the second was a one-ball ending when he was just too far behind his opponent; the third was a tense golden hoop position where both players had chances, but it was David who struck the winning shot through 1-back to loud cheers. That just showed what an excellent ethos there is in this match when English spectators can cheer a Scottish win.
On the Saturday evening there was also a mutually respectful and convivial atmosphere when both teams and the Chester hosts enjoyed a very pleasant dinner at Chez Jules, courtesy of CqE.
Scotland has held the Quaich for three years but our captain congratulated England on their impressive 17-7 win and presented it to Matt Cook, the English captain, remarking that this was the first time that the rebranded CqE had won it instead of the Croquet Association.
David Houston
Results
Also on Croquet Scores (NB: *corrected score)
Saturday
Brooks & Platt beat Colling & McCoig +2T (12-10)
Cook & Cornes beat Magee & Binks +4T (18-14)
Smith & Tasker beat Houston & Durward +19T (23-4)
Roger Brooks lost to David Magee beat -8T (9-17)
Stuart M Smith beat David Houston +1T (15-14)
Matt Cook lost to Stefan Colling -15
David Cornes beat Fiona McCoig +9T (17-8)
Robin Tasker beat Brian Durward +3T (19-16)
Richard Platt beat Roger Binks +2T (11-9)
Matt Cook lost to David Magee -1T (9-10)
Stuart M Smith beat Stefan Colling +22
Roger Brooks beat David Houston +7
Richard Platt lost to Brian Durward -23T (2-25)
David Cornes beat Roger Binks +3T (12-9)
Robin Tasker beat Fiona McCoig +6T (12-6)
Sunday
Smith & Tasker beat Colling & McCoig +8T (23-15)
Brooks & Platt beat Magee & Binks +6T (18-12)
Cook & Cornes beat Houston & Durward +6T (19-13*)
Stuart M Smith lost to David Magee beat -7T (5-12)
Roger Brooks beat Stefan Colling +14
David Cornes lost to Brian Durward -10T (12-22)
Robin Tasker beat Roger Binks +22
Richard Platt beat Fiona McCoig +10T (13-3)
Matt Cook lost to David Houston -1T (11-12 golden hoop)
