Bath Win SWF Short Croquet (Open) Final

The team of David, Roger, Neil and Lynne drove to Nailsea through torrential rain and partially flooded roads- muttering not looking forward to a day’s play in this!

On arrival, Dave Kibble, our referee for the day with weather app in hand, forecast no rain after 10.00 a.m. and thank goodness the app was right. Both teams, keeping wet weather gear close to hand, turned out onto the four short lawns and looked forward to playing their best croquet. Nailsea playing to retain the title and Bath challenging for the title for a first time.

The lawns played very slowly for the first round and with the lawns not having been cut, due to mower problems, both teams battled to get hoop approaches and rushes to accurately deliver. End of round one and to Bath’s surprise they were ahead 3-1, end of second round and Bath were 6-2 ahead – we were flying!

With a lunch break taken in glorious sunshine both teams shared stories of wins, defeats and bizarrely whether the tablets being taken by both sides were legal. Not to worry they were antibiotics!

Play resumed promptly after lunch and Bath’s form continued with an eventual score of 13-3 crowning Bath the South West Federation Open short croquet league winners.

Both teams mustered in Nailsea’s clubhouse for the presentation by the SWF representative, Linda Shaw, and the home team very kindly provided delicious refreshments to end the day.