Ealing Croquet Club

The annual Ealing Advanced Weekend Tornament was played on 6th and 7th April, when Debbie Lines became the tenth different person to win the trophy in the 10 years that it has been played. A strong field of participants was topped by Jose Riva, who flew in from Madrid on Saturday morning especially for the event and returned on Sunday evening.

As usual, the format was a flexible Swiss of 13 players, one with a late start on each day. The weather remained dry and gloriously sunny at times, occasionally punctuated by a strong (but thankfully warm) breeze.

By the end of day 1, Robin Brown, Debbie Lines and Joel Taylor remained unbeaten on 4 out of 4. Mike Hedge, the Saturday late start, also held a 100% record on 2 out of 2. Joel’s late start on Sunday meant that Mike played Jose on Sunday morning while Joel had to wait around a while for Debbie to beat Robin. During the final, both Joel and Debbie struggled at times to remain upright due to the gusty wind conditions. This resulted in an uncharacteristic number of errors from both players. However, Debbie’s break play and hitting in proved the more reliable, thus securing her the trophy.

All credit to the Ealing ground staff for producing lawn conditions not far short of last August, when the venue was used in the World Championships, whereas most players were expecting the lawns to be slower at the beginning of April, especially given the rainfall of the previous two months. The club’s catering was again a treat, and all who were present also enjoyed the meal at the Rose & Crown on Saturday evening.

Nigel Polhill

Picture: Debbie Lines being presented with the Polhill Claret Jug and play in progress.