England players lead the way at AC Open Championships

Fulford and Good win the Doubles; Death and Patel reach the Singles final

Last week saw Cheltenham Croquet Club hosting the most prestigious Association Croquet event in the British tournament calendar, with the Open Doubles Championship immediately followed by the Open Singles Championship. The England and New Zealand MacRobertson Shield (World Team Championship) teams were out in force, with all 3 pairs from the former and 2 from the latter competing. In the end the English pairs proved the stronger, will all 3 reaching the semi-finals, along with ‘hybrid’ English/New Zealand pair (and married couple) Chris & Jenny Clarke, fresh from winning the Mixed Doubles Championship a few weeks earlier.

Robert Fulford & Jack Good defeated Chris & Jenny, after a close finish to the second game, while James Death & Samir Patel beat compatriots Mark Avery & Jamie Burch. The final was hotly contested but Fulford & Good ultimately triumphed, for Fulford’s 14^th title and Good’s first (of many, I suspect).

On to the Singles, with the unusually hot and sunny weather making the wonderfully-prepared courts an increasingly hard (but fair) challenge as the week went on. This was the first year since 1986 in which neither Fulford not Reg Bamford (both legends of the game) were competing, leaving several players fancying their chances. Pete Trimmer (runner-up to Fulford in 2004, at the same venue) had a great run, defeating Mark Avery and Greg Bryant before narrowly losing to Samir Patel in the semi-final. Samir had accounted for Aaron Westerby (NZ) and Stephen Mulliner (competing in his 50^th consecutive Open Singles, an astonishing record), while the other half saw Logan McCorkindale boosting the Kiwi cause by beating Rick Harding (who had a great win against Jack Good), and James Death coming through with his customary ease (mostly) against James Hopgood and James Carlisle.

Death continued his apparently serene progress by dispatching Logan in order to set up a final against his doubles partner, but after winning the first game 26-0, Samir fought back to narrowly win game 2, 26-3. At this point, being 8pm on Sunday, the players agreed to conclude the match another day, likely in the next month, as they will be spending a lot of time together as England teammates. Look out here for an update when it happens!