[<<] [>>] by Philip Tidswell
19 Jun 2004 (AC - Mary Rose)

Last time we met Pendle in the Mary Rose (1st round 2002) we won 7-0, but only 50% of the current team were playing and this time round Pendle had the advantage of home lawns. Sadly this will be the last Mary Rose played on these lawns, before the Pendle club moves to their new site at Earby next year (we wish them success). The swallows swooped low over the lawns and storm clouds threatened, but there were only brief showers during the day, and some spells of sunshine!

We welcomed Steve Lewis back to the team after some years and he partnered me in the morning doubles against Roger Schofield and John Beech which went to time, but we managed a narrow victory +2t. Andrew Keeble and Brian Medley both pegged out an opponents ball in their singles games, but Peter Wilson stepped up a gear and beat Andrew +5, whilst Liz Wilson succumbed -9 to Brian. So we went in to an excellent lunch, provided by Liz Wilson and Roger Schofield, 2:1 up.

We swopped courts after lunch, keen to avoid the idiosyncrasies of the morning's lawns perhaps, but they remained a little wet and certainly slow compared to the Bowdon lawns, taxing our roll shots, which certainly took some "pull". Andrew finished off Liz early +16, but Steve Lewis came through against John Beech +7, and Brian Medley against Peter Wilson +3 in closely-fought victories. That just left the nail-biting finish of my game against Roger which ended even at time, and I made the next point pegging out pink after Roger narrowly missed the 2-ball corner 4 target of green and pink, shooting from near hoop 6 (+3t). So no spectacular peeling to report, but an enjoyable day's croquet all round, and we thank Pendle for their hospitality.

Results

Pendle names first:
Roger Schofield (2.5) & John Beech (3) lost to Philip Tidswell (1) & Steve Lewis (2) -2t
Liz Wilson (4) lost to Brian Medley (2) -9
Peter Wilson (4) beat Andrew Keeble (2) +5

Roger Schofield lost to Philip Tidswell -3t
John Beech lost to Steve Lewis -7
Liz Wilson lost to Andrew Keeble -16
Peter Wilson lost to Brian Medley -3