East Dorset beat Swindon 5-2

[<<] [>>] by John Crowe
19th September 2005 (AC - Longman Cup)

East Dorset name first

Jonathan Wood & Pat Oxley 23 19 John Airey & Di Trott
Davis Kendrick (10) 26 21 Cliff Cardis (10)
David Williams (11) 26 1 Ian Megaw (6)

Jonathan Wood 14 26 Ian Megaw (6)
Davis Kendrick (10) 26 17 John Airey (8)
David Williams (11) 21 26 Cliff Cardis (10)
Pat Oxley (12) 26 15 Di Trott (12)

Both sides had difficulty adapting to the sun-baked and close-shaven fast lawns.

In the morning, David Williams always looked to be in control of his match. Five bisques helped, and he won early and comfortably.

Cliff Cardis made the better progress in the first half of his match till David Kendrick overcame nerves and started to play solid croquet.

Swindon lead comfortably in the doubles early on, but then a clear round by Jonathan Wood recovered the deficit and East Dorset won a tight match.

East Dorset 3 - 0 up at lunch.

In the afternoon singles, Ian Megaw established an early lead and maintained his form for a convincing win.

The East Dorset Davids both swept to commanding leads. Bot opponents fought back with determination and not a little skill. Eventually John Airey won for Swindon and David Kendrick for East Dorset. Both games could have gone either way.

Pat and Di both struggled for not much progress in the early stages till Pat made an excellent break with his first ball, then competently ran the second.

Swindon were friendly and sporting adversaries. They do great credit to a small club. It was a pity that one side had to lose.