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GC Golf Croquet

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Hertfordshire retain the Ken Wheeler Shield


The winning Herts team, L-R:
Keith Rhodes, Peter Ross,
Nick Archer, David Tutt

Six teams - Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and an EACF Select side - met at Hunstanton on Saturday 9th June to compete for the second year in The Ken Wheeler Shield. Weather conditions were dry but slightly windy. However the lawns were in excellent condition throughout resulting in a very high standard of play.

Expertly managed by Ken Wheeler using the format he devised last year which suits this event admirably, the six teams of four played each other in matches that comprised one doubles and two singles games. After the first round the three highest scoring teams progressed through to a Gold Medal Round, these being Hertfordshire on 5 match wins and 12 points, followed by the EACF Select side on 4 match wins and 10 points and Norfolk on 3 match wins and 9 points.

In the Gold Medal Round, where each team plays the other in doubles and where game wins count for double points, the two trailing sides were not able to make any progress on hauling back the Hertfordshire lead. With each team finishing with equal wins and losses the Hertfordshire side ran out the overall winners for the second year running with 14 points, closely followed by the EACF and Norfolk sides on 12 and 11 points respectively.

This tournament, introduced last year to mirror its Association Croquet cousin the Anderson Shield and using the excellent Hunstanton facilities, is definitely proving a popular and successful tournament with the Federation Golf Croquet players, and will no doubt continue to run for many years to come.

Report & photos by Terrey Sparks
Venue Hunstanton, Saturday 9 June 2012
Manager Ken Wheeler
Format Each team will play a match against each other over the first five rounds (i.e. an American Block).

A 'match' will comprise two singles games and one doubles. In the first round a team may elect to allocate players in any role (Singles or Doubles) irrespective of handicap. In the second round the Singles/Doubles roles will be reversed. In the third round roles will revert to those of the first round etc.

e.g. Round 1 A1 v B1 A2 v B2 A3/A4 v B3/B4  
  Round 2 A3 v C3 A4 v C4 A1/A2 v C1/C2  
  Round 3 A1 v D1 A2 v D2 A3/A4 v D3/D4 etc.

(Thus, after five rounds each player will have played either 3 Singles and 2 Doubles, or 2 Singles and 3 Doubles). On completion of this Block Phase the three leading teams will qualify for the sixth 'Gold Medal Round'. The leading teams will be decided on Match Wins with any tie being resolved by 'who-beat-whom'.

"Gold Medal Round" Format

Each team will carry forward games won (each game scoring a single point). Each team will now comprise two Doubles pairs. The pairings may differ from the Block Phase. Pairs will be drawn to play a single game in the following format:

X1 v Y1 X2 v Z1 Y2 v Z2

A game win will score two points and be added to the aggregate carried forward. The winning team will be the one with the most points, with any tie being resolved by the match result in the Block Phase.
Eligibility To qualify for a County the team member must either be born, reside or be registered with a club within that County. (For this tournament the county of Bedfordshire includes the clubs of Northampton and Stony Stratford).

If you are eligible and want to play, please contact the relevant team captain!		 Ken Wheeler Shield
The Ken Wheeler Shield
Team captains
Beds: (Leighton Linslade)
Essex: (Sudbury)
Herts: (Letchworth)
Norfolk: (Hunstanton)
Suffolk: (Ipswich)
EACF Select: (EACF)
Entry fees £26 per team

Ken Wheeler Shield results
by year:

 
Previous winners Hertfordshire
Click on images for an enlargement
Regulations PDF (PDF, 16kb)

 

EACF Golf Croquet Inter-Counties results

match
result vs:

 Herts EACF
Seclect		 Norfolk Beds Suffolk Essex MATCH
WINS		 GAME
WINS		 PLACE
Hertfordshire   2-1 3-1 2-1 2-1 3-0 5 12 carried
forward
EACF Select 1-2   2-1 2-1 2-1 3-0 4 10 carried
forward
Norfolk 0-3 1-2   3-0 3-0 2-1 3 9 carried
forward
Bedfordshire 1-2 1-2 0-3   1-2 3-0 1 6 4
Suffolk 1-2 1-2 0-3 2-1   1-2 1 5 5
Essex 0-3 0-3 1-2 0-3 2-1   1 3 6
"Gold Medal Round" results

game
result vs:

 Herts EACF
Select		 Norfolk POINTS carried
forward		 TOTAL
POINTS		 PLACE
Herts   7-4 1-7 2 12 14 1
EACF Select 4-7   7-4 2 10 12 2
Norfolk 7-1 4-7   2 9 11 3

 

Teams
Norfolk: Timothy Race, Jeff Race, Tony Lee, David Thirtle-Watts
Essex: Judith Hand, Michael Manning, Marian Manning, Pat Baillie
Hertfordshire: Peter Ross, Nick Archer, Keith Rhodes, David Tutt
EACF Select: Terrey Sparks, Simon Carter,  Bryan Saddington, Patricia Duke-Cox
Suffolk: Mike Percival, David Crawford, Peter Allnutt, John Robinette/Alan Plested
Bedfordshire: John Cundell, Richard Keighley, David Ball, John Thorp

 

See also:

AC the Anderson Shield
AC the national Inter-Counties Tournament