Ken Wheeler Shield

Hertfordshire retain the Ken Wheeler Shield.

This year this event, which is a ‘B’ Level (GC) inter-counties event, was staged at the Wrest Park club on Sunday 18th June. Unfortunately it only attracted entries from four of our qualifying counties. However, with teams of three each county was required during the first stage to partake in playing in a mixture of double and single level-play games on lawns that had been expertly prepared and were running well.

Although warm and dry at the start, the weather forecast was not that promising with possible extreme storms later in the day. Nevertheless play started, and it was clear that the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire teams were in extremely good form, building up early leads which continued up until the mid-day break. Rather worried by the slow rate of play and the prospect of rain, the manager Terrey Sparks decided to impose a time limit on the afternoon session in an attempt to speed up the rate of play, which had a moderate effect.

By late afternoon it was clear that rain was imminent and there was no prospect of playing the final Gold Medal Round, so it was decided to call a halt to the tournament and award the shield to the county with highest number of wins, which was Hertfordshire on 10 wins with Bedfordshire closely following on 8 wins. Norfolk came third with 3 wins (based on net hoops) and Cambridgeshire fourth with 3 wins.

Despite the early conclusion it was generally the opinion of the players that it had been an enjoyable day of play, and our thanks go to the Wrest Park club for permitting the Federation the use of their facilities.

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Venue	Sunday 18 June at Wrest Park	The Ken Wheeler Shield
Manager	Terrey Sparks
Entry fees	tba
Team captains	Beds: Ross Bagni (Leighton Linslade) Cambridge: Terrey Sparks (Peterborough) Essex: Judith Hand (Chelmsford) Herts: Nick Archer (Watford) Norfolk: John Reddish (Hunstanton) Suffolk: Colin Crawford (Unity)
Previous winners	Hertfordshire
Format See the 2023 Regulations.	Match Doubles Singles Round 1 A v B 1 & 2 3 C v D 1 & 2 3 Round 2 B v C 1 & 3 2 D v A 1 & 3 2 Round 3 A v C 2 & 3 1 D v B 2 & 3 1 Round 4 - 'Gold Medal' G1 v J1     H1 v K1     G2 v H2     J2 v K2     H3 v J3     G3 v K3     "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 three 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 a 3-hoop doubles play-off. See the 2023 Regulations for more details.
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!
Regulations	(PDF, 43 kb)

 

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