The annual North of England Championship took place at Bowdon over the weekend of 29th – 31st August. The weather was a challenge, plenty of rain and sunshine in equal parts. Considering recent weather the lawns looked great, lovingly prepared by Ian and Charles and their band of merry men! The championship was brilliantly managed by Ian Lines.
Just need the players to perform now!
There were 6 Bowdon members taking part; Andrew Winn, Nigel Matthews, Jack Good, Ged Smolskas, David Maugham (last year’s winner) and Alison Maugham.
Alison, Nigel, David and Jack all won their first round matches, four Bowdon members through to the last 8, looking good. Sadly Nigel had to play James Death, who played brilliantly in the first round beating Dave Kibble, 26qp – 0, and 26 sxp to 0. Nigel suffered a similar defeat, losing 26sxp to 0 and 26sxp to 0. Alison played and lost to Debbie Lines and David lost, I repeat David lost! almost unheard of in these Championships, to Robin Brown. Jack won through to the Semis beating Neil Adams. Jack to face Robin in one semi final, Debbie to face James in the other.
Debbie lost the first game to James, by all accounts she should have won, but she won the second game convincingly: 26tp – 0. However, James took his revenge by winning the third game with an amazing 26ssxp to 7. What’s an ssxp you ask, see the bottom of this post for a definition.
Jack was beaten by Robin 2 games to nil in the other semi final. So Monday’s best of 5 Final would be between James Death and Robin Brown. James got some practice in on Sunday evening playing a one handed GC game with Alison, Debbie and Robin. why one handed? He had to hold his beer in the other!
Mondays final saw James carry on in the same way as his earlier games, beating Robin 3 – 0, his scores were: 26tpo – 0, 26qp – 0 and 26sqp – 0, in the final game James’s canon off black from half way to almost peel his red ball on rover was a shot to behold. A fantastic set of victories over the weekend and deserved North of England Champion.
The Tollemarche Plate final was between Debbie and Jack, which Jack won 26 – 19 and the
North of England Plate was won by Ian Lines win an 80% win ratio.
Well done to all winners.
North of England Championship
North of England Championship
Tollemarche Plate
Bowdon Players taking part:
You can see all the match scores on Croquet Scores website by clicking here
James Death’s Peels:
| Peel Type | Definition | Nos Completed |
| QP | Quadruple Peel – Refers to a turn peeling partner ball through its last 4 hoops and winning the game | 2 |
| SQP | Straight quadruple peel – a somewhat misleading term, the straight peel does not refer to the angle at which the peel is being played, but rather refers to a peel where the striker and peelee are for the same hoop. The peelee is peeled in the croquet stroke and the striker scores the hoop in the continuation stroke | 1 |
| SXP | Sextuple Peel – Refers to a turn peeling partner ball through its last 6 hoops and winning the game | 3 |
| SSXP | Straight Sextuple Peel – Very rare! | 1 |
| TPO | Triple Peel – Triple peel, but on the opponent’s ball | 1 |