Soham winter 2021-22

With just four counties competing this year each team played the others once at doubles, and then the first and second strings of each team played singles against their opposite number. Essex (David and Alison Maugham) ran out worthy champions with just one game dropped from nine, as Adrian Kirby of runners-up and defending champions Cambridgeshire (Adrian Kirby and Paul Hetherington) took the singles against David, after the time penalty left David losing by three reduced to attempting to make his final hoops with single ball strokes.

	H'cap	Essex	DM	AM	Cambs	AK	PH	Herts	NM	HB	Norfolk	TS	JT	Game points	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
Essex	-3				+8			+5			+14			22	6	+58	1
David Maugham	-2					-3			+7			+1(T)
Alison Maugham	-1						+12			+2(T)			+12
Cambs	2.5	-8						+1(T)			+9			16	5	+4	2
Adrian Kirby	-0.5		+3						+6			+8
Paul Hetherington	3			-12						+3			-6
Herts	-1	-5			-1(T)						+5			8	3	-8	3
Nick Mounfield	-2		-7			-6						+5
Heather Bennett	1			-2(T)			-3						+6
Norfolk	8.5	-14			-9			-5						2	1	-54	4
Terrey Sparks	3.5		-1(T)			-8			-5
Jonathan Toye	5			-12			+6			-6

Report by Paul Hetherington

For the second day in a row the Maugham pairing of Alison and David ran away with the competition, winning all but one game in an all-play-all scenario. The only game they did not win was a draw with 'Old Col' (Paul Hetherington and David Haslam) who finished third following 2 wins and 2 draws to the other family pairing of Colchester (Colin and Georgeen Hemming) on the basis of who beat who. The final game between Colbeck and Dunham was abandoned to ensure a swift departure.

Club/Team	'Socks'	Colch- ester	'Old Col'	'Norfolk Boys'	'Col- beck'	Gt Dunham	Game points	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
'Socks' (-3) Alison & David Maugham		+1	Draw	+1(T)	+14	+12	9	3	28	1
Colchester (7.5) Georgeen & Colin Hemming	-1		+6	+5	-2(T)	+5	6	3	13	2
'Old Col' (19) Paul Hetherington & David Haslam	Draw	-6		+1(T)	Draw	+5	6	1	0	3
'Norfolk Boys' (4.5) Jeff Race & Bryan Saddington	-1(T)	-5	-1(T)		+5	+5	4	2	3	4
'Colbeck' (7.5) Nick Steiner & Hugh Gilbert	-14	+2(T)	Draw	-5			4	0	-17	5
Gt Dunham (4) Duncan Hector & Terrey Sparks	-12	-5	-5	-5			1	0	-27	6

Report by Paul Hetherington

A low turn out for the day did not curb enthusiasm for the game with three rounds between each team, first normal speed doubles, then alternate shot speed doubles and finally the aggregate score from a pair of singles. The Peterborough pairing of Adrian Kirby and Paul Hetherington ran out winners ahead of the Letchworth team of Nick Mounfield and Heather Bennett. Norwich (Terrey Sparks and Sarah Barley) took the wooden spoon with no wins, although they had two losses by just one hoop along the way.

	H'cap	Peter- borough	AK	PH	Letch- worth	NM	HB	Norwich	TS	SB	Game points	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
Peterborough	2.5				+4			+7			10	5	+17	1
Adrian Kirby	-0.5					-9			+7
Paul Hetherington	3						+7			+1
Letchworth	-1	-4						+1(T)			8	3	+11	2
Nick Mounfield	-2		+9						+7
Heather Bennett	1			-7						+5
Norwich	12.5	-7			-1(T)						0	0	-28	3
Terrey Sparks	3.5		-7			-7
Sarah Barley	9			-1			-5

Report by Paul Hetherington

To say Dunham (Duncan Hector and Peter Ross) carried all before them would be an understatement as they won all three games by a margin of 10 or more, and indeed the other three teams all ended up with a negative points score. Fittingly the runners-up 'Old Col' (Paul Hetherington and David Haslam) came closest to Dunham only losing by ten. Whilst winless, the 'Nene' team of Nick Steiner and Terrey Sparks played perhaps the two most exciting games, losing to Norfolk by one on time with literally the last stroke of the game and then losing by one to Old Col, as after time with 'Nene' peg and peg first David Haslam made three hoops, then his partner rover and peg before finally David was able to peg out ahead of Nick.

Club/Team	Gt Dunham	'Old Col'	Norfolk	'Nene'	Game points	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
Gt Dunham (14.5) Duncan Hector & Peter Ross		+10	+12	+13	6	3	+35	1
'Old Col' (19) Paul Hetherington & David Haslam	-10		+6	+1	4	2	-3	2
Norfolk (13) Sarah Barley & Bryan Saddington	-12	-6		+1(T)	2	0	-17	3
'Nene' (3) Nick Steiner & Terrey Sparks	-13	-1	-1(T)		0	0	-15	4

Report by Paul Hetherington

The Belgian Cup saw a full field of eight teams competing in the alternate stroke doubles including two teams of -3 and one of -3½ combined handicap. In the end three teams finished level on 4 wins from 5. Socks were eliminated because they went to time in one win leaving the Pros to claim the title by quality of opposition from Peterborough who fell apart in their final game where even a draw would have secured them the trophy.

Club/Team	'Pros'	P'boro	'Socks'	'Bees'	'Barn'	Colch- ester	Pinch- beck	Chelm- sford	Wins	Wins within time	Qual. of oppo	Oppo wins within time	Net points	Rank
'Pros' (-3½) Nick Mounfield & Gabrielle Higgins			+11	-12	+3	+5		+12	4	4	11	1	+19	1
Peterborough (2½) Adrian Kirby & Paul Hetherington				-12	+6	+6	+6	+5	4	4	8	1	+11	2
'Socks' (-3) Alison & David Maugham	-11			+1(T)	+10	+2		+12	4	3		1	+14	3
'Bees' (9) Heather Bennett & Sarah Barley	+12	+12	-1(T)		-5		+5		3	3		1	+23	4
'Barn' (-3) Debbie & Ian Lines	-3	-6	-10	+5			+14		2	2		3	0	5
Colchester (7½) Colin & Georgeen Hemming	-5	-6	-2				Draw	+3(T)	1½	0			-10	6
Pinchbeck (19½) Terrey Sparks & Ken Knock		-6		-5	-14	Draw		Draw	1	0		3	-25	7
Chelmsford (22½) Al Brown & Martin Tunmore	-12	-5	-12			-3(T)	Draw		½	0		3	-32	8

Report by Paul Hetherington

The Soham Trophy was a very full on day with five teams, meaning all were either in play or timing. For the second Sunday in succession Great Dunham ran out winners having won all their games, though only after a tense final win by 3 against Socks to pip them for the title.

Three players were making their Soham debuts this weekend.

Club/Team	Gt. Dunham	'Socks'	Norwich	'Old Col'	'Chapel'	Game points	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
Gt. Dunham (14½) Duncan Hector & Peter Ross		+3	+3(T)	+10	+11	4	3	+27	1
'Socks' (-3) Alison & David Maugham	-3		+6(T)	+5	+11	3	2	+19	2
Norwich (11½) Terrey Sparks & Sarah Barley	-3(T)	-6(T)		+5	+7(T)	2	1	+3	3
'Old Col' (15½) Nick Steiner & David Haslam	-10	-5	-5		+6(T)	1	0	-14	4
'Chapel' (21) Paul Hetherington & Karen Hodgson	-11	-11	-7(T)	-6(T)		0	0	-35	5

Report by Paul Hetherington

The tournament was played with each player in the lower handicap block playing one game paired with each of the players in the higher handicap block, and with the latter arranged as a simple all-play-all block. The results of each game were than allocated to the totals for each individual player in their respective blocks.

The Martin Trophy had an exciting conclusion going into the final round of matches. Three of the four lower handicap players were in contention to win the trophy and four of the five higher handicappers. In the end Hugh Gilbert triumphed in the high handicap section by virtue of a draw in his final game as he was left watching to see the results of the other contenders. In the lower handicap section David Maugham won by virtue of Adrian Kirby having being taken to time for one win, the only game in the whole day that went to time.

Lower handicappers	DM	AK	PH	AM	Wins	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
David Maugham (-2)		0 -10	+4	+14 +5	3	3	+13	1
Adrian Kirby (-½)	0 +10		-3 +3	+4(T)	3	2	+14	2
Paul Hetherington (3)	-4	+3 -3		+3 -4	2	2	-5	3
Alison Maugham (-1)	-14, -5	-4(T)	-3 +4		1	1	-22	4

Higher handicappers	HG	GM	JR	KK	TS	Wins	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
Hugh Gilbert (8)		+3	+10	-4(T)	0	2½	2	+9	1
Gordon Mills (5)	-3		-3	+4	+4	2	2	+2	2
John Reddish (4½)	-10	+3		+3	-5	2	2	-9	3
Ken Knock (16)	+4(T)	-4	-3		+14	2	1	+11	4
Terrey Sparks (3½)	0	-4	+5	-14		1½	1	-13	5

Report by Paul Hetherington, photos by Alison Maugham

The Lawrence Trophy on Sunday also had a thrilling climax as the final game saw the two unbeaten teams Alison and David Maugham face off against Nick Steiner and Paul Hetherington. In the ends the Maughams triumphed +7, relegating their opponents to third place owing to one win being on time. The day also saw an eight opponent No-one* which was a timed race to get balls around in under 7.5 minutes, in order to allow all teams 5 rounds. Paul Hetherington also partnered David Haslam on the day because of an odd number of entrants, leading to a first game playing against himself and nine games in the day.

*Points against 'No-one' were scored with all 4 balls in play, the turns of 'No-one' all deemed, then +1 to complete within time, a further +1 for each full 20 seconds left on the clock, only 13 points a draw, and failure to reach 13 a loss by however many points short.

Club/Team	'Socks'	Gt. Dunham	'Nene'	'Lady'	'Old Col'	Colch- ester	No- one	Nor- wich	Wins	Wins within time	Win quality	Net points	Rank
'Socks' (-3) Alison & David Maugham		+4	+7	+12		+9		+11	5	5	12	+43	1
Gt. Dunham (14½) Duncan Hector & Peter Ross	-4			+4	+4	+8	+5		4	4	6½	+17	2
'Nene' (2½) Nick Steiner & Paul Hetherington	-7			+7	+8		+4	+4(T)	4	3	5½	+16	3
'Lady' (9) Heather Bennett & Sarah Barley	-12	-4	-7			+4		+8	2	2	2	-11	4
'Old Col' (19) Paul Hetherington & David Haslam		-4	-8			-5	+3	+7	2	2	1½	-7	5
Colchester (7½) Georgeen & Colin Hemming	-9	-8		-4	+5		0		1½	1	2	-16	6
No-one		-5	-4		-3	0		0	1	0	0	-12	7
Norwich (8½) Terrey Sparks & Jonathan Toye	-11		-4(T)	-8	-7		0		½	0	0	-30	8

Report by Paul Hetherington

It was an exciting, almost full tournament despite a weekend where 6 players from 5 different households were late withdrawals due to Covid-19. The result all hinged on a close fought game between the Maughams and the Higgins/Mountfield partnership which was won by just 4 points. Those two teams had a combined +74 hoop count with only one other team managing to stay positive, and that by just two.

We were delighted to welcome Tom Anderson as a visitor to proceedings, and he seemed pleased that Soham is still thriving.

Club/Team	'Pros'	'Socks	P'boro	'Mar'	'Map'	'Bees'	Norfolk	Wins	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
'Pros' (-3½) Nick Mounfield & Gabrielle Higgins		+4	+7	+9	+5	+3(T)	+5	6	5	+33	1
'Socks' (-3) Alison & David Maugham	-4		+7	+8	+7	+12	+11	5	5	+41	2
Peterborough (10½) Adrian Kirby & Stephen Cornelius	-7	-7		+8	+4(T)	+1(T)	+3(T)	4	1	+2	3
'Mar' (1½) Eugene Chang & Paul Hetherington	-9	-8	-8		+5	+6	+3	3	3	-11	4
'Map' (-2) Nigel Polhill & Annabel McDiarmid	-5	-7	-4(T)	-5		+5	+12	2	2	-4	5
'Bees' (5½) Heather Bennett & Al Brown	-3(T)	-12	-1(T)	-6	-5		+2(T)	1	0	-25	6
Norfolk (8½) Terrey Sparks & Jonathan Toye	-5	-11	-3(T)	-3	-12	-2(T)		0	0	-36	7

Report by Paul Hetherington

The Millennium Cup was another victory for team Maugham, though the big surprise of the day came in the opening game where Terrey Sparks and Sarah Barley inflicted a surprise defeat on the eventual winners.

We had a visit during the day from Paul Chard of Northampton Club who took part in a fun doubles match during the lunch break and has promised to return with fellow club members to swell our ranks for the 2022/3 season.

Club/Team	'Socks'	'CBE'	'Map'	'Nen'	Norfolk	Wins	Wins within time	Net points	Rank
'Socks' (-3) Alison & David Maugham		+6	+13	+8	-4	3	3	+23	1
'CBE' (1) Eugene Chang & Martin Beacon	-6		+1(T)	+5(T)	+3	3	1	+3	2
'Map' (-2) Nigel Polhill & Annabel McDiarmid	-13	-1(T)		+6	+1	2	2	-7	3
'Nen' (2½) Nick Steiner & Paul Hetherington	-8	-5(T)	-6		+3(T)	1	0	-16	4
Norfolk (12½) Terrey Sparks & Sarah Barley	+4	-3	-1	-3(T)		1	1	-3	5