Enfield Croquet Club
Playing For Scotland
Earlier this year, one of our Club members Thomas Halliday was selected to play for the Scottish National Croquet Team.
This October, he is one of the members of the Scottish National Croquet team playing in the 2020 WCF Golf Croquet World Team Championship Tier 2 which was postponed from last year. Details of the tournament being held in Cadiz on the 11th - 16th October and streaming of games can be found here. Below is a report received from Thomas on 12th October...
"Now that the group stages are all but over here I thought I should update you on what's been happening to me and the Scotland team.
The test format is two doubles matches and four singles, all best of three. Our first match was against Wales at the spectacular RCG Vista Hermosa,
featuring the world number 36 Ian Burridge and the world number 51 Angharrad Walters. Scotland's highest ranked players are way down past 200 or so, and we were expecting to be roundly
beaten.
In the opening doubles, I and Stephen Wright were up against Burridge and Mike Parry. We gave them a run for their money, and eventually lost 7-5, 3-7,
7-6. Martin Murray and Alan Clark (who some Enfield players may know from matches against Watford) lost to Walters and Arthur Rowe.
In the singles, I was up against Arthur Rowe, a -1 handicap player from Bowdon club, and managed to win convincingly, beating him 7-2 7-4. Alan also won
his singles to level the test, but very close defeats to Wales's best players gave Scotland a 4-2 loss.
Never mind. On to Latvia in day two on the lumpy and unpredictable lawns of Sherry Golf. Latvia had spent five hours practising on these lawns on Sunday,
compared with our two hour slot, and the difference showed. Eventually we began to work out the right lines that would curl the ball in, but it was too little. In the doubles Stephen and I lost to
father-daughter pairing Roberts Stafeckis and Silvija Freimane. Silvija, with a calculated handicap of 1, was my singles opponent too. Our games were extremely close throughout, with both of us
setting good positions and running hoops well. In the end, her long-range clearances were that bit better, and I lost 7-5 7-5, but unable to be too disappointed. Overall, we only won one match
against Latvia, eliminating Scotland from contention from promotion.
Tomorrow, Latvia play Wales to decide who wins Group B, but both have already reached the semifinals. In the other group, Spain and Switzerland are in the
same position. One of these countries will be in the top tier. Tomorrow, we have a friendly match against a Spanish Select Team, and then face a partly Canadian side (only two of their team made it
to Spain) in the first consolation round, after which we'll be put in the semifinals of the Plate competition, along with the losing semifinalists of the main competition and Norway. So there's still
some chance of silverware.
I'll let you know more as we get on, but I'm so far not too disappointed. I managed to help run Ian Burridge close, beat a -1, and held my own against a 1
handicap. All in all, not a bad first showing for Scotland, even if the results are a little frustrating."
And here's follow-up report... "Wednesday and Thursday were made up of friendly matches against the Spanish Select Team, made up of the six players
ranked 7th to 12th in Spain, and 'Canada Plus', which for our match was a team of two Canadians and two Portuguese players.
Scotland contrived to lose the first 4-2, with all matches going to the higher ranked players. The second was pretty successful; we won 5-1, and I managed
to win both doubles and singles matches. The only defeat here went to our top player, Stephen, who lost to hard-hitting Canadian Hesham Elzoghby, who learnt his croquet in Cairo and plays in the
distinctive Egyptian style.
By this point, Wales and Spain had made the final, and the remaining four nations were put into a plate. We faced Switzerland in a semifinal, and although
Alan Clark and I put up a strong fight in the doubles, we lost in 3 games. That proved crucial as we finished 4.5-2.5, the final match abandoned at one game all once Switzerland were assured of
victory.
On the final day, Spain needed only one more win to clinch the title, and did so when their top player, Pepe Riva, jumped hoop 12, and secured
promotion.
Scotland and Norway had two players unable to play on the final day, so a reduced match was played with two players each playing the others in singles. In
the event of this ending 2-2, we would play a deciding doubles.
Trond Jansen made use of his excellent ability to read lumpy lawns and his accurate clearances to beat me 7-1 7-3, while Alan lost in three to Viggo
Olsen. Viggo and I started our match, and after trading hoops, we reached a score of 3-3. After that, Viggo somehow went to pieces, and I found myself having won 7-3 7-0 in about an hour. It was
quick enough that the others had only just got to hoop 11 in their first game.
After all in this tournament, I can be pleased with how I've played. My handicap index has gone up by 95 points (so I'm now a 3), and I'm firmly on
Scotland's radar. Hopefully, by the time this tournament comes round again in four years, Scotland will manage to do a little better."
Enfield Croquet Club
Bush Hill Park Recreation Ground
Cecil Avenue
Enfield EN1 1PS
3-word location
Puzzle - Rats - Rested
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