Richard M Smith won the Letchworth Croquet Club 1st Annual Advanced Weekend

[<<] [>>] by Nick Mounfield at Letchworth Croquet Club
22 Aug 2010 (AC)

Richard M Smith wins the Letchworth Croquet Club 1st Annual Advanced Weekend

The event - the first of its kind to be played at Letchworth - was played as an Egyptian and hosted 8 [from a field of 9] players of scratch and below. Despite varied conditions (wind and rain on Saturday followed by a warm and sunny Sunday), the courts played extremely well and befitting of the predominantly A-Class field.

As expected from such a strong field the general quality of play was excellent, with Mark Avery (-1.5) racking up an impressive five TPs on his way to winning all eight of his games and grabbing the prize for the highest number of wins. Unfortunately for Mark, the curse of the Egyptian meant that Richard M Smith pipped him at the peg to win the Letchworth Croquet Club 1st Annual Advanced Weekend Tankard. Starting from a scratch handicap and having already gained a huge number of points by beating Jonathan Hills (-1.5) and Jack Wicks (-1.5), Richard eventually sealed victory by beating Simon Hathrell (-0.5) in the final game of the weekend to lift the Tankard.

Other noteworthy performances over the weekend included two successive straight TPOs from Jack Wicks and a pulsating match between Mark Avery and Duncan Hector in which Duncan completed a TPO but Mark eventually hit in from distance to win and converted the TPO into +5 OTP.

Saturday's Results:

Richard M Smith (0) beat Jonathan Hills (-1.5) +11

Jack Wicks (-1.5) beat Mike Porter (0) +4TP

Duncan Hector (-1) beat Simon Hathrell (-0.5) +7

Mark Avery (-1.5) beat David Tutt (0) +18

David Tutt beat Nick Mounfield +25

Duncan Hector beat Jack Wicks +25

Jonathan Hills beat Mike Porter +25TP

Mark Avery beat Jack Wicks +17TP

Richard M Smith beat Nick Mounfield +11

Mark Avery beat Jonathan Hills +26TP

Simon Hathrell beat David Tutt +9

Mark Avery beat Mike Porter +24

Duncan Hector beat Jonathan Hills +17

Mike Porter beat Nick Mounfield +14

Mark Avery beat Simon Hathrell +15TP

Jonathan Hills beat Simon Hathrell +26

Richard M Smith beat Jack Wicks +9

Mark Avery beat Nick Mounfield +26TP

Sunday's Results

Jack Wicks beat Jonathan Hills +12TPO

Mark Avery beat Duncan Hector +5OTP

David Tutt beat Richard M Smith + 14

Mike Porter beat Simon Hathrell +18

Mark Avery beat Richard M Smith +26TP

Nick Mounfield beat Duncan Hector +3

Jonathan Hills beat David Tutt +3

Jack Wicks beat Simon Hathrell +7TPO

Richard M Smith beat Mike Porter +13

Jonathan Hills beat Nick Mounfield +15

David Tutt beat Jack Wicks +17

Mike Porter beat Duncan Hector +23

Richard M Smith beat Simon Hathrell +15