Ealing Croquet Club

David Graham, Emma Doherty and chauffeur Ron Carter had a great day away in Esher, and were royally entertained by Ember, a single-lawn Club with 21 members, attached to the much larger Ember Sports Club, with 200+ Tennis and 80 Bowls members.

With a 3-round 14-point format, each of our three players had two doubles and a singles match to play, while Ember used 4 players. Emma on AC handicap 20 ranked lowest, and least experienced of all the players present, yet she grew and grew into the match, being largely responsible for both Ealing wins. This came after a shaky start pairing with Ron, who was determined to score all 14 points by himself, and as a result let in the Ember pair, to lose 11-7 in the first doubles. David, now a 14 Handicap, was beaten and frustrated by Roger Stearn (12) who ground his way slowly to a 12-9 win.

Round 2 and along comes Emma, getting into her stride with David, and winning another protracted match on a golden hoop eventually, sadly watched by Ron who’d been blown away by Ember’s Chairman Simon Charrington 14-4 very rapidly. What is it about chairmen called “Simon”?

Round 3 with the top two from each Club going head to head, and it was no contest at all, Simon and Roger playing the best croquet of the day, with David limited to 3-4 attempted roquets, and Ron’s only shot of the entire match was putting his ball into play. Meanwhile, Emma was outplaying Steve Edney, an AC 12-Handicap player who generously advised his opponent on tactics to a 10-8 consolation win for Ealing. But by the end, by George, I think she’d got it!  Emma was most clearly Ealing’s star player.