AC Short Lawns Tournament, 11th October 2020

In past years, Bath’s Short Lawns Croquet tournaments were held as season-long events and then, more recently, on just one day on a convivial date in the summer with the days long and warm. The 5-round tournaments would start at 09.30 and would go on until 5.30 or later, depending on the need to establish a clear winner. This year, for obvious reasons, the competition took place on Sunday, 11th October with the early morning lawns still covered in dew and worm casts well in evidence. As a result, play did not start until 10.00 with only 4 rounds in the programme.
Recent remedial work on Lawn 1 meant that only 3 lawns were available for play, converted into 6 half-lawns and thereby limiting entries to 12 because of social distancing requirements.
When lunch was taken after the two morning rounds, it was clear that the likely winner was going to come from Margaret Murray (4.5), Tony Jackson (5) and Ian Morrison (1.5). In the eventual outcome, the Swiss tournament managed by Roger Hayes resulted in Tony and Ian facing each other in the final, both having won all three of their previous games. Unfortunately for Ian, his skillful touch deserted him at a critical point in the game, allowing Tony to regain the innings and surge ahead. With his decided bisque advantage, Tony achieved a successful peg-out, with Ian sadly lagging far behind.
In addition to receiving a box of chocolates presented by Philip de Glanville, Tony was also awarded a handicap reduction to 4 by the manager.

Roger Hayes