Ealing Croquet Club

On a glorious summer’s day with the lawns in excellent fettle Ealing narrowly prevailed in the South East Federation Association Croquet U League, preserving our 100% record so far this season in Federation League matches, with four wins out of four.

Ealing gave away bisques in all the matches – veritable fences of them in some instances – and with the Medway team showing some strong skills we had a battle on our hands.

Gary Bennett and Harry Midgley won the morning doubles +15, with Simon Tuke losing -16. Both Simon’s game and Roger’s +6 win narrowly avoided a T for ‘On Time’, both finishing with a couple of minutes to spare.

It was unclear who was more likely to be nobbled by the rosé and white wine that flowed over lunch. With the sun beating down and the temperature rising there was some suggestion of a siesta being taken, but this idea was not pursued.

Harry and Roger lost their afternoon matches by -18 and -19 respectively, against opponents who appeared to be in scant need of their bisques. With Gary winning -15, it all came down to Simon’s match.

As the 3¼-hour time limit approached, the scores were level. The 9½ bisques were finally all used up, and Simon managed to retain the innings, aided by some rather generous decisions by his opponent, choosing to shoot when joining up was the better option. His watching teammates showed admirable restraint in not informing him of their views on the matter.

Simon eventually crept round to rover and peg, but could not quite conjure a finishing turn. Oppo did hit the final long shot, but with the balls scattered was not able to make any progress. The final score: +4 On Time.

So a narrow 4-3 win for Ealing. Our thanks to Medway for making the long journey to West London, and for the excellent spirit in which the match was played.