deane showdown awaits

Bath Croquet Club had several teams in action last weekend. The advanced AC Parkstone Trophy team beat Budleigh Salterton 4-3 at the Rec to maintain their 100 per cent record. In the morning Roger Hayes won his singles match and the doubles team of John Grimshaw and Richard Jelly also won, to give them a 2-1 lead. And in the afternoon Hayes, with a 26-1 score against a higher ranked player, and Grimshaw both won their singles matches to cement the win. Jelly and Paul Francis both narrowly lost their singles matches to higher ranked opponents. This result means a showdown with Taunton Deane, also unbeaten, for the division title. The Federation North team were also in action at the Rec against Swindon. The team of Hester Henebury, David Prescott and Bob Hart won their doubles match and all their singles games to run out 5-0 winners. Elsewhere, the club’s GC Handicap North team entertained Beckford on Monday in their last league match of the season. The match, a mixture of singles and doubles games, was a tight affair until mid-afternoon when the Bath team stretched away to a 13-7 success. Pete Riley, Howard Grove and Tony Curson had three wins each, with other points coming from Norman Connor, Richard Mills, Miriam Bolger and Elaine Morrison. Bath’s other GC Handicap team were also in action at Kington Langley. Despite a strong start the team tailed off in the last two rounds of singles matches to lose narrowly 11-9.