Association Croquet
Winner: Norfolk
Essex won the Naff-Little Trophy
This year five counties Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk gathered at The Colchester Club to contest the Anderson Shield, one of the East Anglia Croquet Federation's premier annual events. This competition, first introduced in 2004 and played for annually since, was originally played over the Bank Holiday week-end as a 'B' Level Pairs event so that those players not involved at the Main Inter-Counties could be involved in competitive croquet. This year, due to dwindling interest, in an attempt to revise the interest it was decided to move it forward two weeks, which seemed to have been moderately successful.
The format first suggested by Jim Potter and later modified by Colin Hemming is designed to accommodate the six eastern counties. However, as there were only five entries a subsidiary singles handicap, the 'Naff-Little Trophy', runs along side the main event so that there is no county sitting out. During its inaugural year in 2004 the trophy was won by Essex, in 2005 by Norfolk and in 2006 by Cambridgeshire. Since then from 2007-10 Hertfordshire has maintained a strong unbreakable grip on ownership.
This year this hold was breached by an in-form side from Norfolk that played a consistently strong game over the weekend. The first pairing comprising Neil Chalmers and Jonathan Toye/Ian Thompson managed to win two of their four games. But it was the second pairing of age and youth comprising Terrey Sparks and Timothy Race, who managed to win all their four games, that cemented the overall victory. Special mention must also go to Timothy, who by winning his singles game as well earned himself a handicap reduction to nine.
As a consolation the Naff-Little Trophy was won by Essex, who narrowly ran home the victors by winning all their four games, closely chased by Norfolk and Suffolk on three wins apiece.
Peter Allnutt the E.A.C.F. Chairman presented the Trophies to the winning teams.
Finally, for all those interested in statistics, 22 players took part in the tournament whose handicaps totalled 111, which resulted in an overall average of 5.
Report: Terrey Sparks| Venue | Colchester, Saturday 14 - Sunday 15 May 2011 |
 Colin Hemming |
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| Manager | Colin Hemming | ||||||||||||||||||
| R.O.T. | Jim Potter | ||||||||||||||||||
| Format | Each county is
represented by a team of four, and plays each of the other five
counties over the two days. Three matches on Saturday starting at
9:30 am, two on Sunday starting at 10:00 am. Play is Advanced
Doubles to a 3-hour time-limit, with double-banking for all matches.
The winner is the team which wins the most matches, with the 'who
beat whom' rule applying in the case of a tie. If a winner is still
undecided then the winner is the team with the most games won within
the time-limit. Substitutes are allowed if someone is unable to play on both days. |
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| Eligibility | By birth, residence or membership of a club within the county, and Handicap 1 or above, and team aggregate handicap of 10 or above. (In addition, Northampton players with handicap 1+ are eligible to play for Beds.) If you are eligible and want to play, please contact the relevant team captain! |
 The Anderson Shield |
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| Team captains |
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| Entry fees | tba |
Anderson Shield results |
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| Facilities | tba | ||||||||||||||||||
| Previous winners | Herts | ||||||||||||||||||
| Regulations | 
(PDF, 15kb) |
|
result vs: |
Norfolk | Essex | Herts | Cambs | Suffolk | Matches won |
Games won |
Games won within time |
Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norfolk |
1: +7T 2: +7 Win |
1:
-15 2: +7 Draw |
1:
-6 2: +1T Draw |
1:
+17 2: +6 Win |
2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | |
| Essex |
1:
-7T 2: -7 Loss |
1:
+10 2: -3T Draw |
1:
+8 2: -11 Draw |
1:
+14T 2: +4T Win |
1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |
| Hertfordshire |
1:
+15 2: -7 Draw |
1:
-10 2: +3T Draw |
1:
+9 2: -2T Draw |
1:
+3 2: -1T Draw |
0 | 4 | 3 | 3= | |
| Cambridgeshire |
1:
+6 2: -1T Draw |
1:
-8 2: +11 Draw |
1:
-9 2: +2T Draw |
1:
-3 2: +19 Draw |
0 | 4 | 3 | 3= | |
| Suffolk |
1:
-17 2: -6 Loss |
1:
-14T 2: -4T Loss |
1:
-3 2: +1T Draw |
1:
+3 2: -19 Draw |
0 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
|
result vs: |
Essex2 | Norfolk2 | Suffolk2 | Cambs2 | Herts2 | Games won |
Games |
Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex1 | Norfolk1 | Suffolk1 | Cambs1 | Herts1 | |||||
|
Essex |
1 2 |
+22 +5 |
+9 +10 |
4 | 4 | 1 | |||
|
Norfolk |
1 2 |
+25 -2T |
+10 +2 |
3 | 3 | 2 | |||
|
Suffolk |
1 2 |
+2T -25 |
+20 +12 |
3 | 2 | 3 | |||
|
Cambridgeshire |
1 2 |
+5 -22 |
-12 -20 |
0 | 0 | 4= | |||
|
Hertfordshire |
1 2 |
-10 -9 |
-2 -10 |
0 | 0 | 4= | |||
| Norfolk: | [1] Neil Chalmers, Jonathan Toye/Ian Thompson | [2] Terrey Sparks (C), Timothy Race |
| Essex: | [1] Colin Hemming, George Jeffery | [2] Nick Steiner (C), John Williams/Georgeen Hemming |
| Herts: | [1] Terry Mahoney, Jeremy Scott | [2] Mark Homan (C), John Smallbone |
| Cambs: | [1] Adrian Kirby, Chris van Essen | [2] Jim Potter (C), Ken Wheeler |
| Suffolk: | [1] Mike Percival, Peter Allnutt | [2] John Andrews/Jill Andrews, Celia Pearce (C) |
| Beds: | did not participate |
See also:
the EACF Ken Wheeler Shield
the national Inter-Counties Championship.