Category: News

Sat 5th July, Moira Manager: Richard

Four East Midlands clubs contested the 14-point AC league at Ashby. This is a handicap competition for teams of 3 players, all single games with a time limit of 1hr 45 mins. Players from each club are ranked in order of handicaps, and each player plays the equivalent ranked player from each of the other three clubs, so everyone gets three games.

After two rounds Ashby were in pole position, having won matches 2-1 against both Leicester and Nottingham. Meanwhile, Leicester and Nottingham both beat Pinchbeck 2-1.

However, in the final round Pinchbeck stepped up a gear and beat Ashby 2-1, whilst Nottingham had an impressive 3-0 win against Leicester. As a result, Ashby and Nottingham both finished on two match wins, but Nottingham’s clean sweep against Leicester gave them an extra game win overall to ensure they finished as champions, ending Ashby’s four-year period of dominance (2021 to 2024).

Each player won at least one game during the day, but Mark Innes (Nottingham) was the only one to finish on 3 wins.

Teams:
Ashby: Adam Wheatley (11), Richard Sanville (12), Mike O’Brian (14)
Leicester: Owen Pugh (6), Richard Whiting (9), Anne Wright (22)
Nottingham: Mark Innes (9), Ant Graham (16), Peggy Deller (18)
Pinchbeck: Charles Ostler (4.5), Ken Knock (6), David Boxell (16)

Ashby 2-1 Leicester
Adam beat Owen 10-7
Richard S beat Richard W 14-6
Mike lost to Anne 7-9

Nottingham 2-1 Pinchbeck
Mark beat Charles 11-6
Ant beat Ken 14-7
Peggy lost to David 3-13

Ashby 2-1 Nottingham
Adam lost to Mark 8-9
Richard S beat Ant 14-1
Mike beat Peggy 14-6

Leicester 2-1 Pinchbeck
Owen beat Charles 14-2
Richard W beat Ken 14-6
Anne lost to David 3-14

Ashby 1-2 Pinchbeck
Adam lost to Charles 2-12
Richard S lost to Ken 6-14
Mike beat David 6-4

Leicester 0-3 Nottingham
Owen lost to Mark 3-14
Richard W lost to Ant 4-9
Anne lost to Peggy 9-14

Final placings:
1st Nottingham (2 match wins, 6 game wins)
2nd Ashby (2 match wins, 5 game wins)
3rd Pinchbeck (1 match win, 4 game wins)
4th Leicester (1 match win, 3 game wins)

Tues 1st July, Moira

Shrewsbury visited Ashby for a second-round Longman Cup match played on very fast, dry and challenging lawns. Most of the games were close, with 5 of the 7 being decided by a margin of 4 points or fewer. Just one of the games finished within the 3 hour 15 min time limit.

Ashby won the match 5-2, a reversal of the result when the teams met in the 2023 Longman Cup at Shrewsbury.

Scores (Ashby players first):

Richard Sanville (12) & Mick Haytack (14) lost to Phil Extance (6) & Alberto Porras (16) -13T (9-22)
Andy Sherwood (8) beat David Hart (7) +2T (15-13)
Adam Wheatley (11) beat Brian Christmas (6) +1T (9-8)

Andy Sherwood beat Brian Christmas +15 (26-11)
Adam Wheatley lost to Phil Extance -3T (15-18)
Richard Sanville beat David Hart +4T (22-18)
Mick Haytack beat Alberto Porras +4T (13-9)

Mon 30th June, Moira

Stephanie, Martin, Maurice and Ormond represented Ashby, but we narrowly lost 3-4 to Nottingham on one of the hottest days of the summer.

Ormond was our star player, winning both his matches 2-0.

Results (CroquetScores)

June 28th & 29th, Moira Manager/reporter: Judith

We had an entry of ten for this year’s National Forest GC Championship, with half of them coming from Leicester, including 3 siblings, and one player from the Czech Republic.

We played an all-play-all block with the top four gaining a place in the semi-finals and the other six playing an all-play-all block for the plate.

The weather forecast for the weekend was hot and sunny on Saturday and even hotter on Sunday.

We completed eight rounds on Saturday but one-hour time limits were imposed after lunch because of some long games in the morning. The heat provided an extra challenge to players but at the end of Saturday 7 out of the 10 players were still in contention for the four knockout places with one player on 6 wins and six players on 5 wins. This provided a strong focus for most of the 9^th round matches played on Sunday morning.

Three of the five Leicester players reached the semi-finals together with Arthur Rowe from Ashby who won the block with seven wins.

In the semi-finals Alison Murray beat Arthur Rowe in two games, the first of which was very close. The other semi-final between Mark Buckley and Paul Williams went to three games with Mark securing the place in the final.

The final between Mark and Alison was won very quickly in just under an hour by Mark 7-3, 7-6.

Meanwhile the remaining six players contested the plate. The last round provided what was effectively the plate final between our Czech visitor Miroslav Havlik and Ian Buckley (Mark’s brother) from Leicester. Miroslav won, giving him five wins out of five, and so he won the plate event.

Fortunately the very hot weather forecast for Sunday did not materialise for which we were all very grateful.

Results (CroquetScores)

Sat 21st June, Moira Manager: Arthur

This year’s Derek Buxton trophy (18-point advanced AC) featured the same four players as last year.

In an all-play-all format, Arthur retained the trophy with 3 wins out of 3, followed by Andy with 2 wins. All games finished well within the two-hour time limit.

Results:
Mick 18-15 Richard; Arthur 18-2 Andy
Mick 4-18 Arthur; Andy 18-6 Richard
Mick 12-18 Andy; Arthur 18-12 Richard

June 14th & 15th, Moira Manager/reporter: Arthur

Eight players from both local and distant clubs enjoyed mostly fine and sunny weather at Moira. The handicap range was from 8 to 20. Fifteen of the 20 games finished within the 3-hour time limit, with a further four reaching 24 or 25 points for the winning side.

There were a number of close games, but Colin Dykes (16) from Crake Valley (Cumbria) dominated the event, with mostly accurate and tidy play, securing 5 wins out of 5. Three players ended up on 3 wins, with Tim Ash (10) from Nottingham just edging into the runner-up spot based on the Egyptian scoring.

We have received a nice thank-you letter from the ladies at Netherseal WI who recently visited us for a croquet taster evening.

Mon 9th June, Sheffield Report by Lesley

The C-Team of Avril, Colin C and Jeff played their first away match this season at Sheffield Parkhead.  The match was a draw but Ashby ran 70 hoops to their 63. 

Ashby 4-3 Wrest Park
Sat 7th June, Moira

Ashby played Wrest Park in a first-round Longman Cup inter-club AC handicap fixture.

In a close contest between two evenly-matched teams, Ashby and Wrest Park each won one of the morning singles games. In the doubles the visitors were trailing as time was called, but David Woolley pulled off an impressive break under pressure to peg out and give Wrest Park a 2-1 advantage at lunchtime.

Ashby then came back to win 3 of the 4 afternoon singles and clinch victory 4-3. We now play Shrewsbury at home in the second round.

Scores (Ashby players first):

Richard Sanville (12) and Mick Haytack (14) lost to David Woolley (11) and Ross Bagni (12) -4
Andy Sherwood (9) beat David Barnett (14) +13
Mike O’Brian (14) lost to Tim Nurse (6) -16

Andy Sherwood beat Tim Nurse +11
Richard Sanville beat David Woolley +23
Mick Haytack lost to Ross Bagni -12
Mike O’Brian beat David Barnett +10T (21-11)

Result: Ashby 4-3 Wrest Park

Sunday 8th June 2025 from 2pm

This is a great chance to try the fun and tactical sport of croquet free of charge, with an introduction to the basics from members of Ashby Croquet Club and then have a friendly game or two.

On the croquet lawns at Moira Miners’ Welfare sports ground, Bath Lane, Moira DE12 6BP (opposite Conkers Waterside entrance). Car parking on site.

Join us for all or part of the afternoon, between 2pm and 5pm. All equipment provided. Please wear trainers or flat-soled shoes. Children welcome if accompanied by an adult.

Don’t worry if you missed our recent Open Afternoon. Just come along to one of our regular club sessions to come and try croquet! Details of days and times are on the home page.