World AC Team Championship
22-27 July 2026, Nottingham
Duncan Reeve (Captain), Lorna Dewar, Martin Murray, Andrew Symons and David Warhurst attended the Tier 2.1 World Team Championship at the Nottingham Croquet Club. Scotland were the holders and had three of the successful team from four years ago available. Wales were probably the favourites on paper with a close call between Scotland and Ireland as to second favourites. Team Canada had gained promotion from the previous competition and soon proved themselves to be a competitive unit.
The first match was against Ireland. Conditions were quite tricky with three of the four lawns having a quadrant of the court where it was extremely fast and the ball would skid rather than roll. Hence 7 of the 20 games went to time. Many of the timed games were won by two or three points. Eventually we lost 8-12. Duncan recorded a TP in his win.
The second match was against Wales. Martin Murray took over from Lorna who was keen to have a rest in order not to aggravate her injury. I enjoyed asking Martin about his MacRobertson shield appearances over the years. Scotland got off to a quick start taking a 6-2 lead but Wales came fighting back and eventually Scotland lost 8-12. Rick Harding of Wales recording the only TP of the match. In this match only 2 of the 20 games went to time.
Our final match was v Canada. Canada were led by the very experienced and fluent Brian Cumming. Brian plays with a self-made mallet with a very rectangular head and with the ability to add weights to the head depending on conditions. Brian and Duncan seemed to be the form players throughout the six days of competition, closely followed by Rick Harding for Wales. Duncan managed three TPs and one TPO in this match. Again, only two of the games went to time which suggested that players were finally coping with the challenging conditions. A drop in temperature also helped. Scotland did well in this match winning 11-5 and when David Warhurst ran 1-back in the extension period after a draw it meant that we did not have to play the final four singles matches. Those of us with long journeys back to Scotland and Budleigh were very grateful to be able to get home before midnight.
A huge thank you must go to The Nottingham club, Peter Death (Manager), Ian Vincent (ROT) and a massive number of volunteers who worked tirelessly to accommodate the players. A phenomenal effort from the Nottingham members.
Andrew Symons
The full results are on Croquet Scores.