Kevin Carter writes:
Surbiton hosted a croquet + bridge tournament, which proved to be enjoyable for the six teams of four who competed. Previous events along these lines have been level play for both games and hence can be dominated by one or two pairs or teams. However, this event was handicapped throughout.
In the morning there were two rounds of handicap doubles. Handicaps ranged from -0.5 to +18. Woking A, under the captaincy of Gill McDiarmid and wearing an all green strip ("of the same shade" apparently), got off to an excellent start, winning both its games against bridge coach Sue Strong's Surbiton A. However, Woking's careful wardrobe selection clearly took its toll on the stamina of its players when they lost both games in the second round.
Their conquerors were an interesting Surbiton B side, comprising four scratch handicap bridge players but who were rather a mixed bag when it came to croquet. Brothers Chas and Roger Fellows split to play with Christine Dyer and Nick Furse respectively and they took advantage of their high handicaps on the superb Surbiton lawns to win both second round games and take the lead at lunchtime.
Brigadier Hague had assembled two Woking platoons for the battle, himself commanding 'B', who seem to lose their bearings rather in both disciplines. Hurlingham fielded a classy team under Peter Quinn, and Mike Hann had to borrow two further Surbitonites to make up his Roehampton team.
The bridge session comprised five rounds of five boards. As expected, Chas and his assembly of county-standard players dominated proceedings and, in fact, also overcame their harsh handicapping to win the bridge as well. So, Surbiton B collected the silver trophy, Woking A came in a gallant 2nd, Roehampton 3rd, Hurlingham 4th and Woking B 5th. Surbiton A has taken up bowls and rummy.
| Updated 2.vii.22 |
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