Be sure to check out the latest Striker Spotlight on Croquet Australia’s website featuring one of Australia’s greatest ever GC players, Chris McWhirter.
The hoops were particular steadfast in the ground and at times, the only way to knock them down was with a heavy duty mallet.
Many houses and businesses are decked out in preparation for Halloween.
And every day we left the house, we noticed the changes in the leaves.
With each trip to and from the croquet courts, it would take us just under three minutes to drive the length of the bridge over the Rappahannock River.
A few housemates were able to relax with a jigsaw after a long day….
….whilst others just found somewhere to put their feet up!
Today saw the conclusion of the 2024 WCF GC World Championship event. In a seesawing match, Blake Fields ruled supreme in the 5th game, after earlier winning the first two games. with a bevy of fine shots. Robert did well to fight back by winning games 3 and 4 to force a decider. The skills shown by both players were incredible.
Yesterday saw the conclusion of the quarter-final stage of the Championship knockout, and the opening rounds of the Bowl and Plate KO events.
There were certainly some exciting matches. Blake and Brian finished in the dark on the 13th hoop and Tom and Khaled also finished their 5th game on the 13th hoop. If you haven’t had the chance yet, make sure you watch the last three hoops Khaled made. Talk about clutch.
In the earlier matches, both Robert and Euan played brilliantly and dominated their opponents.
Order of Play for today
The Championship
Court 13: Robert Fletcher vs. Euan Burridge Court 14: Khaled Kamel vs. Blake Fields
The Bowl
Semi-finals and final.
Court 15: Jenny Clarke vs. Andres Alvarez-Sala Court 11: Sherif Abdelwahab vs. Angharrad Walters
The Plate Knock Out
Players in the unfinished Round 1 matches (Sam Cuthbert, Nathan Bullen, Ian Burridge, Lionel Tibble) please be ready by 9:00. All others (Patricio Garay, Manuel Alvarez-Sala, Richard Bilton, Adam Barr, TeKiri King, James Galpin) please be ready by 10:00.
The semi-finals will be played in the afternoon.
The Shield
The final, Stephen Morgan vs. Edmund Fordyce, will by played in the early afternoon.
On the way home yesterday we found this great little spot in Topping called the Merrior Tasting Room. We had a wander around the dock before heading to the Prime Mediterranean restaurant to celebrate Peter’s birthday.
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Fun Fact. 2024 celebrates 20 years of croquet at Forrest Park, and 75 years for our club colours of royal blue, light blue and brown.
Our green courts and lovely native gardens, including the everlastings in spring, would not to be here without our loyal members and a community that hires our venue for meetings, special events and croquet parties.
We greatly appreciate and thank our members and local community for their ongoing support.
Give croquet a go!
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The last game to determine the final field for the KO stage finished at 8pm last night. It was a long day for some, whilst the majority arrived at the Piankatank River Golf Club at around 5pm for the draw ceremony and tournament dinner. Obviously the draw couldn’t go ahead but the reception and dinner was a fun event.
The playing depth of the Knock Out field is amazing and is reflected by the world rankings of those who were good enough to top their blocks.
Robert Fletcher – 1
Ahmed Elmady -2
Ahmed Nasr -3
Matthew Essick – 5
Mohammed Kareem -7
Khaled Kamel -11
Reg Bamford -20
Ben Rothman -22
When you add- Yasser Sayed 3, Mohammed Nasr 6, Edmund Fordyce 15 and Felix Webby 17 into the mix, you get a true sense of how strong the field is.
The top half of the KO are due to play at 8:30 this morning with some very exciting match ups.
Robert Fletcher Vs Tim Russell
Jose Alvarez-Sala vs Greg Fletcher
Mohammed Nasr vs Tamer Hatata
Aston Wade vs Ben Rothman
Mohammed Karem vs Jenny Clarke
David Maloof vs Jose Riva
Sherif Abdelwahab vs Euan Burridge
Matthew Essick vs Andres Alvarez Sala
Streaming starts today as well and you can catch all the action on YouTube.
Ridley Croquet
A few highlights from the block stage.
Tom Ingram became the first player from Hong Kong to win a match at a WCF event.
Thomas Halliday was extremely proud of taking Reg Bamford to 3 games in their match.
and for something different we were treated to some amazing low flying skills by a crop duster.
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Day 3 is upon us and it has been a good start for Robert, Jamie, Greg and Addison.
The weather has been terrific although the last few mornings have been quite cold. Even I have had to go an extra layer.
It is quite amazing to see so many games being played at once and you are not sure where to look.
On the court next to me, Jamie was in a battle with Ben Rothman and two courts across, Mohammed Nasr was involved in an absorbing contest against Angharrad Waters.
The afternoon session was interesting as the gun club next door was in action. The noise can be quite piercing at times and so concentration levels needed to be high.
The days are quite long. We piled into the cars at 7:30am and were on the lawns for an 8:30 start. Peter Freer finished his last game after 6pm. I think four matches couldn’t start their deciding game due to failing light.
At the end of a long day, we all decided to have tea at the venue. Steamed crab, pork ribs, baked beans, corn and salad. Barry’s fishing skills were to put to use as he showed everyone how to eat a crab the right way.
You can read a regular update from Chris Clark on the Try Croquet website.
(v4.0 Published 30th October 2024. This link to the above Menu | Events |Croquetwest Event Calendar). You can download a .pdf for printing or view an image of the Calendar.
