Andrew Loakes won the East Dorset A-Level (0+) Tournament

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Andrew Loakes

East Dorset's inaugural A-Level Tournament attracted a quality field of sixteen players with handicaps ranging from -1 to 3. Suffice to say, the standard of play was very high and the sunny weather guaranteed dry and fast courts, with little margin for error.

The sixteen entrants were split into two blocks of eight on the first day, resulting in eight Quarter-Finalists for the Knockout and eight for the Plate. Block A ran largely to form, with Stephen Custance-Baker (5/7), Dom Aarvold (4/7), Glynis Davies (4/7) and Andrew Larpent (4/7) all qualifying. Block B had a couple of surprises, with Andrew Loakes (5/7), Mark Buckley (5/7), Lynn Pearcy (5/7) and Rick Lilley (4/7) qualifying at the expense of Colin Britt and Keith Southern (in terms of initial block placements).

The Quarter-Finals gave us four worthy Semi-Finalists, who played what transpired to be two hard-fought (and tactical) matches, both of which went to three games. Stephen Custance-Baker prevailed over Mark Buckley, and Andrew Loakes eventually won a very tight contest against Dom Aarvold. In the Final Andrew proved to be the dominant force, winning in two straight games against Stephen.

The Plate contest was cross-blocked, producing four qualifiers for the knockout, namely Colin Britt (3/4), Keith Southern (3/4), Alison Murray (2/4) and Michelle Leonard (2/4). In the knockout Colin prevailed over Michelle, and Keith did likewise against Alison, both games going to the 13^th Hoop. In the Final Colin took the Plate, beating Keith 7-5.

Key Results:

East Dorset A-Level (0+) Trophy:

QF1: Stephen Custance-Baker beat Rick Lilley 7-4, 7-1

QF2: Mark Buckley beat Glynis Davies 7-6, 7-3

QF3: Dom Aarvold beat Lynn Pearcy 7-4, 7-5

QF4: Andrew Loakes beat Andrew Larpent 7-1, 4-7, 7-5

5^th/6^th: Rick Lilley beat Andrew Larpent 7-5

SF1: Stephen Custance-Baker beat Mark Buckley 7-6, 4-7, 7-2

SF2: Andrew Loakes beat Dom Aarvold 6-7, 7-5, 7-5

3^rd/4^th: Dom Aarvold beat Mark Buckley 7-2

Final: Andrew Loakes beat Stephen Custance-Baker 7-3, 7-3

Plate Final: Colin Britt beat Keith Southern 7-5

Full Results on Croquet Scores.

Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to the following: the players, for their excellent croquet; the groundsman Kirin, for the courts; my better half Mary, for populating Croquet Scores with the results; and Croquet Chairman John Clode, for presenting the silverware and liquid comforts.