Scottish Select v Switzerland 2012
30 June and 1 July 2012, Meadows
This was the first encounter between the Scottish and Swiss teams since 2007, when the Swiss had won 11-9 in Geneva. (After that a triennial schedule had been agreed, but Switzerland had not managed to raise a team in 2010.) It broke new ground in two other ways besides the timing: the inclusion of Golf Croquet as well as Association Croquet (because of a shortage of Swiss AC players), and the participation of a Scottish-resident player in the Swiss team - namely Bryan Sykes, who could claim qualification for Switzerland because his father had been born there.
The three who travelled from Switzerland on this occasion were Norman Eatough, Dave Underhill and Desmond George - the fact that Des played only Golf Croquet being balanced by Bryan's playing only Association. Arrayed against them were five Scottish players, of whom four took part in each round of games: Bill Spalding, Alan Wilson, Fergus McInnes, Jamieson Walker and Hamish Duguid. The format gave Jamieson time off on Saturday to prepare for hosting the match dinner that evening, and gave Fergus a break in the middle of each day to set out and clear away lunch; it also meant that each player on the Swiss side met four different opponents in the singles, while avoiding any extreme mismatch on handicaps. The order of play on each day had two singles rounds sandwiching one doubles round, with each round consisting of single AC games and best-of-three GC contests - except that one GC match in the final round was shortened to a single 19-point game to let Norman catch a train. Saturday's results were evenly balanced, leaving the score at 5-5 overnight, but on Sunday the Scots won 8 out of 10 to make the final result 13-7 to the home side.
Bill and Fergus were the most successful players overall, winning all their games; on the Swiss side Dave was the only player with more wins than losses, while Bryan had three wins on the first day and three losses on the second day; but everyone in each team won at least one game. The weather was on the cool side, and there were some showers, but these didn't last too long and some of them helpfully came at lunch time rather than when the players were in action. Jamieson's hospitality was much appreciated, and extended to putting up all three Swiss visitors as well as laying on dinner for both teams on Saturday; Jackie Shannon also deserves a mention for helping with the catering, as does Allan Hawke for a delicious tea on Sunday afternoon.
Fergus McInnes
Results
(Scottish names first)
Day 1 (Saturday 30 June):
AC: Bill Spalding beat Norman Eatough +10T (23-13)
AC: Jamieson Walker lost to Bryan Sykes -15
AC: Alan Wilson lost to Dave Underhill -17
GC: Fergus McInnes beat Des George 7-2, 7-3
AC: Alan Wilson & Jamieson Walker lost to Bryan Sykes & Dave Underhill -4
GC: Bill Spalding & Hamish Duguid beat Norman Eatough & Des George 7-2, 7-4
AC: Fergus McInnes beat Norman Eatough +5
AC: Alan Wilson lost to Bryan Sykes -18
GC: Hamish Duguid lost to Dave Underhill 7-5, 6-7, 6-7
GC: Bill Spalding beat Des George 7-0, 7-6
Day 2 (Sunday 1 July):
AC: Alan Wilson beat Norman Eatough +7T (23-16)
AC: Bill Spalding beat Bryan Sykes +9
AC: Fergus McInnes beat Dave Underhill +16
GC: Jamieson Walker beat Des George 7-5, 7-1
AC: Bill Spalding & Alan Wilson beat Norman Eatough & Bryan Sykes +8
GC: Jamieson Walker & Hamish Duguid lost to Dave Underhill & Des George 5-7, 4-7
AC: Bill Spalding beat Dave Underhill +1T (20-19)
AC: Fergus McInnes beat Bryan Sykes +19
GC: Jamieson Walker lost to Norman Eatough 6-10
GC: Hamish Duguid beat Des George 7-2, 5-7, 7-3