Mystery man makes triumphant return

Croquet

A croquet player who had not picked up a mallet for five years beat world champion Stephen Mulliner in a thrilling tournament final at Polo Farm on Thursday.

Dutchman Rutger Beijderwellen abandoned top-level croquet for kite-surfing in 2012 but Canterbury Croquet club member Jonathan Lamb persuaded him to enter his one-ball association croquet tournament, organised to help celebrate the opening of the club’s new lawns.

Beijderwellen entered on condition that his entry should not be publicised so Lamb announced that there would be a mystery player.

Lamb said the player could well turn out to win the event – a tall order as one of the 14 competitors was the current world croquet champion.

The mystery player seemed to hail from the Middle East as he emerged from a Rolls whose smartly-attired chauffeur looked remarkably like Canterbury Croquet Club’s chairman Barry Sales.

The mystery was solved once the player removed his headdress.

In the past Beijderwellen specialised in one-ball play, winning a major tournament three times and in the final, Mulliner could not quite match the intensity of the Dutchman’s play.

Canterbury’s Tobi Savage, also a world-class player, was knocked out of the main event but won a consolation challenge competition.

When tournament organiser Jonathan Lamb needed a player to make up the numbers Canterbury’s Henry Bryant took up the challenge.

His first opponent was none other than world champion Stephen Mulliner.

The first-round, best-of-three, game was over in a flash as Mulliner raced around the hoops. However Bryant, who has a handicap of 16, was unfazed.

He went on to score several hoops against Mulliner and continued to play well against top players in later rounds.

Canterbury’s Henry Bryant prepares a shot

Rutger Beijderwellen receives the winner’s prize from organiser Jonathan Lamb. Tobi Savage receives the consolation event prize