Summer Weekend 2013
29-30 June 2013, Alexandra Park
The SCA Summer Weekend is usually in July, but it was scheduled earlier this year to avoid a clash with the match against the Welsh Croquet Association. Ten players took part, with handicaps ranging from Fergus McInnes's 2.5 to Richard Sparrow's 20. It was the high bisquers who had the best of it, with Richard winning the quaich and getting his handicap down to 18, while David Houston took second place and won a reduction from 16 to 14.
Saturday did not feel summery, with a grey sky and a chilly wind. Play nevertheless continued till after 7pm, and everyone completed at least three games, with David and Fergus getting four. Richard and David were both undefeated at the end of the day, while Joe Lennon had lost all his three games and his handicap went up from 8 to 9; everyone else had mixed results. David's last two games were particularly impressive: +21 against Jola Jurasinska despite her having the bisques, and +26 against Fergus with 6.5 bisques to spare. Also of some interest was the Duguid v Duguid game, in which Hamish had a "grievous" (rushing his partner ball onto the peg so that it was no longer in the game and he couldn't take croquet) but then took his remaining bisque to peg out from several yards and beat Janice +15.
Sunday was marginally warmer, but afflicted by some heavy rain in the afternoon. The two leaders were put on as opponents in the morning, and had a very close game on the rather bumpy lower lawn, finishing after the allotted 3 hours and 12 minutes with three clips on 1-back and one of David's on hoop 6, so that Richard was the winner by one point on time. Richard went on to beat Joe +22 in the afternoon, while David had a +17 win against Jamieson Walker. Alan Wilson, at 3.5 the second lowest handicapped player, had a good day, making up his deficit from Saturday with a win over Robert Lay and then beating both Janice and Hamish Duguid to finish on 4/6 for the weekend. Joe had his only win of the tournament against Fergus: +22, and it would have been +26 if he hadn't missed a peg-out and let Fergus hit in for the first time in the game.
The quaich was presented to Richard, who thanked the others taking part in the tournament and those at the Glasgow Club who had encouraged and coached him over recent years. But as far as I'm aware no one took a photograph, and therefore none appears below.
Fergus McInnes
Results
("Egyptian" scoring system)
1. Richard Sparrow 5/5, 122 points: beat Fergus McInnes +26, Janice Duguid +5T (19-14), Jamieson Walker +14, David Houston +1T (12-11), Joe Lennon +22.
2. David Houston 5/6, 117: beat Hamish Duguid +16, Alan Wilson +15, Jola Jurasinska +21, Fergus McInnes +26, Jamieson Walker +17.
3. Alan Wilson 4/6, 109: beat Jola Jurasinska +4, Robert Lay +12, Janice Duguid +11, Hamish Duguid +14.
4. Jola Jurasinska 3/6, 100: beat Joe Lennon +12, Hamish Duguid +15, Jamieson Walker +17.
5. Jamieson Walker 3/6, 99: beat Joe Lennon +16, Hamish Duguid +1T, Fergus McInnes +9.
6. Fergus McInnes 3/7, 97: beat Robert Lay +4, Alan Wilson +16, Jola Jurasinska +14.
7=. Hamish Duguid 2/6, 93: beat Janice Duguid +15, Robert Lay +7T.
7=. Janice Duguid 2/5, 93: beat Robert Lay +15, Joe Lennon +13.
9=. Joe Lennon 1/6, 85: beat Fergus McInnes +22.
9=. Robert Lay 1/5, 85: beat Joe Lennon +12.