Nailsea and District Croquet Club (NDCC) played away at Taunton and Deane Croquet Club in the SWF Golf Croquet Level Play Premier League on June 22nd.
The Nailsea team was Kriss Chambers (-2), Richard Broad (0), Andrew Wimshurst (0) and Steve Durston (3), with players’ handicaps in brackets.
The Taunton and Deane team consisted of Tim Jolliff (-2), Neil Fillery (-1), Stephen Custance-Baker (0), David Jones (3) and Dave Wall (5).
The match was played as a best of 20 games, with each game being best of 13 hoops.
Nailsea found it hard to adjust to the slower lawns, but the firm hoops were reminiscent of home.
Consequently, after the first three rounds Nailsea held a slender 5-4 lead going into lunch.
After lunch the Taunton players came back refreshed, winning all three matches in round four, taking Taunton into a 7-5 lead.
With two more rounds to go, involving eight games of singles, the Nailsea team dug in and rallied together, winning six of the last eight games and grasping the match win 11-9.
There were numerous notable games; the longest game went to Chambers, who also gained a convincing 7-0 win over Fillery, whilst the strong doubles pairing of Broad and Wimshurst remained unbeaten on the day, with decisive 7-2 and 7-3 victories.
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