Our SCCC Team kicked off their GC Level Play Restricted * League programme with a fine 6-1 win over Tunbridge Wells on Tuesday 10th August at Southwick.
The team - Tony Jolly (2), Andrew Fall (4), Di Langridge (5) & Phil Harrison (6) - led 2-1 at the lunch break, with Di and Phil each winning their singles matches, our only loss coming in the doubles - each individual match is best of 3 games. After lunch each of our players won their singles matches, to round off a good day. Don't get the idea that it was all easy going - of the 7 matches (consisting of 19 games), 5 matches went to the third game to decide the winner. Well done to Di, who won both her matches 2-0.
Next match: V Littlehampton at home on 20th Aug, with fixtures V Reigate Priory (H) and Ealing (A) to be confirmed.
David King
* This league is "Restricted" in that a team consists of 4 players, whose combined handicaps must total at least 16 - the lowest handicap permitted is 2.
Sussex County was well represented at the Budleigh Salterton AC August Tournament by David and Deborah Marcus - the only players from SCCC to attend this year.
David and Deborah came joint second in the doubles competition.
David won the B Class event, winning all his games (and gaining 76 handicap points in the process) and the final by the tight margin of +1 on peg out.
Congratulations to them both!
David pegs out in final.
The block stages are now closed and the draw for the quarter-, semi- and finals is on the website.
Sussex B Beat Woking away in a hard fought match at Woking on 3rd August. Chris Heath & Jonathan Isaacs won both of their singles matches to record a 4 - 3 win over an impressive Woking team.
The doubles pairing of Roger Sutton and Ian Cobbold narrowly missed victory against Jeff Dawson & Malcolm Bigg. It went to the golden hoop with the Sussex yellow ball in the jaws and blue more than half way back towards the boundary. Jeff Dawson took a spectacular jump with his blue ball to gain victory.
The full results were:
Jeff Dawson & Malcolm Bigg beat Ian Cobbold & Roger Sutton 5-7, 7-6, 7-6
Chris Heath beat Bernard Jones 5-7, 7-2, 7-6
Jonathan Isaacs beat Colin Brim 7-3, 7-5
Jeff Dawson beat Ian Cobbold 7-2, 7-3
Malcolm Bigg beat Roger Sutton 7-2, 6-7, 7-3
Jonathan Isaacs beat Bernard Jones 6-7, 7-4, 7-6
Chris Heath beat Colin Brim 7-3, 4-7, 7- 5
The overall result was SCCC B 4 matches Woking 3
Jonathan Isaacs
Both GC and AC events have taken place over Tuesday to Friday this last week. It's good to see competitions operating nearly normally again, even if entries remain rather low.
The AC competition took place on Tuesday and Wednesday and was in two classes: A and B; the conditions were generally OK as the heavy rain had largely finished by the time play started on Tuesday and the forecast strong winds on Wednesday were not as prolonged or as strong as feared. We finished in pleasant sunshine.
The A Class event was won by Mark Fawcett who is a Sussex member. As last year the players got on with the competition without need for manager involvement - thank you all for that - and played a large number of extra games, over and above the formal single block play that determined the winner.
The B Class event by visiting player from Scotland George Plant. He also won all his games.
During the competition Joel Taylor completed his first sextuple peel and gained the CA platinum merit award; and Neal Bacon completed his first triple peel and gained the CA Gold merit award. Congratulations to them both.
A Class
| A Block | NB | MF | NP | PC | JT | LF | Match Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neal Bacon | +12 | +20, +9tp | +22 | 3 | =3 | |||
| Mark Fawcett | +22 | +26tp | +3 | +19 | +5 | 5 | 1 | |
| Nick Parish | +19qnp | +26, 26tp | +15tp, +17tp | +26tp | 4 | 2 | ||
| Paul Castell | +15 | +16, +25 | 2 | 5 | ||||
| Joel Taylor | +11qp | +17 | +25, +13sxp | 3 | =3 | |||
| Liz Farrow | +3 | 1 | 6 |
B Class
| B Block | DM | AH | JMT | CR | PD | JL | MH | DHB | JI | GP | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Marcus | +14 | +3 | 2 | =5 | ||||||||
| Anthony Hardwicke | +22 | +1 | 2 | =5 | ||||||||
| John M Taylor | +10 | +7 | +7 | 3 | =3 | |||||||
| Christopher Rolph | +2 | +9 | 5 | 2 | =5 | |||||||
| Phil Dunk | +20 | +6 | +21 | 3 | =3 | |||||||
| John Low | +13 | +12 | +15 | +15 | 4 | 2 | ||||||
| Mark Hamilton | +5 | +1 | 2 | =5 | ||||||||
| David H Boyd | 0 | 10 | ||||||||||
| Jonathan Isaacs | +21 | +4 | 2 | =5 | ||||||||
| George Plant | +2 | +16 | +2 | +17 | +11 | 5 | 1 |
The A Level competition was won by Richard Brooks who beat Tony Butcher in the final. This is Richard's third win in the competition, having previously won it in 2016 and 2017. Richard is the Club's longest standing A class GC player, with appearances at national and international competitions including the British Opens in nearly every year since 2009, in the European Championship in 2016, the World Championship in 2017 and the Worlds in 2019.
The B Level competition was won by Andrew Fall who beat Anthony Nicholas in the final.
The C Level competition was won by Jean Cobbold who won all her games in the single competition block.
Block Stage
| B Class All | RC | SD | AF | TH | BH | DK | FL | AN | SN | RP | Wins | Block Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robyn Clark | 6 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 2 | B 3 | |||||
| Simon Draper | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 2 | A =4 | ||||
| Andrew Fall | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | B 1 | |||||
| Trevor Hopper | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 3 | A 3 | |||||
| Beryl Hughes | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | B 2 | |||||
| David King | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | A 2 | |||||
| Frances Low | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | A =4 | |||||
| Anthony Nicholas | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | A 1 | |||||
| Sue Nicholas | 5 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 1 | B =4 | |||||
| Richard Platt | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1 | B =4 |
Final Round
Andrew Fall beat Anthony Nicholas 7-4
David King beat Beryl Hughes 7-2
Robyn Clark beat Trevor Hopper 7-2
Frances Low beat Sue Nicholas 7-4
Simon Draper beat Richard Platt 7-4
| C Class | JC | LG | KH | PB | DC | MK | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jean Cobbold | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Linda Gavigan | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | =2 | |
| Ken Hughes | 4 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2 | =4 | |
| Paul Brown | 4 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | =2 | |
| David Comber | 6 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 2 | =4 | |
| Marion King | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 5 |
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This was in the now usual format of 3 separate blocks according to skill class.
| A | RB | RS | MC | CM | BA | RW | DK | AC | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Brooks | 3 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | |
| Roger Sutton | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |
| Morgan Case | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | |
| Chrissie Merrington | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Brian Aikens | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
| Robin Wootton | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | |
| David King | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 8 | |
| Alan Cottle | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| B | BH | TN | SN | TH | MB | RF | FA | LA | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beryl Hughes | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | |
| Tony Nicholas | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | |
| Sue Nicholas | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 | |
| Trevor Hopper | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | |
| Malcolm Beacham | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | |
| Richard French | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Francis Ainley | 3 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 6 | |
| Les Ardley | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| C | CA | SA | PM | KH | TS | PH | PB | SC | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Ardley | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| Simon Ancell | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | |
| Pat Mechen | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | |
| Ken Hughes | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Tim Stevenson | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | |
| Pat Harden | 4 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| Paul Brown | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
| Susan Caulfield | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 |
Thanks to Fiona for managing the day.
The GC Ladies Day is an annual event run by the Southeast Croquet federation and hosted by Sussex County.
Frances Low, Sussex member and event Joint-Manager with Linda Gavigan , reported on the day to the assembled players afterwards on behalf of herself and Linda:
Many thanks for coming to Southwick yesterday. It was lovely to see so many of you - familiar faces and new ones!
I hope you enjoyed the day. The weather was kind to us.
Many thanks to Linda for her help and encouragement, to Mike Oulton and Jackie for refereeing and to Jonathan and Chrissy for the catering.
The winners as you know were Surbiton with 5 match wins and 13 games won. 2nd place were Guildford with 5 match wins but 11 game wins. So close! Congratulations to Surbiton.
The other places:
3rd Reigate P , 4th Chichester, 5th Rottingdean, 6th Sussex 1, 7th Littlehampton, 8th Cheam, 9th Ealing, 10th Sussex 2, 11th Rother Valley and 12th Tunbridge Wells. All were very close so it went down to games won or hoop difference!
Well done everyone. An enjoyable and friendly day.
Many thanks to Bill Arliss for allowing us to use his spreadsheet and for all his expert help. Good to see him and Pam during their visit today.
Best wishes to you all from Linda and myself. We will have a 'klaxon' next year!
On Thursday 15th July Sussex A played a home match against Merton.
The teams were:-
Sussex A
Morgan Case -2 handicap
Richard Brooks -1 (captain)
Bob Clark -1
Paul Castell -1
Merton
Graham Withrington 0
Carolyn Doswell 3 (captain)
Simon Emdin 3
Hilary Davis 4
With a 15 point handicap advantage we obviously started as favourites and so it proved to be when we ran out as 6-1 match winners.
However we must congratulate our opponents for putting up a hard fight and each of our players lost at least one game in the best of 3 encounters. This meant that we all lost points on our handicap cards in spite of the margin of victory.
Our final league match of the season is away at Dulwich on 18th August.
With one more match to play in the League, Sussex A are 3-0 up.
Report by Richard Brooks Sussex A captain
The competition was in the usual 3 block format. The winners were Richard Brooks & David King, Paul Brown & Mark Hamilton and Richard Ellis & Simon Ancell. Thanks to Roger Sutton for managing the event.
| Block A | CM&NG | RB&DK | N&JH | LT&HD | JI&LF | I&JC | TJ&FP | RS&MB | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrissie Merrington & Noel Gill | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Richard Brooks & David King | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 | |
| Neil & Jane Humphreys | 7 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| Louise Taylor & Hilary Davis | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | |
| Jonathan Isaacs & Liz Farrow | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | |
| Ian & Jean Cobbold | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 7 | |
| Tony Jolly & Fiona Phillps | 4 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Roger Sutton & Malcolm Beacham | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Block B | GT&SE | D&MB | PB&MH | DL&SR | S&TN | PH&MA | AS&CK | Wins | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Taylor & Simon Emdin | 7 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| David & Maggie Boyd | 5 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
| Paul Brown & Mark Hamilton | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |
| Di Langridge & Sue Rice | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | |
| Sue & Tony Nicholas | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | |
| Phil Harrison & Mike Akester | 4 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | |
| Andrew Stewart & Cathy Kirkby | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Block C | RE&SA | PM&SC | PH&MF | P&RW | L&CA | FB&EP | AG&VT | Wins | Net Hoops |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Ellis & Simon Ancell | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| Pat Mecham & Susan Caulfield | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | |
| Pat Harden & Maggs Funnell | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | |
| Peter & Rosemary Wyld | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | |
| Les & Chris Ardley | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 | |
| Fran Box & Eileen Prodger | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 77 | 3 | 4 | |
| Adrien Gilbert & Vicky Torrefiel | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 0 | 7 |