Scottish Croquet Association

Chairman's Rosebowl and Malmet Trophy 2021

18-20 September, Meadows

The 2021 Chairman’s and Malmet were both played at the Meadows. Aside from a single short shower on the Sunday, the weather was close to ideal with only the falling leaves and the chill in the early evenings hinting at the passing of summer to autumn.

In the Chairman’s, handicaps ranged from -½ to 3½ and with no clear pre-competition favourite, there was the potential for upsets. In the Malmet, two late withdrawals meant the field was reduced to four, with only six ties per competitor rather than the normal ten. Time limits were increased from the standard 2 hours 30 mins to 3 hours 15 mins. Handicaps in the Malmet ranged from 3½ to 8.

Both competitions proved to be close affairs. In the Chairman’s, at the start of Monday after 8 of the 10 rounds had been completed, 5 of the 6 competitors were still in with a chance of winning and there was the potential for a 2, 3 or 4 person play-off.  The decisive match proved to be between Alan Wilson and Chris Martin and the decisive moment came in Alan’s first break. Around Hoop 5, his pivot ball became stuck to the peg, disrupting his approach to hoop six. This let Chris in who went on to win 26-10 to take an unassailable lead in the competition.

In the final round, and with the pressure off, Chris completed a turn 4/turn 6 triple from a turn 2 Duffer against Andrew Symons. This was the third triple in the competition, Andrew and George Plant also having completed one apiece. Honourable mention also needs to be made of Alan’s double POp in round 1, peeling Andrew’s ball from the jaws of Hoop 1, up the lawn and through Hoop 2 in the same shot. Alan declined to attempt the remaining 10 peels for a DPO*.

In the Malmet, David Houston, the top seed, rounded off a successful Saturday by winning a three-ball ending against first time entrant Calum Worsley having pegged off Calum’s ball for peg. This meant that all ties went according to seeding on the first day. On the Sunday morning, however, Kevin Wright upset the odds by beating David 18-16. In that tie, the pivotal passage of play came when David looked to be contemplating peeling partner ball through 1-back but finished his turn with one ball in the jaws of the hoop and in contact with his other ball. Kevin joined up and on David’s next turn, a confusion around the hoop and roquet law gave Kevin the innings and a break that allowed him to build what proved to be an unassailable lead.

This meant that the final match between David and Calum became the decider. David slowly built a lead in the early stages before Calum began to pull ahead, taking his first ball to 4-back and his second ball to Rover, not risking a second pegout. With light fading, David hit the leave, via the hoop, and the game was pegged down for the evening: 2-back and 2-back against 4-back and Rover. When it resumed on Monday morning, David managed to establish his break from the off to draw close to level with Calum on hoops. An entertaining mix of missed opportunities and precision play ensued, with Calum holding his nerve to do enough to win 23-20 and take the trophy at his first attempt.  

As well as congratulations to Calum and Chris, thanks were given to George and Maciej for their tireless work on the lawns, to Roger for his constant help at the beginning and end of each day, and to Alan for his patience and good countenance throughout as the RoT.  As is traditional, following the trophy giving, the remaining party decamped to Bennet’s to continue the celebrations, post-mortems, and to debate Daedalian croquet laws.

In the Chairman’s, all bar two of the 30 matches went to peg. In the Malmet, only 5 out of 12 ties were completed within time. With four of his six matches completed in time, Calum deserves special mention for expeditious play. There were two handicap reductions – David from 3½ to 3 and Alan from 3 to 2½.

*Dodecatuple Peel on Opponent.

Chris Martin

Chairman's Rosebowl

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Malmet Trophy

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