By Chris Ham

BUDE CROQUET CLUB LATEST

BUDE’S Handicap League team confirmed top place in the South West group on Friday, June 21, by completing a clean sweep of victories over St Agnes, Plymouth, Barnstaple and Cornwall Croquet Club from St Austell. 

This represents an outstanding achievement for a club in its first year of league competition and only 8 years after its foundation.

And yet, after two hours of play, such an outcome seemed highly improbable with Bude trailing 5-1, the only win being founder member Paul Knight’s 7-3 victory.

Within half an hour, however, the fightback was underway with Tim Benson dispatching the opponents’ lowest handicap player 7-3. 

Andy Middleton and Helen North both played resolutely to win their games 7-6. 

The next round of singles games was a stalemate, with Helen North, Andy Middleton and Tim Benson each earning a second win, but the opposition winning the other three to gain a narrow advantage of 8-7.

So, in the final round of five games, Bude needed four wins for overall victory, while Cornwall needed three.  The first game to finish saw Chris Ham fighting back from 4-0 down to win 7-4. Parity: 8-8.

The next game was lost before Tim Benson rounded off an excellent personal contribution with a 7-4 win. Parity again at 9-9.

Helen North was next to finish, winning a 13-hoop game 7-6. Bude in front 10-9 and at least a draw guaranteed.  Everything hinged on the last few minutes of the final game with the score standing at 6-6.   Paul Knight and Frances Hornblow won the play off hoop to win 7-6 and complete a remarkable 11-9 match victory for Bude.

This was another superb never say die performance from Bude who will now progress to the knockout stage against other regional winners to be played in September.