Home and Away Against Belsay

Saturday 23 July saw both eh first and second teams play Belsay in the Croquet North League Division 1 and 2.

The first team of Andrew and Roger Carpenter, Nigel Martin, and Tony McCann played at Chester-le-Street running our comfortable winners 12-6.

The second team of Derek Barron, George Cansino, and Richard and Kathleen Penrose had a much tougher task on much slower lawns at Belsay, but came out honours even with a 9-9 draw.

In both cases the weather stayed fine and warm, though everyone was much relieved that the record heatwave in the week before was well in the past.

The second team has now completed it’s programme with 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats. The second team still has one match to play, which will be away to Alnmouth on Thursday 4 August.

Division 1 League Loss to Bamburgh

The Durham team of Andrew Carpenter, Malcolm Hobbs, Nigel Martin and Tony McCann went up to Bamburgh on Friday 8 July to play this season’s Division 1 league match against Bamburgh A.

Using three lawns, each of which had their individual idiosyncrasies, it took the Durham team some time to settle and as a result lost the morning session 2-7. After lunch we did much better and won the second half 5-4, but this was not enough avoid losing 7-11 overall.

As usual our hosts were exceedingly welcoming and, of course the location is stunning, which together with fine and warm weather led to an enjoyable day out on the north east coast.

Defeat in the Federation Shield

Durham again represented Croquet North in The Federation Shield this season. Drawn against Enfield, it was agreed to play mid-way with the match taking place on Friday 1 July in Ashby, the Durham team being Andrew and Roger Carpenter, Nigel Martin and Tony McCann.

The Federation Shield is a GC knock-out competition with handicap games rather than level play, and after consulting the competition manager, the system used was the traditional one of bisques and extra turns, rather than the new Advantage Play approach.

The morning session saw losses for Durham in the two singles matches, while the doubles match stood act one game each, so it was agreed to delay the deciding game of the doubles to see whether the results of the afternoon singles required it to be completed.

The four afternoon singles were shared two each, so with Enfield having a winning score of 4-2, the completion of the doubles was deemed unnecessary.

Congratulations to Enfield and best wishes for future progress in the competition, and many thanks to Ashby who provided two excellent lawns on which to play the match.

Durham Cuthbert wins at Tyneside

Congratulations to Derek Barron, Ken Wilson, and Kathleen and Richard Penrose on their success at winning their Division 2 match against Tyneside at Exhibition Park, Newcastle on Saturday 26 June. The winning score was 11-7.

The closest of wins against Auckland in Division 1

The rearranged Division 1 match against Auckland at their Chilton ground took place on 28 May, with Durham winning the final game dramatically to prevail 9½ games to 8½.

Our team of Andrew and Roger Carpenter, Nigel Martin, and Peter Tymms, played a strong Auckland team on a lawn much improved from our last visit.

Auckland started the stronger, but Durham came back and after the first set of six games, there was never more than one game in it until the final singles, at which point things were all square.

The final game, between Roger and Eugene Brady, was equally close at 6-6 when the timer went and both players had just four shots left. Both sides had chances, but with the last ball, Roger ran hoop 13 from a narrow angle to win the match for Durham.

Congratulations to the team, and many thanks to Auckland for their hospitality.

Narrow loss to Belsay in the Murphy Shield

Our journey in the Murphy Shield was a short one this year as we lost a very tight match against Belsay 4-3, only losing in a third and decisive game in the doubles.

Many thanks to Derek Barron, Nigel Martin, Roger Carpenter, and William Steadman who represented us, and best wishes to Belsay who play Pendle in the next round.

Durham Bede vs Tyneside Hunters

We had a comfortable Division 1 victory over Tyneside Hunters on 7 May, winning 17-1. Many thanks to our opponents for a friendly and sociable day, and to our team of Roger Carpenter, Tony McCann , Nigel Martin, and Peter Tymms