Short Lawns side reach final
Having won the SE Division of the South West Croquet Federation Short Lawns League, Bath Croquet Club travelled away for their semifinal against SW Division winners Taunton Deane.
Despite playing on green grass, as opposed to the slick parched lawns at Bath, the team came away with an 11-5 win to take them to the final against Cheltenham at Budleigh on September 25 to defend the title they won last year. Neil Pinker, Martin Alabaster and Sue Duncan each had three wins in their games, whilst Tony Jackson also won two games.
The club’s Federation League team played their last divisional game of the season at home to Glamorgan. In the morning games, the doubles team of Paul Francis and Pinker narrowly won their game to take the team into lunch at 1-1.
Pinker easily won his singles in the afternoon whilst Peter Miles fought back in his game against his higher ranked opponent to win.
This gave Bath a narrow 3-2 victory and the Central Division title. The team will now play Northern Division winners Broadwas (Worcs) in a home semi-final on Saturday.
The club held their Finals Day at the weekend, with six internal trophies at stake. In the Short Lawns competition, Margaret Murray romped away in the final with a 14-1 win over Miles. Miles came back in the afternoon with a very narrow 18-17 win in the Stopforth Cup over Alabaster.
Tony Curson won the GC Handicap singles, beating Sally Helvey 7-5 5-7 7-2, and Gill Clark won the High Handicap GC singles 7-4 7-4 against Timothy Cantell. Helvey was in action again in the afternoon losing, 7-5 4-7 5-7 to Ian Morrison in the GC Level Play singles. The GC Handicap doubles was won by MJ Middlehurst and Pinker who defeated Sue Andrew and Cantell 7-6 7-5.