By Phil Davies
Having won the trophy in 2023, our Centenary Year, we were keen to repeat the feat in 2024. We did, but it went down to the final game.
This year’s matches were against Bromley, Hampstead, Ember, and Cheam, and our defence started with two Home matches. The first, in early August, was against Bromley. We were in very good ‘hoop running’ form and won 4-0. Ember was next up. This time, both teams were evenly matched, resulting in a solid 2-2 draw.
Then came our Away fixtures. Our first was at Hampstead, on a very hot day and on a lawn that was a gorgeous green and flat! We went 2-0 up at half time, which gave us confidence for the afternoon’s games, so the offer of wine at lunchtime was refused to ensure we remained focused.
Unfortunately for us, Hampstead then introduced their secret weapon, Gabrielle Higgins, who has a handicap of -2 and is currently ranked World No. 2 among women players. She had travelled up from the south coast to play.
Hampstead were keen to be successful as they had already won one match and drawn their other two. We were unlucky in the afternoon singles, but our doubles pairing was nicely ahead with 10-15 minutes to go. But then Gabrielle hit in from distance and promptly ran (literally) her hoops to catch up with us and, with great skill, peeled her partner’s ball through its final three hoops but left herself too short to run Rover herself.
At this point, she ran off the lawn as quickly as she could to avoid the timer going off before the end of her turn. This prompted considerable debate as to whether she was off the lawn when the timer went off, so a referee checked the rule book, and advised that she did not have to be off the lawn when the timer went off.
We had a final chance to hit in from distance but missed, allowing Gabrielle to finish us off. Result: 2-2.
League final at Cheam
Our final game was at Cheam, where either of us could win the league. We needed at least a draw to have a chance of winning the league. Cheam, however, having drawn all their previous three games, needed a victory.
It was Friday 6th September, and it had rained a lot in the early morning, slowing traffic in the Dorking area. Together with the closure of West Street in Dorking for repairs, this meant that I had not been able to pick Doug up until 9.25. We arrived at 9.57, limiting our warm-up to just five minutes.
Despite this setback, the morning’s games were successful. We were 2-0 up at lunch, after both the singles and doubles had finished +2 in closely contested games. It had been dry all morning but rained heavily during lunch but fortunately stopped in time for the afternoon games.
These did not start very well. We were down in both games after a couple of hours of play. The singles game was eventually lost, and the doubles pair was not playing very well. Despite having 5 bisques, they were losing circa 17-6 with 45 minutes or so to go.
Then a Cheam miss gave us a glimmer of hope. I managed a break of 6, which was followed shortly after by Doug making a 6 and then a 3 to set me up to finish the game, much to Cheam’s dismay.
It was a great turnaround for Reigate, winning us the match 3-1 and putting us top of the league table. It just goes to show: never give up in croquet, there is always a chance. Thanks to Michael, Doug, Simon, and Caroline for making it happen – again!