First AC Win Against Northampton
Our first AC outing on Monday, 22nd April saw a great fightback with a 4-2 win over a strong Northampton team.
In the morning doubles, David Frost (4.5) and Thomas Halliday (8) started strongly, building a lead when Thomas took a ten-hoop break to rover, only for
Northampton's Lionel Tibble (-1) to take a break to peg, also pegging out Thomas in the process. Although David had a good lead, without the support of a second ball, there was little he could do to
stop James Skelton (2) overtaking, and Northampton won 26-20.
On the other lawn, Michael Broadway (10) and John Street (8) elected to take advantage of the new league rules to play Alternate Strokes. Afterwards, they
thought that this was probably a mistake, and their opponents, playing the traditional way, with Nick Evans (2) coaching Mel Christie (20) through his break, and keeping John and Michael at bay, were
able to build a lead. Nick and Mel won 23-14 on time to give a 2-0 lead for Northampton.
After lunch, captains Nick and Thomas were the first to start and the first to finish. Nick threatened to repeat the pegging out tactic of the morning,
but failed to get in a good position with his own ball after the rover peel. After some to-and-fro, Thomas won 26-11.
Shortly after this, David, facing an uncharacteristically inaccurate Lionel, took a lovely final turn round to win 26-9 and level the match.
John made good use of his bisques to establish a lead of 4b and 4b against 3b and 6. James put the pressure on late in the game, but some smart play from
John and an unluckily hampered ball after penult for James allowed John to finish 26-20.
With at least a draw guaranteed, all eyes turned to the marathon match between Michael and Mel. Mel had used all 10 of his bisques to get 7 hoops. After
an hour without a hoop, he had a late surge to get within a point of Michael. But Michael held his nerve, continued to keep the score ticking over, and held out to win 20-13 on
time.
Having swept the singles, Enfield finished a fantastic comeback victory that had felt very unlikely hours before. Next up is a trip to St
Albans.
ECC Welcomes Leighton Linslade
Every year we try and play a few friendlies with other clubs and on Friday, 22nd April, we hosted Leighton Linslade for a GC doubles day. We saw
pairings of David Frost and Karin Hinds, Peter Brock and Jagruti Gandhi, Michael Broadway and John Street, and Frances Broadway and Phillip Hawes. Both Karin and Jagruti were making their first
appearances for the club. Captain David Frost reported that “it was quite a close contest and I believe enjoyed by all. The weather (once again) could have been
kinder.” We won 9 – 7.
EACF Enfield Derby
Monday, 15th April saw the first of the East Anglian Croquet Federation league matches with the Club’s two teams competing for the first GC handicap win of the
season. Enfield West and Enfield East fought valiantly against extreme cold, harsh winds, torrential rain and hailstorms as well as some sunny moments last
Monday. Enfield East got off to a strong start until Enfield West found their form and won the day at 11-7.
Charity One Ball
11th April - this morning saw the Charity One Ball event. £115 was raised from players and there has been an offered donation from a non-player of
£10 which would mean we could send an extra player to the final. David Frost won with a round to spare, leaving a three-way fight for second place. In the end, Frances Broadway and
Nigel Owen were tied with three wins and +3 hoop difference, however Nigel scored a few more hoops and beat Frances in their game.
David (and with £10 more, Nigel) will qualify for the final to be held at Surbiton on the 5th May.
1st - David Frost, 4 wins
2nd - Nigel Owen, 3 wins
3rd - Frances Broadway, 3 wins
4th - Thomas Halliday, 2 wins
5th - John Street, 2 wins
6th - Michael Broadway, 1 win
Graham Curtis Wins 1st Club Tournament of 2024
Thursday, 4th April 2024 - Graham Curtis was again the quickest out of the blocks, winning our
season-opening 10:10 contest for a second year in a row. Graham has now won three of the last eight monthly Thursday Series competitions - well done!
His final record was 4 wins out of 5, and a hoop difference of +9. The narrow runners up were John Street and Phillip Hawes, also on 4 wins but lower net
hoop scores.
It was cool winds, 16 of our members escaped the rain and ate on the fly to ensure we finished on time!
Enfield Croquet Club - 1993 to 2023
Celebrating 30 Glorious Years
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