East v West of Scotland 2009
6-7 June 2009
This year's East v West match was in doubt until a few days before the scheduled dates because of a shortage of players, especially for the West - several regular West of Scotland players being away or otherwise unavailable. But people rallied round and, with the usual flexibility to draft in East-resident players with West connections, the numbers for both sides became viable. Two of the West team even travelled from places west of Edinburgh to take part: Robert Lay, from Clydebank, and Alan Wilson, from Polmont.
As before, the match was a mixture of Association and Golf Croquet, with each AC game counting for two points and each GC game for one point. All games were to handicap rules, except that for some of the Association games the players opted for advanced rules with bisques. On Saturday the East won half of the six AC games, and two-thirds of the 15 GC games, to establish a 16-11 lead. But the West fought back on Sunday, winning all three AC games and eight out of 11 GC games, to reverse the balance and finish ahead by 25 points to 19.
There were many close games, especially in Saturday's Golf Croquet, where more than half went to the 13th hoop. Others were not so close. The nearest to a whitewash in the GC was the 7-1 scoreline achieved in two of the West's victories (both involving Ian Wright), but in the AC Jola Jurasinska (East) had a 26-0 win over Bryan Sykes (West) in little over an hour on Saturday afternoon, with several bisques to spare.
The just-in-time system of lunch delivery, with a quick trip to the Co-op (by a player with a bye) for bread, cheese and other ingredients at about 12 o'clock each day, worked well, and apart from the rather stressed and confused manager (undersigned) everyone appeared to enjoy the weekend.
Fergus McInnes
Results
(East names first; players' AC or GC handicaps shown after names)
Day One:
Association Croquet:
Allan Hawke (6) beat Bryan Sykes (3) +14
Ruth Munro (20) lost to Robert Lay (14) -2T (11-13)
Allan lost to Robert -23
Jola Jurasinska (20) beat Bryan +26
Ruth lost to Brian Cosford (20) -4T (12-16)
Fergus McInnes (3.5) beat Bryan +16
Golf Croquet:
Jola Jurasinska (6) beat Jamieson Walker (3) 7-6
Fergus McInnes (2) lost to Brian Cosford (5) 6-7
George Geis (6) beat Jamieson 7-6
Jola beat Brian 7-5
Fergus beat Jamieson 7-5
George beat Ian Wright (6) 7-6
Jackie Shannon (6) beat Jamieson 7-6
George & Jackie lost to Jamieson & Ian 6-7
Jola beat Joan Marshall (6) 7-6
Allan Hawke (4) beat Jamieson 7-6
Jackie lost to Ian 1-7
George beat Brian 7-3
Allan & Jackie lost to Brian & Jamieson 4-7
Jola lost to Ian 4-7
Fergus beat Joan 7-3
Day Two:
Association Croquet:
Robert Inder (11) lost to Bryan -8
Jola lost to Alan Wilson (4) -1T (24-25)
Robert & David Houston (16) lost to Bryan & Alan -8
Golf Croquet:
Jackie beat Joan 7-4
Kay Lucas (5) lost to Brian 6-7
George & Fergus lost to Jamieson & Ian 1-7
George beat Joan 7-5
David Houston (7) lost to Ian 5-7
Jackie lost to Brian 3-7
Kay lost to Jamieson 6-7
Kay lost to Joan 6-7
George & Jola beat Brian & Ian 5-4
Kay lost to Ian 2-7
George & Jackie lost to Brian & Joan 5-7
Final scores:
East 19 (AC 6 + GC 13), West 25 (AC 12 + GC 13)