Jamie Burch won the South of England Championship

[<<] [>>] by Nigel Matthews at Compton
7th October (AC - Championships)

The appeal of playing croquet on the Sunshine Coast in September drew an international field this year, with players from England, Scotland and New Zealand competing for the prestigious South of England AC Championship. Once again Compton CC were exemplary hosts, providing beautiful lawns, sumptuous lunches and even ensured two days of warm sunshine. A bit of rain overnight did catch out a couple of players who hadn't realised that sitting on wet seats would lead to a final day of soggy bottoms.

The Championship knockouts were hard fought, with Jamie Burch and Mark Avery, the two highest ranked players, meeting in the final. Played as best of 3, the crowd were excited at the prospect of some high quality croquet. The first game lasted 3 hours. Hmmm. But then their form returned for two exciting games, one with a two-ball ending from hoops 1&2 respectively. Jamie won through with a highly impressive 11 hoop break to peg out and duly won the trophy 2-1.

The plate was won by Nigel Polhill (always good to have a Nigel winning) beating Sam Murray in the final which finished after everyone else had gone home.

This was my first South of England championship and I'll definitely be back next year.