Bowdon played away and won against High Wycombe in the semi-final of the Croquet Association AC Inter-Club Mary Rose knock-out competition, on Saturday 10 September.
This national CA competition is for Advanced play, by teams with members having handicaps of 0 and above, and an aggregate handicap of at least 4. Bowdon’s aggregate handicap was 5.5. High Wycombe’s aggregate handicap was 19. This gave Bowdon cause for optimism and they duly ran out the winners 6 – 0. One morning game was pegged down so that it could be continued if necessary following the afternoon games.
Initial comments from Bowdon were that the lawns looked, and in fact were, fantastic. Alan reckons they were the best he’s ever seen.
This resounding victory puts Bowdon into the final against Hurlingham who beat Watford 4 – 3 in the other semi-final.
Bowdon’s successful team was:
In the morning games Alan (0) and Michael (1.5) beat Richard Peperath (2.5) and Ed Olhavern (3.5) +1. Mike & Alan raced away whilst feeling confident. Richard and Ed slogged away and all of a sudden it was terrifyingly close. Fortunately Alan & Mike kept their nerve and ended up winning +1. Prior to Chris Pegrum (8) and Charle’s (2) morning game, Chris said he hadn’t played advance before and asked “what’s a lift”. Maybe Chris didn’t know what a lift was but he knew all about break play!! Charles had to keep his focus and eventually won +11. The game between Brian (2) and Keith Harker (5) was pegged down.
The afternoon singles games went fairly smoothly with the temporary team captain (Mike) racing away to finish first. The other games went at a more pedestrian pace but still provided the results to put Bowdon in the final in October. Alan beat Richard +5, Michael beat Ed +5, Brian beat Chris +20 and Charles beat Keith +24