Rick Harding won the Spencer Ell

[<<] [>>]

The Spencer Ell players and trophy

"Come down, O Muse, describe the Spencer Ell

And tell us who played badly, who played well."

No, on second thoughts we won't have any more poetry this year, after last year's limericks describing the Treasurer's Tankard. Talking of which, three of us were competing at Pendle in the 2023 TT, and the improvement in the lawns was remarkable. Last year there were problems with the mowing, but this year the lawns were superb - a great credit to the club, backed up by excellent catering facilities. Many thanks to all who worked so hard to make it such an enjoyable five days of competition.

And the competition was indeed fierce. Here are the players and their

handicaps:

Neil Adams (-1.5) Sam Cuthbert (3.5)

Robert Essler (0.5) Rick Harding (-1)

Andrew Killick (-1.5) Paul Rigge (-1)

Mike Town (-1.5) Andrew Winn (-1)

Or, as all players seem to have very distinct styles, stances and mannerisms, shall I call them (in no particular order) Mr Thoughtful, Mr Flowing, Mr Unconventional, Mr Methodical, Mr Precise, Mr Determined, Mr Confident and Mr Accurate? (Sorry, guys, I am not revealing who's who!) Anyway, play began on 5^th September…

Thursday

The skies were grey, the winds were strong. Neil was the first to make his mark, winning his first two games, both with triple peels. I (Andrew K) was the unfortunate victim in that second game, playing just four shots after my marathon 4-hour first game against Robert. However, by the end of the day six players were tied for the lead with two wins each; and Paul had notched up a TP as he won his evening game against Robert.

Friday

A day of beautiful sunshine - but alas, I lost all three games, as did Paul and Robert. Top of the class were Mike and Rick, both with three wins, and Rick had two TPs to his credit. Sam, Neil and Andrew W were in the middle, having won two games each, and Andrew W had achieved a TP against Sam.

Saturday

Another cloudy day with some drizzle. Lunchtime brought the first half of the tournament to an end, and the standings were as follows: Rick (6 out of 7), Mike and Neil and Andrew W (5), Andrew K (3), Sam and Paul (2) and Robert (0). I had a good day for a change, with three wins. So did Rick, with yet another TP in his morning game against Mike. He was the clear leader with 8 wins out of 9, but Mike (7) and Andrew W (6) were breathing down his neck. In the evening Paul had arranged a Chinese meal which I gather was much enjoyed.

Sunday

The day dawned very gloomy and grey. There was heavy rain, and the water roller couldn't entirely cope with it, so play was slow. Did I say slow?

Though play had begun at 9.30am, most of the third games of the day could only get going at 5.59pm! Somehow almost everyone finished before darkness fell, and Sam, Neil, Mike, Paul and Rick won two out of their three games. Neil and Rick both notched up another TP. That meant that after twelve rounds it was very close at the top. Rick led the field with 10 wins, followed by Mike (9), Neil (7) and Andrew W (7), while the rest of us lagged behind.

Monday

It proved to be a worthy and nail-biting climax to the tournament. More rain, alas, but there were some amusing episodes. Andrew W did something I have never seen before - a deemed lift shot, where he took his ball to corner 3 but feared that he might miss his target and end up in corner 4 near Sam's hoop, so he didn't actually play a shot. And shortly after that Sam did a gentle hoop run: for those of you who don't know, Sam's usual style is to hit hoop runs or shots to the boundary so hard that they end up in the next county - well, the far side of the adjoining lawn anyway! There were great cheers when Robert got his first win - he had come in as a late substitute for a player who had to withdraw, and he might have preferred to play in a different Eight. There were gasps of surprise when Paul attempted to jump over hoop 1 to roquet a ball about twelve yards away: the jump was fine, and he very nearly got the roquet. But the three-ball finish in Mike's game versus Paul was amazing, as well as being crucial for the outcome of the tournament.

Paul, on peg and rover, got stuck on the wire; Mike made hoop 4 back and took position not all that close to penult; Paul didn't want to tap his ball into a runnable position at rover, so he retreated to join his partner ball in corner 2; Mike could have shot at the two balls in corner 2, but instead he ran penult and ended up at an angle about eight yards from rover; after some thought he attempted the hoop run and went right through to the south boundary; he could just see the peg some 17 yards away, had a go…and hit it! What a finish, enabling him to get within one point of Rick, who had just done a TP against me (on the soggiest lawn I have ever experienced) and was due to meet Mike in the final round.

And then the sun came out. After lunch Neil did another TP to beat Sam; I got to peg and rover against Paul and won when he gave me another chance by hampering himself after running hoop 1; Andrew W beat Robert in the very last game to finish; and meanwhile, calmly getting on with things away on lawn 2, Mike played a well-controlled game against Rick to win 26-2. That meant he had drawn level with him on 11 wins out of 14, and they played a decider. This time it was Rick who kept control of the game, and he won 26-0 with a sometimes adventurous TP.

So the final scores were Rick and Mike on 11, Andrew W and Neil 8, Andrew K 7, Sam and Paul 5 and Robert 1. Sam had the honour (or punishment?) of having his handicap reduced to 1; and Rick Harding was the victor with his often faultless play and five TPs - a winner well worthy to follow in the steps of our illustrious predecessor Spencer Ell, who lost two arms in the First World War but still managed to become a fine player of this wonderful game.