By John Thomson
Last Monday 17 April the Lilydale Section 1 team travelled to the Northern suburbs of Melbourne to take on the very strong and experienced Essendon Croquet Club.
The first game was the doubles, and this turned out to be a marathon. Even though the Lilydale pair of Glenn Crook and Murray Howlett were out gunned they stuck to their game plan of trying to keep their opponents away from the hoops, unfortunately the more experienced Essendon pair took their chances whenever they arose and were able to win the game 7 hoops to Lilydale 3 hoops. This game alone went for one and a half hours.
In the first of the singles games Lilydale’s Glenn Crook, although playing well in general play was finding it difficult to run hoops which was telling in the end. Essendon 7 hoops Lilydale 4 hoops.
The second singles was almost a repeat of the first with Murray Howlett not quite able to finish off his good work. Essendon 7 hoops to Lilydale’s 4 hoops.
At the lunch break it was Essendon 3 games 21 hoops to Lilydale 0 games 11 hoops. With two singles games to come Essendon had already won the day, so it was now down to how Lilydale could respond after the break.
Murray Howlett played the first singles and had obviously taken stock of where he needed to improve and played a much better game this time running the hoops when he had the opportunity, winning 7 hoops to Essendon 5 hoops.
In the last singles game the Essendon player just played a superb game not giving Glenn Crook a look in, Essendon 7 hoops Lilydale 1 hoop.
The final score Essendon 4 games 33 hoops Lilydale 1 game 19 hoops.
Even though the final score was a big win to Essendon the Lilydale pair battled hard all day, it just came down to experience in the end. Lilydale will learn a lot from this match.
While the section 1 team was travelling North to Essendon the section 2 team was travelling South to Sandringham, the bay was calm, not a breath of wind so a good day for croquet.
Lilydale’s pairing of Alan Jones and Craig McCracken were looking to keep their good form going in the doubles again this week. Lilydale started well winning the first 2 hoops, Alan and Craig were determined not to let Sandringham get into the game and went on to win 7 hoops to Sandringham 4 hoops.
In the first of the singles games Lilydale’s John Thomson started well winning the first 2 hoops but then the Sandringham player started to settle into the game and won the next 2 hoops and after they had played 12 hoops it was 6 hoops a piece, the next hoop to play is the 13th to decide the game. Unfortunately John hit both of his balls too long past the hoop and then was out of position to run the hoop, Sandringham winning 7 hoops to Lilydale 6 hoops.
In the second singles game Lilydale’s Craig McCracken got off to a flyer, but, as in the first singles the Sandringham player started to find his range and worked his way back to 6 all after 12 hoops with the 13th hoop to decide the winner, unlike the first singles Craig placed his first ball in a good hoop running position and was able to capitalize on this and win the game. Lilydale 7 hoops to Sandringham 6 hoops.
At the lunch break the scores were Sandringham 1 game 17 hoops to Lilydale 2 games 20 hoops. With two singles games to play after lunch it was shaping to be another classic struggle between these two clubs.
First up after lunch Alan Jones was playing his singles game. This game was marred by a number of errors from both players, eventually Alan got the upper hand and was able to take out the game 7 hoops to Sandringham 4 hoops.
In the last game of the day, John Thomson was playing better and was able to run a number of crucial hoops to win the game 7 hoops to Sandringham 4 hoops.
The final scores for the match, Lilydale 4 games 34 hoops to Sandringham 1 game 25 hoops.
This win keeps Lilydale on top of the ladder in Section 2 Level Play Competition.
