Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water ...

The National Golf Croquet Doubles Championship

2008-08-02 & 03, Surbiton

Chris Farthing and Samir Patel beat Nick Butler and John Spiers 7-2, 2-7, 7-4 in the final of the Golf Croquet National Doubles Championship. They dominated the tournament, having won all 12 other games over the weekend (block and semi-final), only going to the 12th hoop twice and the 13th hoop once.

Egypt versus Rest of the World

2008-08-09 & 10, Roehampton

Egypt battled back from being 4-8 down at the end of the first day to draw level at 10-10. The weather was quite poor at times but this did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the spectators or lessen the tension in both teams. Reg Bamford prevailed in the final deciding leg of the match, beating Ahmed Nasr in two straight games.

Egypt versus Rest of World - Khaled Younis (EGY)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Ahmed el Mahdi (EGY)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Mohamed Nasr (EGY)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Ahmed Nasr (EGY)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Yasser Esmat (EGY)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Helmi Abdelgayad (EGY)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Stephen Mulliner (RoW)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Rob Fulford (RoW)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Chris Clarke (RoW)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Rutger Beijderwellen (RoW)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Reg Bamford (RoW)

Egypt versus Rest of World - Sheriff Abdelwahab (RoW)

Recognition

The Croquet World Online Magazine has announced the 2008 Photo Contest Winners. I submitted four photographs and am pleased to have received two category winners.

A bad day in the office ...

From the World Golf Croquet Championship 2008 ... this photograph missed the full drama ... seconds earlier Marcus Evans (ENG) had rolled backwards in expressive disappointment. This was after walking up level with hoop 13 to discover that Helmi Abdelgayad (EGY) had run the hoop backwards by just a few millimetres from 30 yards away in the deciding third game of their first round match in the main knockout; the most lucky way to set up a strong position at hoop 13. The scorer Val Armstrong has walked over to offer scant consolation. Marcus went on to lose the match.

And now for something completely different ...

To protect the innocent, I will not reveal the subject of this photograph, taken back in the UK this season. However, I can reassure you that John Travolta has not take up croquet!

Top shot - my favourite picture

I think this is the best shot that I took. If you click on the photograph you will get a full size version, which is 2.40 MB in size.

Loose ends

Apologies for the delay in getting out the remaining details of the Championship. Almost as soon as the final finished (I had been busy being one of four ball boys and taking pictures), I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me and I have spent the rest of this week recovering. I had a safe journey home and from Tuesday onwards have been trying to work but I have spent a lot of time sleeping on public transport or going to bed early.

I was rude enough not to point out that fellow squad member and friend Ian Lines (see picture) won his quarter and semi-finals in the plate event last Saturday. He contested his final on Sunday morning, played well and made light work of beating Peter Batchelor (NZ) 7-5, 7-5. So the LSC Group sponsorship made an appearance on the final day and the England squad had some success.

I also did not describe my quarter-final exit properly. I was extremely unlucky on the first game; the opponent ran hoop 13 backwards from 30 yards away (not recommended as a deliberate tactic) and I was not able to prevent him winning that hoop and the game. Then he played a series of four inspired but marginal shots in succession to take a 5-1 lead in the second game. I held myself together quite well all things considered but I felt the pressure of the unexpectedly imposed time limits and eventually succumbed 7-3. This meant that I missed out on a semi-final against Ian.

The good news is that the results of the week have been slightly favourable to my position in the international rankings, leaving me in the top ten for the UK. Some observers insist on raising controversy around how to achieve the first success by a non-Egyptian in the World Championship. Personally, I think the good news is that we are making steady progress and I can include my own personal steps in that improvement. Hopefully, I will get to play Ian Lines in the Lancashire Open in April and this will indicate what we have achieved.

Thank you for all your faithful support in the past few weeks. I enjoyed the adventure and look forward to the next opportunity.

Day 9 - Egypt on top

Ahmed played better than in his semi-final and Reg did not reach his previous heights. The first game was close until Ahmed took the lead 6-4 (with a very angled hoop shot, see picture). Reg came back to 6-6 but was not able to prevent Ahmed from having a relatively simple jump shot to win 7-6.

Reg took a 3-0 lead in the second game. However, somehow he lost his momentum and Ahmed worked his way back into the game. Ahmed won 7-4. The atmosphere had turned very still and warm; the Egyptian was becoming comfortable and Reg looked in trouble.

During the brief break between games, Reg found some inspiration and started the third game strongly. He took a commanding lead, not least because of a series of well-executed jump shots (see picture). Furthermore, he began to ensure that Ahmed was aware of his presence on the court.

Thus, the start of the fourth game was the point to see whether a critical change in momentum had taken place. However, Ahmed showed his true status as a champion and did not buckle. He took a commanding lead and although Reg stayed valiantly in contention, Ahmed had his first clear chance to win on hoop 9 (see picture). He made no mistake. He had triumphed 7-6, 7-4, 2-7, 7-2.

The Egyptian squad reaction was instantaneous. They were delighted that they had weathered the most severe challenge to their dominance to date. Ahmed was overcome with emotion but the rest of the squad showered him with their delight and soon they were all dancing with the South African band that turned up to lead the celebration. Ahmed held his nerve and gradually his judgment of distance reached supreme heights during the final; Reg surprisingly lost this ability, which had been one of the strengths of his semi-final victory.

Final preview

Ahmed Nasr and Reg Bamford will contest the final of the World Golf Croquet Championship, starting at 12:00 today. The match will be the best of five 13-point games. The consensus among seasoned observers is that Reg is favourite. He will have support from the local crowd and appears not to be in awe of achieving the first win by a non-Egyptian and on his home soil too. Ahmed on the other hand has the pressure of defending the Egyptian record of having won every one of the first seven Championships. Judging by the weather outside at the moment, the wind is more gentle than yesterday, so Ahmed will perhaps not be as psychologically disturbed by the gusty conditions during the semi-finals.

Day 8 - Ouch!

I lost my quarter-final match in two games today. The full story is a bit raw at the moment. I will write more later.

In the main event, Chris Clarke lost on the 13th hoop of the third game; Ahmed Nasr looked vunerable several times. The wind blew strongly all day. Reg Bamford (see photograph) though never lost control of his match and won 7-5, 7-4. The South Africans were all delighted. Final day should be fun.

Day 7 - Another target achieved

Without too many difficulties, I have made the knockout stage of the Plate event. After eight games for each player, the top eight players qualified. I did lose my first game of the day, playing William Louw, who was the only other player with a 100% record. Somehow, I went from 4-2 up, with William having peeled me through hoop seven, to losing 4-7. However, I asked him the question on several long clearance shots and he was up to the challenge. I then went on to beat John Spiers (7-1) and David Boyd (7-5). Thus, I ended with a record of 7/8 in the Swiss block (16/28 for the Championship). William also lost a subsequent match, so we were joint top of the block. My quarter-final match will be against John Levick of Australia.

In the main event, the excellent news is that Chris Clarke and Reg Bamford both won their matches. Thus, they get to play Ahmed and Mohammed Nasr, respectively. Of the two, Mohammed appears to be in better form. All the matches are at Kelvin Grove today, so I will have the opportunity to see the semi-finals and give some pointers on form for the final. Chris and Reg both played out tough matches, so perhaps in a tight finish with their respective opponents they will have the mental edge of having already been through that experience this week. Will we see a challenge to Egyptian dominance of Golf Croquet?

The photograph shows Court C at Kelvin Grove, one of the two bowling greens in use for the Championship in addition to the two croquet courts. This is where the final will take place on Sunday afternoon. The surface is excellent; very true. The cloud is the "table cloth" above Table Mountain. Devil's Peak is on the far right of the picture. The floodlights on the left are the Newlands Cricket Ground and the pink building is the Rugby Ground. The location is spectacular and everyone is looking forward to an exciting match there.

Extra thoughts

Now life is getting sophisticated: I have worked out how to get Test Match Special up and running in the background while I write this. And England are actually performing reasonably well. Perhaps they have heard about the performance of the England squad here! In the end we had 13 England players here (Tom Weston qualified from the qualification event). Of these, 7 qualified for the main knockout (including 5 out of the 6 selected places for the squad, rather than the extra wild card places).

Freda Vitty (a fellow croquet player) made a comment about the heat. I have not really explained the weather in detail. For the first week and a bit of my stay, the weather was almost perfect and gradually built up to being about 32 °C when we were playing on Saturday through Monday. The weather broke on Tuesday and we had rain and only about 18 °C, which felt very chilly. Since then we are back to fine skies but the temperature has probably not got above 25 °C. The maid has even turned off the ceiling fan for the first time.

At Kelvin Grove and Rondebosch the dominating Devil's Peak (see picture) and Table Mountain and the proximity of the sea have a large influence on the micro-climate. In the mid to late afternoon, the breeze usually seems to pick up, being pleasantly cooling on the hotter days and putting a mild nip in the air otherwise. Yesterday afternoon, I even started my game against Ian Lines in a fleece top (although once the action started I was able to take it off).

Reflecting on my play to date, the main observations are that I am pleased with the progress I have made since New Zealand. Salah Hassan sees more than he did then. Ahmed El Maadi complemented the crispness of my ball striking. And I have got my mind more around the game situations in which the Egyptian players are aggressive and when they play to avoid unwarranted risk.

Day 6 - Some consistency

Today was a good day! I started off at the Rondebosch Croquet Club in a mini block of four players who had been knocked out on the previous day (those who had not qualified started the plate event while we were playing in the main knockout, so we had some catching up to do). I won both my games (Owen Edwards 7-2 and Tony Hall 7-5). We then returned to Kelvin Grove to get into the main mix of the plate event. I will keep the description of the event simple: winners play winners and losers play losers until Friday evening. The eight players with the best win percentages will qualify for the plate knockout.

I had three further games: Don Reyland 7-5, John Levick 7-6 and Ian Lines 7-6. The last two games were some of the most enjoyable I have played this week. In each, I played to a reasonable standard, failed to take opportunities and the opponent took a 6-4 lead, only for me to claw my way back into contention and win on tough 13th hoops.

My 100% record (5/5) is only matched by William Louw, who I beat in my block last Saturday. We will play each other as our first games tomorrow morning. I also note that this success today takes my Championship record to won 14 games, lost 11. At my current rate of progress, I could end up playing more games than anyone else.

Meanwhile, in Somerset West, the main event was at the round of 16 stage. The Egyptians dominated; six remain in the last eight. Stephen Mulliner lost and only Reg Bamford (SA) and Chris Clarke (ENG) remain to prevent the winner once again coming from Egypt (see photograph of Ahmed Nasr).