Croquet at The Nationals: Conclusion

This was the result of the final shot in the Doubles which which was fired by Aaron Westerby from 17 yards away:

All in all I've enjoyed The Nationals. I made the top 16 from which a significant number of the Country's top players had been eliminated. I've increased my index points which brings me just that little bit further towards my goal of bringing my handicap down from three to two. I've enjoyed the games and the company of most of the people whom I have played against. I've not enjoyed the politics nor the attitude of some of the top players in the sport which has been in very marked conrast to my experiences up until this Tournament. But wotthehellarchie wotthehell it doesn't matter to me one iota. I have no desires nor expectations of ever of playing for my Country (whichever that is).

The Open Championship Singles was won by Chris Clarke (the World Number One) who played Tony Stevens in the final.

Chris Clarke (born 1971 in Lancashire) is an English croquet player who has been ranked among the world's top players since the late 1980s and won. two World Championships. Chris now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand and was married on 30 January 2008 to NZ rep Jenny Williams.

As a post script and as a small repitition of that seventh deadly sin I will add that Tony Stevens (and his wife Colleen) are two of my idols. Colleen was (and is) one of Hawkes Bay's top women players and Tony is the Bay's top male player. Colleen plays for Marewa (the Club I belong to) and Tony belongs to our rival Te Mata. The dealdly sin bit? I took one game off Tony a few weeks ago (his first defeat, I discovered today, for 34 games).

Croquet at The Nationals

Well it's been a day and a half. I think that I enjoyed it. We had three games left from the first round which determined the rankings for the remainder of the tournament. I won all three. What was unusual was that two of the three are from the top echelons of the sport and being beaten by an outsider caused an upset and I managed to make the final 16! Needless to say playing best of threes in the top 16 means that I will be eliminated from the final 8 but, hey, I made it this far and it's been fun. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Well it's been fun up to a point. The Big Boys are a law unto themselves and there is an exclusive arrogance which pervades their ranks. They have not up until now arrived at The Nationals in such numbers. I am not ever likely to be part of the world scene and have no interest in the politics of world croquet. But it's been an interesting experience. One I don't think I'll be repeating.

Off to The Nationals

Six of us from the Croquet Club are setting sail for Wanganui today to play in The Golf Croquet Nationals. As usual when we go on the rampage, er, for a croquet trip away, Collen and I will be travelling in Jayne's Lucy. Jayne's sister will who returns to England in a few days, will be with us too. I can feel a fun week coming on.

One of the advantages of having mobile broadband is that I can blog wherever I can get a signal and as we are staying with a friend where I have stayed before I know that I can get a signal. So time and tiredness permitting the blog will continue if slightly abated.