Alternate Stroke Doubles success despite ‘pingdemic’

This summer’s season of Internal Tournaments opened with the AC Alternate Stroke Doubles on Monday 2ndAugust. Twelve people signed up to play but two had to drop out at the last minute because they had been ‘pinged’ and were required to self-isolate for 10 days. Fortunately Timothy Cantell had offered to be first reserve and kindly stepped in for Margaret Murray, and Tournament Manager Philip de Glanville was also pressed into service to cover for Paul Francis.

The tournament consisted of four rounds of 14 pt Handicap AC, played on full lawns with a 90 minute time limit. All the pairs consisted of a high bisquer and a low bisquer, and the format gave complete newcomer Neil Pinker the opportunity to play competitively for the first time. He had only picked up a mallet for the first time three weeks before!

Timothy was teamed up with Martin Alabaster, and this turned out to be a winning combination; the pair of them played very well, making effective use of their bisque allocation and winning all four games comfortably. Roger Hayes & Mo Bell were runners-up with three wins. Philip & Neil and Lynne Passfield & Elaine Morrison won two games each.