Hester’s Heroics are in Vain

Bath Croquet Club’s Parkstone Trophy team visited the Bear of Rodborough (near Stroud) on Saturday 19 May for their second fixture of 2012 with a new look side as captain Andrew Willis and regular Peter Miles were joined by Hester Henebury who had been drafted in as a last minute replacement for the injured Roger Hayes.

Willis won the first point of the day for Bath with a narrow victory in the morning singles match. Meanwhile in the doubles match, Henebury was excelling herself under the watchful eye of her more experienced partner Miles. This gruelling epic was eventually decided in the Bear’s favour after over five hours of play, levelling the scores at 1-1.

In the afternoon singles Willis added to Bath’s tally with a swift and emphatic victory against the Bear’s Captain. This meant that Bath needed just one more win from either Miles or Henebury, but unfortunately it was not to be Bath’s day. Miles succumbed to his opponent in a nail-biting three ball ending and although Henebury again exceeded everybody’s expectations, including her own, she lost on time to a far more experienced opponent.

Despite the 3-2 defeat, the Bath team greatly enjoyed their trip to the Bear and will look forward to the return fixture.