Defeat to Ivychurch A

We played our final match of the season in the Croquet South-East Golf Croquet Handicap league at home to Ivychurch A on 7 July.

After a short delay for rain, we started strongly; winning both of the doubles games in the opening round, with Kate Sander and Dave Grimshaw recording a 7-4 win in their game whilst David Pratt and Robert Hassell won by the convincing margin of 7-2. Ivychurch struck back in round 2, winning three of the four singles games – Robert scoring our only win.

This left us tied 3-3 at the lunch break, as we were in our match last year – at which point the heavens opened and the match had to be abandoned! There was no such intervention this year, as the sun continued to shine and the pitches dried. Robert secured another win in his singles game, but Dave lost his singles game on the golden hoop to leave us tied 4-4, whilst the doubles game continued. Unfortunately, Kate and David were unable to secure the win, resulting in a 5-4 win  for the visitors.

This defeat left us with a 100% record for the season – sadly, played four, lost four!