Andrew Killick won the Middlesbrough One Ball Tournament

[<<] [>>] by Charles Waterfield at Middlesbrough Croquet club
13 Apr 2013 (AC)

Andrew Killick won the Middlesbrough One Ball Tournament.

On the first sunny spring day of this year twelve players, including two visitors from distant clubs, gathered to test their shooting skills and tactics in one-ball croquet. As last year, this tournament was a heat in Kevin Carter's charity one-ball, qualifying the winner a place in the Northern final at Bowdon in May.

AC handicaps ranged from -0.5 through to 20; one-third of the difference was used, except that Martin had to play off a nominal -3! The format was a Hands Ladder, changing each player's index (by an amount depending on the difference between the two players' indices) after every round (selected to ensure that likely contenders would have played each other). The 40 minute time limit proved a good choice as nearly every game went to completion.

Final positions after nine rounds, in terms of index (starting at 50), as follows:

Andrew Killick (Mbro, 4) 68
Peter McDermott (Mbro, 2.5) 63
Nigel Roberts (Mbro, 14) 60
Phil Errington (Belsay, 2) 57
Alice Fleck (Tyne, 12 ) 53
Roger Staples (Mbro, 3.5) 50
Martin Granger Brown (B'don, -.5) 49
Derek Watts (Tyne, 2 ) 48
Malcolm Daines (H'field, 6) 45
Dennis Scarr (Mbro, 4.5) 43
Derek Johnson (Belsay, 12) 37
Arthur Ogden (Mbro, 20) 28