We arrived at Woking for our first round Longman Cup match to find the lawns being mown. The opposing captain had been very unhappy with the condition of the lawns when he arrived at 7am, so their grounds team had been preparing the lawns by scarifying and mowing ever since. Their efforts were successful as they lawns played pretty well. The white lines were painted to enable everything to get going just after 10 o’clock; that did mean that the balls picked up white paint when crossing the boundary for a little while!
Richard P received 9 bisques from his opponent and used them all up early-on to build a substantial lead, before hanging on to win by 4 on time. His match was livened by his opponent on more than one occasion mis-hitting, leaving a large gouge in the lawn and Richard correctly claiming a fault. John G and Peter A had difficulty hitting-in to start with and fell several hoops behind, before judicious use of their first bisque enabled Peter to make a 6-hoop break. Thereafter John and Peter remained largely in control to win by 8. Ian F after a slow start got going and won comfortably, to make us three nil up at lunch. Could we maintain the pace in the afternoon after a two-course lunch, comprising macaroni cheese with cheesecake for dessert?
Ian didn’t play as well as in the morning and lost comfortably. Peter had a reasonably close game but eventually lost by 5. John was 15-2 down with his opponent making one or two hoops a turn before he finally hit in and took his first ball most of the way round. After a couple more turns trying to set up a rush to the first hoop, John got a three-ball break underway but decided it was too risky to attempt a long angled four-back hoop and retreated to guard the boundary. Nevertheless, his opponent took on the 7-yard roquet and hit. He then remained in control, leaving John widely separated at the end of each turn, while making one or two hoops a turn again. John never took croquet again, leaving the fate of the match resting on Richard’s shoulders. Fortunately, Richard had got well ahead again using his bisques, resulting in a demoralised his opponent. Just before time was called Richard pegged out for the first time in a competitive AC game i.e. one recorded on his handicap card. All of the team contributed to our 4-3 victory, but particular congratulations go to Richard for winning both of his games. On now to the second round; where we play the holders, East Dorset, who defeated us in the quarter-final last year, but on this occasion we do not have to travel.
John Gosden