Ken Wheeler Shield results
by year:
Golf Croquet
For 2016 there is a new name 'Bedfordshire' on the shield, who comprehensively saw off all the other opposition this last Saturday 4th June at a not so Sunny Hunstanton where the weather could only be described as midwinter Southern Antarctic, where a viciously cold northerly wind blew in a sea fret for most of the day. Luckily the rain stayed away so, at least although damp the day was dry.
However, not to be discouraged the six teams set about their games with spirit and the few hardy spectators experienced some pretty good golf croquet.
The likely favourites and last year's winners Hertfordshire, plus Norfolk another strong contender, both set the mark by recording 3-0 wins. Bedfordshire, the dark horses, not be outdone also recorded another 3-0 win against Cambridgeshire. In the following rounds the three leaders continued to slug it out with both Herts & Norfolk succumbing to Bedfordshire. However, Beds did fall to the unfancied Suffolk side.
After the first round Bedfordshire with 4 match wins and 11 game wins were in the undisputed lead, closely followed by Herts, Norfolk and Suffolk all on 3 wins. However, Herts and Norfolk with their 9 game wins proceeded to the Gold Medal round, ahead of Suffolk with only 7 game wins.
Just as the final round began at last the sun broke through, but this had little effect on the overall temperature which was still being dominated by the cold wind. The final games proved very close with neither team giving much away. The first game to finish saw Herts record a win over the Bedford first pair 7/5, closely followed by the second Norfolk pairing coming home with a 7/4 win against Herts. This meant that winners of the remaining game between the second Bedford and Norfolk pairing would win the day. This proved to be a long and dour game with little being given away by either pair. However, the ending was rather dramatic when at 5/6 down Norfolk, in attempting to clear a ball at the 12th hoop, accidently peeled the opponent to give Bedfordshire the day.
Report and photo by Terrey Sparks| Venue | Saturday 4 June, Hunstanton |
 The Ken Wheeler Shield |
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| Manager | Terrey Sparks | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Entry fees | £32 per team | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team captains |
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| Previous winners | Herts | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format |
Block Phase 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.
(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:
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. |
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| 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! |
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| Regulations |  (PDF, 40 kb) |
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match |
Beds | Herts | Norfolk | Suffolk | Cambs | Essex | MATCH WINS |
GAME WINS |
PLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedfordshire | 2-1 | 2-1 | 1-2 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 4 | 11 | carried forward | |
| Hertfordshire | 1-2 | 2-1 | 2-1 | 1-2 | 3-0 | 3 | 9 | carried forward | |
| Norfolk | 1-2 | 1-2 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 2-1 | 3 | 9 | carried forward | |
| Suffolk | 2-1 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 2-1 | 2-1 | 3 | 7 | 4 | |
| Cambridge | 0-3 | 2-1 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 2-1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | |
| Essex | 0-3 | 0-3 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
|
game |
Beds | Herts | Norfolk | POINTS | carried forward | TOTAL POINTS |
PLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedfordshire | 5-7 | 7-5 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 1 | |
| Hertfordshire | 7-5 | 4-7 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 2 | |
| Norfolk | 5-7 | 7-4 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 3 |
| Bedfordshire: | John Thorp (1), Roger Stroud (3), John Cundell (3), Judith Pengelly (5) |
| Cambridge: | Peter Ross (2), David Haslam (5), Bryan Saddington (5), Charles Ostler (5) |
| Essex: | Michael Manning (4), Marian Manning (4), Tony Frewin (5), Karen Jones (8) |
| Hertfordshire: | Duncan Hector (-1), Nick Archer (-3), Ian Mantle (3), Kay Lewis (7) |
| Norfolk: | David Thirtle-Watts (2), Chris Ward (6), Jeff Race (-1), Timothy Race (2) |
| Suffolk: | Mike Percival (-1), Duncan Brinkley (6), Martin Hart (1), Jill Waters (1) |
See also:
the national Inter-Counties Tournament