THE TREASURER'S TANKARD 2009
by Charles Townshend
Each year players from across the English
Croquet scene enter the competition to win one of the coveted top honours.
Groups of eight players, in order of ranking
scores, gather over five days. They each play twice against
the other seven players to establish a clear winner. Budleigh Salterton club
was the venue for this year's competition for the Treasurer's Tankard which is
the 'fourth eight' event.
All but one of the players were rated as scratch or
better and three games were played each day from Wednesday to Saturday with
just two left for the final day. By the end of the first series of games Paul
Smith led the field with six wins out of seven followed by Ian Vincent and Dave
Kibble on five wins which included three games won with a triple peel. Cliff
Jones who was managing the event had also completed three triples in his tally
of three wins. The successful completing of triple peels on a regular
basis is one of the marks of the true A class player and requires a lot of
accuracy and shot-making skill.
As the contest entered the final stages
it was still possible that we would finish with a three way tie between Kibble,
Vincent and James Hopgood but Sunday's games saw Dave Kibble out in front with
ten wins out of 14 games which included five triple peels. The
pressure of four days of continuous play was a real challenge to all the
players and Smith had fallen back eventually finishing fourth with seven wins.
Ian Vincent and James shared the second spot with 9 wins each. James pulled off
a remarkable win in his final game . Richard Griffiths had played impressively
to reach the peg with both balls and with only one point to score left
James still to make 24 points to win. In a nail biting conclusion James managed
to get both balls to the peg while Richard had several near misses as he took
long shots at the peg to win. James completed his victory by one point leaving
all spectators reminding themselves that in croquet no game is lost until
the final point has been scored.
At the end of the afternoon the players and spectators gathered to see David
Purdon present David Kibble with his trophy. David is a
senior member of the club with many years as a player and officer,
coach and trustee. He has given invaluable service to the club and
the game of croquet and Dave Kibble in thanking him recalled help from
David in his early years as a player. Warm thanks were expressed to the club
for all the care taken in the preparation of the courts as well as in
provision of coffee, lunches, teas and bar services over the
five days.
