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).

Day 5 - Few shocks

No good news from me, unfortunately. I very much enjoyed my game with Ahmed but despite a few good shots on my part, he performed to a higher standard. My thinking was just about right and I did not lose ground early in each game (which can be a problem when I do not judge the right level of aggression to play) but I struggled with the slope of the court. I was not reading the lines very well and failed to create enough pressure when I had first approach to the hoop. Final score: 3-7; 4-7. I scored hoop 10 from a long distance in the second game, so I did not go out with a whimper! Ahmed was a real gentleman; we shared one or two jokes on the court and afterwards he left me with a pointer on my tactics in one particular situation.

Of the other results, the only real shock was Salah Hassan (losing finalist in 2006). He lost to Kevin Beard of Australia, who was only 50th in the international rankings going into the tournament. Of the last 16, 8 players are from Egypt. Sweden, Italy, NZ, South Africa, USA and Australia each have one and England expects from Stephen Mulliner (see photograph) and Chris Clarke. The Egyptian Nasr brothers are in awesome form and at opposite ends of the draw; the smart money is probably on them meeting in the final.

From today, I will play in the plate event. This will be a test of my true progress this week. On my best form, I have a chance to get through to the plate knockout, which will have a final on Sunday morning before the main event final in the afternoon.

Day 4 - Not quite

Late back to the B&B again but a brief note to keep everyone up to date. I took "my Egyptian" (everyone has at least one in their block and some of them are new to the non-Egyptian players, so we tend to use this generic moniker) to the thirteenth hoop of the third. Blame the rain (and cold!) or his lack of top form but I began to get a feel as to how to stand toe-to-toe with these great players. Unfortunately, despite leading 6-4 in the third game, I fell just short. Each of us played good shots at hoop 13 and I played a couple that were fractionally careless; this was enough to give him the edge. The final result was: 7-5, 2-7, 6-7. Tomorrow, I have been drawn against fourth seed Ahmed El Maadi in the first round of the knockout. An interesting challenge! I think I need some sleep to prepare for that.

Of the Little Scotia group, apart from Chris and myself, Ian Lines (see photograph) and Jenny Clarke both qualified but Phillip Drew was unlucky enough to lose in a play-off after finishing on four wins along with David Openshaw and Joe Hogan, who both qualified.

Block G at end of Day 4: Clarke (ENG) 7/7, Baher (EGY) 6/7, De Petra (IT) 4/7, King (ENG) 4/7, Louw (SA) 3/7, Shorten (IRL) 2/7, Boyd (SA) 1/6, Underhill (CH) 0/6.

Day 3 - First target achieved

Well, the good news is that I have qualified. I reached some reasonable heights in doing so, although once again, I lost my first game of the day. This time against David Underhill, I lost 6-7 before prevailing 7-3, 7-3. Having finished that match I then had to wait almost five hours before going back on. By this stage Chris Clarke had defeated Amr Baher to take a lead in the block and Paulo De Petra had suffered a surprise loss to David Boyd. Paulo needed to beat me in order to ensure that he did not face a tricky last match against Chris Clarke needing to win to qualify. I did not play too well and Paulo was motivated enough to take the match 7-5, 7-4. However, I am satisfied with the overall achievement of qualifying and will play Amr tomorrow morning before taking my place in the first round of the knockout.

Block G at end of Day 3: Clarke (ENG) 6/6, Baher (EGY) 5/6, De Petra (IT) 4/6, King (ENG) 4/6, Shorten (IRL) 2/6, Louw (SA) 2/6, Boyd (SA) 1/6, Underhill (CH) 0/6.

A new dawn

I woke this morning to the sound of the predicted rain on the roof. After five minutes lying there thinking about the practical consequences, I remembered that I have a ceiling fan in the room and when I looked outside, no dampness was to be seen!

Apologies that the blog has been a bit disjointed. The wireless connection at Little Scotia appears slightly unpredictable. We have also been playing for long hours; on Day 1 we were back at the hotel at 20:20 and last night 20:00. I am taking far fewer pictures than in NZ two years ago. Primarily, the heat has kept me wanting to preserve my energy and avoid exposure to the sun.

This morning I have the opportunity to qualify by winning the easiest of my three remaining matches. The other two matches would then determine my block position but that would not be critical to my placing in the draw as there is a committee that will meet to re-assign the seeding. I am adjusting to the conditions and know that I can play well enough, so I just need to relax, enjoy and play one shot at a time.

Day 2 - Consolidation

The weather continued to be glorious, although a NW breeze picked up and the locals started to predict rain for Day 3. Block G was one its own at Rondebosch, with just two courts available for use (all the courts are surrounded by cages and typical traditional courts go right to the boundary of surrounding hedges or other obstacles; in Association Croquet this is less of a problem but Golf Croquet needs the space, so at Rondebosch the normal space of three courts is in use for just two). In fact, this means only a four round day and play finished much earlier for us than on Day 1.

As on Day 1, I started poorly again; this time playing Jane Shorten. I did claw back to 6-6 but could not quite extract the necessary opening on hoop 13. However, I began to pick up my game again and won the match 6-7, 7-4, 7-5. The afternoon match was a different prospect: Chris Clarke, second seed in the block (I am third). He played very well and I failed to take the few openings that I had: game one went from 2-0 to 2-6 and in game two I scored no more points after being 3-3. I lost 3-7, 3-7. However, I was able to pack away a few lessons that I hope I will need to draw upon later in the week.

The early finish enabled us to pop down to Kelvin Grove, which is only a few minutes away. I saw Ivor Brand (ENG) scrape past 80-year old qualifier Vernon Tomes (SA) in the third game (Vernon's son Grahame is also in the block and Ivor and brother Richard, who failed to qualify last week, are staying with Grahame; everything being kept in the family!). Dick Strover (ENG) had chances to beat Khaled Younis (EGY) on the 13th hoop but did not quite get there (see photograph). Finally, we were able to watch Ian playing Jenny. Just as darkness began to become an issue with visibility, Jenny won game 2 to leave the score at 1-1; they will have to play the deciding third game on Tuesday. Jenny is struggling with a cold, so she did well to keep things together.

Block G at end of Day 2: Baher (EGY) 4/4, Clarke (ENG) 4/4, King (ENG) 3/4, De Petra (IT) 3/4, Shorten (IRL) 1/4, Louw (SA) 1/4, Boyd (SA) 0/4, Underhill (CH) 0/4.

Day 1 - So far, so good

I am staying at Little Scotia with a group from the World Championship, consisting of Chris (current Association Croquet World Champion; see photograph) and Jenny Clarke (married only a few weeks), Ian Lines and emerging NZ youngster, Phillip Drew. This simplifies some of the practical arrangements of life, although Day 1 of the Championship started with me having to let Ian into the B&B at about 02:00 because his flight had been delayed by an accident at Cape Town airport (he actually flew down from Johannesburg, circled Table Mountain, had to go back to Johannesburg and repeat the trip down again a few hours later). Ian, Chris and Jenny at all good friends at the top of Association Croquet and I have got to know Ian well through Golf Croquet (the tradition is that he beats me in the semi-final or final of the Lancashire Open; this year though ...). As is the way of these things, Ian and Jenny are in the same block (Block A), while Chris and I are together in another (Block G).

Block G was in Somerset West, so we the ~40 minute drive across the Cape Flats to get there (everyone is being ferried around in a fleet of minibuses). We arrived five minutes late to discover that the grass mowing had not gone to plan. I was first on one of the three courts and had to wait for the mowing to finish. I started in less than good form. I felt somewhat nervous and although my judgement of distance was good, my long shooting was not quite there. I also knew I had a challenge in playing William Louw (SA) because he had come top of the Qualification Tournament and, thus, had this to build his confidence on. He missed very little from distance and won the first game 7-5. However, I dug deep and my long hoop running started to work. I came back to win the second 7-5. A few more long hoops at the beginning of the third game and William began to lose confidence and started to miss more of his long shots. I eased to a 7-2 win. This was always going to be the crunch match for me, so I was pleased with the result.

Depending on venue, there are 4, 5 or 6 rounds of play in the day. However, each player is only playing two rounds, so the order of the day is to sit around a lot, trying to keep up one's hydration levels in the heat. In fact, I did not play again until round 5, against David Boyd (SA). I did not play well. Physically, I was fine; hitting the ball very cleanly. However, I discovered that at the end of a day sitting around doing very little, I was mentally tired and struggled to put together the necessary consistency. In the gathering gloom and with all the other games finished, I did my best to throw away the second game but head my nerve to win the match 7-5, 7-6. We shared Somerset West with Block H and across the two blocks, all the match results were as to be expected.

Block G at end of Day 1: Baher (EGY) 2/2, Clarke (ENG) 2/2, King (ENG) 2/2, De Petra (IT) 1/2, Shorten (IRL) 1/2, Louw (SA) 0/2, Boyd (SA) 0/2, Underhill (CH) 0/2.

Eve of the Championship

Well, my preparations could have been different but there was always the danger that if we had kept on playing in our small group then we would become very stale and set in our ways. Importantly, I have been able to experience the heat that we seem destined to face. Also, I have seen enough of my play to know that I can play at my best. Now I am looking for the challenge of competition to start to encourage my consistency. The talk ends here. Tomorrow, my fate will begin to unfold!

How about this for the view from your kitchen window?

Last evening, I was able to break out from the small group that we have formed this week and was invited over to Stellenbosch for a meal with Grahame Tomes and his wife. Their house is full of modern comforts but the ambiance of the surroundings is wonderfully evocative of Africa with the flora and views across to Table Mountain being wonderful (as per the photograph). Of course, the weather helped! Earlier in the day we had been to Pringle Bay on the eastern side of the Cape Bay. The sea was a stunning colour and we were able to eat some of the best fish and chips that you could imagine. All good for the playing stamina, of course.

Reasons for a return visit

I have never been comfortable with "tourism by numbers". If I am even aware of a list of top-ten must-see attractions for an area then I am more than happy to see some of them remain on my list of reasons to come back next time. The obvious miss this time is Robben Island. We discovered too late that one has to book in advance to get tickets. However, instead we went up Table Mountain on Wednesday morning. The weather was beautifully clear and the views stunning. We went up and down the cable car; I did not want to risk any further damage to my Achilles tendons. Next visit, I look forward to being able to walk at least one of the two directions. I have heard two slightly different stories but basically either the top of Table Mountain or the wider Cape Town vicinity has more spieces of flora than the whole of the United Kingdom! Certainly easy to believe by the abundance on top of the mountain.

Apologies for the lack of posts; we have been busy. Tourism has been one distraction. But we have also been helping with the preparation for the Championship. One of the major tasks has been to set up suitably protection for the boundaries of the courts. Several of the Egyptians hit the ball at a fearsome pace and in the wrong circumstances even a six-foot fence is not enough. In particular, Dick Strover and I helped to put up rented three-foot barriers that will increase the safety at Rondebosch. I have also put together the spreadsheet that will generate tables of the results during the block play. Watch this space to see if there is any controversy over my programming ability ... !

Happy Birthday Aidan

I should have written this yesterday; the little chap turned three! I got to speak to him on the telephone though. He was very excited and starting singing 'Happy Birthday' himself, so I just joined in. As you can tell, I have not had much free time in the past few days. I will post this and write more very soon.

e-mail is off

I have not been able to get my home e-mail to work here. I am also not connected to my work e-mail. So if any of you want to get a message to me then comments on this blog are the best way (or a text message to my mobile). I am hoping that next week could be different when I have access to a different Internet connection. I will let you know.

Getting into the groove

Life in England seems the other side of the world! Well, I suppose that is barely a revealing statement. However, I have to think hard that this is day three of my sojourn; I have lost sense of time. We continue to have fun though.

Hoppy, Dick and I filled our day. We did some shopping (the shopping mall reminding me of equivalents in the US), put Hoppy's slightly ailing car in a garage and went to the Vergelegen Estate (see picture above), which was very restful. The latter two are close to the Somerset West Croquet Club. This club will provide three courts for the Championship. We went and found an active club session in progress but we were made more than welcome to join in the play. This provided an opportunity to continue the process of getting used to the heat and sustained concentration that are a distant memory during the winter off-season.

I got to drive a second car over to the garage in Somerset West (following behind Hoppy in his car for the 50 km or so journey). Nothing too out of the ordinary, although on the motorway that forms most of the route, quite a few pedestrians wander along the hard shoulders, seemingly without concern for the potential danger. Coming back in the evening we even had one chap cross the road in front of us, pushing his bicycle. (The speed limit for the traffic being 120 km/h at that point, although the picture below shows the accompanying view of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak during the drive in the evening sun.)

Meanwhile, at Fish Hoek, some of the issues were beginning to distill out in the Qualification Tournament. William Louw of South Africa has a solid lead on 11 wins out of 12 games. He will qualify unless he has a major collapse of form. The battle for positions 5 and 6 will probably be rather tight and interesting though.

Too much fun?

A strong holiday feeling and knowing how much the pound sterling can purchase here have the potential to provoke excessive indulgence: sun and wine included! However, I am here with a serious purpose too. So the challenge is balance, particularly the subtle difference between being relaxed and being casual; so far, nothing too much to worry about (although I would be even happier if I could ever rediscover the ability to sleep rather than being an habitual early bird).

Yesterday, I played my first croquet on South African soil. My first dozen or so shots left me wondering where my form had gone. But I was soon back in the groove. Two other members of the England squad, Dick Strover and David (Hoppy) Hopkins, were with me and we went to Kelvin Grove, which is the main Championship venue. The court we used was of good standard. The other two courts at Kelvin Grove for the Championship will be the bowling greens, which will perhaps have a slightly different character but no doubt be excellent.

The other main activity of the day was to go south to Fish Hoek and call in on the Qualification Event. Richard Brand had just finished for the day when we arrived (so Richard and Dick went swimming in the sea). I stayed to watch the croquet. The courts were offering testing conditions, with some uneveness. The club has been very unlucky with some of the grass treatment. However, the club members were putting in a sterling effort to support the event, including excellent catering and scorers for each match. The qualification event is for 13 players, all playing all in a single block (each match being a pair of 13-point games). After the first day of four, the initial results suggest one or two individuals who are likely to qualify but no one is yet out of contention.

I can reveal a very early secret from the Championship draw, I will have the first Qualifier in my block. So I had an extra interest to see who was playing well. Time will tell.

Thanks again to all your messages of support. At the moment, I have not got my e-mail to work, so I am quiet on the individual front. However, I expect to sort the problem soon.

First impressions

A safe journey to South Africa achieved. The flight was all that might be expected, although, I can not remember the last time I sat in row 63 of an aircraft (two from the back!). This is my first trip straight down south and I found sleeping relatively easy (because this was normal night time for me). The day had been full, making the journey down from Tamworth (coach from Birmingham airport to Heathrow) and going through all the hassle of boarding at Terminal 3. I met up with Richard Brand at Heathrow; he is going out to play in the qualification event. The dinner did not come out immediately, so we were pretty tired by the time that we had finished food.

We were met at Cape Town airport by Carole Jackson, who is President of the South Africa Croquet Association. We are lucky enough to be able to stay with her during the coming week. During the Championship, I am moving into a bed and breakfast, Little Scotia.

The weather was good on arrival and we could very quickly get a sense of the surrounds of Cape Town. We could see Table Mountain and Devil's Peak. As we drove along the highway, we could already see the shanties in the township of Nyanga. We briefly called in at Rondebosch Croquet Club and saw some of the preparations for the Championship, had a shower to freshen up and then went out for some touring. We went into wine country, passing over four mountain passes to see the countryside around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek (see the picture); all very beautiful. We had a wonderful meal at the Grand Provence winery.

Carole had just reminded me that one of the highlights (!) of the day was when we faced a driver coming down one of the passes on our side of the road! I am convinced that it was a tourist (but not from the UK because South Africa drives on the "correct" side of the road). Fortunately, Carole kept her cool and we lived to tell the tale.

In summary, I am here, feel very little jet lag and the Cape Town area is already making a great impression.