16 players gathered to contest the North of England Championship at Bowdon last weekend, 26th to 28th August. 16 is a good number, because it means that the knockout can begin with 8 singles matches and nobody gets a bye into the next round. All rounds before the final are played on a ‘best of three games’ basis. The final was on a ‘best of five games’ basis. As players are eliminated from the knockout rounds they can play in the ‘Plate’ competition, which involves playing other eliminated players. The top 8 ‘Plate’ players compete in a knockout quarter-final, semi-final and final.
The Championship final was between Ian Lines (-2), of Peterborough and Alain Giraud (-2) a far country member at Bowdon whose main club is Ealing. Ian Lines was a member of Bowdon CC for many years and returns regularly. We certainly still regard him as one of our own. Ian won by 3 games to 1. Alain took the first game 26 – 22 with a triple peel. Ian then took the next 3 games all by 26 – 0 with triple peels. Congratulations to Ian on winning the Faulkner Cup, after last winning it in 2009. Alain wins the Bowdon Cup as runner-up.
Jack Good (0) won the Tollemache Plate, beating Debbie Lines (-2) 26 – 9 in the Plate Final.
Ian Lines receives the Faulkner Cup from Bowdon CC Vice-President Michael Sandler
Photos above by Adrian Apps
All the results are available on the ‘croquet scores’ website at https://croquetscores.com/2023/ac/north-of-england-championship/north-of-england-championship
Alan Mayne had been responsible for preparing the lawns to a superb standard.
The other players in the tournament were:
