Sophie McGlen won the Selectors Weekend

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Sophie McGlen with the Selectors Weekend Trophy (Photo: Alex McIntyre)

So, the common thinking is that the further south you go, the more clement the weather…. Unless that is you're playing in the selectors at Bath in September 2024. Whilst the Tankard at Colchester basked in 25 degree sunlight, and Pendle shone like a jewel in the north for the Spencer Ell, the Friday morning games at Bathwick involved serious wet-weather gear, with torrential rain falling for most of the morning and temperatures struggling to get above 16 degrees.

Fortunately, 3 of the 4 lawns were up to the task and played beautifully, whilst the reduced field of 13 got to grips with the event. Played as a very flexible Swiss due to the odd number of entries, the first day's play ended with Sophie McGlen on 3 from 3 with a healthy pack chasing on 2 from 3, largely thanks to Mike Porter's ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, a trait he would continue into the second day.

One such match on the Saturday against Simon Tuke went to time with Mike 7 hoops ahead, paired up on the west boundary. A 25yard hit in followed, with Simon taking pink from 1-back peeling partner through 3-back and accidentally pegging his ball out to force the golden hoop. Two balls against one…. What could go wrong…..?

Our illustrious manager, Andy Dibben noted that there had been two grievous's by the Saturday evening and indeed Peter Thompson had expertly engineered a 6 yards cut rush into the peg on the Friday. However, by asking all players about the second, it quickly became clear that the rigours of managing the tournament had made Andy hallucinate…

Meanwhile Bob Thompson took pegging out to heart and expertly pegged out Peter … forgetting the unfortunate fact that he had yet to make rover with his own ball, prompting much hilarity from the gallery.

The Saturday afternoon brought the neighbouring Bath Rugby Club sound system into play, banging out Oasis, the Beatles and other crowd-pleasers at which point Alex McIntyre decided to play croquet (albeit briefly) in his victory over Charlie.

Guy Hewitt also came into form in the afternoon and by close Sophie was on 6/6, Robbie ' the Casting King' Dodds (think Djokovic pre-serve routine), Alex & Guy making up the numbers on 4/6 and the semi-finals were set for the next day.

Sundays forecast loomed but the morning weather held and Sophie shot out of the blocks against Guy getting to peg & 4-back in double quick time. A bevelled one yarder let Guy in who two balled for a while until pairing in corner 2, leaving a double(ish) from B-baulk. Sophie' finishing turn included a 9 yard return roquet from the boundary to push partner to peg.

In the other semi-final, Alex never really got started and Robbie made steady progress to win.

As the 3rd place play off got underway, Guy and Alex began to question the wisdom of their previous night's alcohol consumption and played a typically scrappy game involving lots of huffing…. or so we thought. After struggling to 4-back Guy missed the lift and Alex completed the only triple peel of the tournament, which included the textbook 15 yard rover peel….

In the final, Sophie once again took first blood with a flawless break to 4-back. Robbie hit the lift but could only make it to 3, sticking on the wire. Yet another McGlen hit-it reclaimed the innings and she went to peg.

Robbie hit the lift and took red to 4-back but this time Sophie's shooting deserted her and Robbie started a TP turn but missed a short roquet approaching 5, leaving Sophie a short hit-in with the peg ball and pairing up in corner 3. After Robbie missed, Sophie held her nerve by two-balling 4-back and Penult and taking off to oppo in corner 1 to make rover and win.

All the players agreed that Bath had been excellent hosts, with Andrew Willis looking after the bar, Philip managing the lawns in tricky conditions and Gill helping Andrew with the lunches. We were all left wondering why such a fantastic venue did not offer more AC tournaments during the season…. food for thought!