The One Ball AC Singles (Handicap) tournament is usually held as a curtain-raiser at the start of the season. Usually played as a 13-point handicap tournament, time limit 40 minutes (although most games are much shorter than this). The number of bisques given in One Ball is a third of the handicap difference (with exceptions for handicaps below 2, as per Appendix 6 of the AC Laws).
In recent years, our One-Ball tournament has served as our club heat for the national Charity One Ball tournament, with the winner (or a substitute) having the option of participating in one of the national finals at Nottingham or Surbiton.
In 2018 we started playing our own “One Ball Plus” variation of the rules in our club tournament to encourage more interaction and the incentive of going for roquets.
One Ball (Plus) Croquet is not as complicated as Association Croquet, and Golf Croquet skills certainly come in handy. The winner has the privilege of looking after the Gnome Trophy for a year!
Previous winners:
| 2003 Evelyn Martin | 2011 Ray Mounfield | 2019 Mick Haytack |
| 2004 Tim King | 2012 Richard Sanville | 2020 Richard Sanville |
| 2005 Derek Buxton | 2013 Christine Mounfield | 2021 Richard Sanville |
| 2006 Ray Mounfield | 2014 Arthur Rowe | 2022 Mike O’Brian |
| 2007 Arthur Rowe | 2015 Richard Sanville | 2023 Mike O’Brian |
| 2008 Eileen Buxton | 2016 Nick Mounfield | 2024 Mike O’Brian |
| 2009 Rupert Knapton | 2017 Derek Buxton | |
| 2010 Martin Wroughton | 2018 Arthur Rowe |
2024 REPORT Played on Friday 3rd May Manager and reporter: Richard
This year we had seven players in the Charity One-Ball Plus competition on a cool and rather wet day, sandwiched between two lovely warm days.
We played five rounds of 13-point games, ensuring everyone got at least four games, with one player sitting out each round.
Placings were decided by win percentage followed by average hoop difference. Mike was the overall winner with 4/5 wins, closely followed by Arthur on 3/4, though they managed to avoid playing each other due to the limited number of rounds and predetermined order of play.
Mike therefore wins for the third year running and retains the Gnome trophy.
Final placings:
- Mike O’Brian 4/5 wins, +5.40 average
- Arthur Rowe 3/4 wins +7.00
- Adam Wheatley 2/4 wins, -1.50
- Richard Sanville 2/4 wins, -4.75
- Andy Sherwood 2/5 wins, -1.40
- Keith Pound 1/4 wins, -2.25
- Mick Haytack 1/4 wins, -3.50
Including the previous collection from the Christmas meal, our charity heat of the national event has raised a marvellous total of £312.40 for the British Heart Foundation. Many thanks to all who have donated so generously.
We get three places in the northern national final at Nottingham on Saturday 11th May; Arthur, Richard and Andy will be the Ashby representatives there.
2023 REPORT Played on Monday 24th April Manager and reporter: Richard
Eight players contested the One-Ball Plus competition on a rather cold day but at least it did stay dry throughout.
We played five rounds of 13-point games, but only 4 of the 20 games finished within the 55-minute time limit.
Two players finished on 4 wins – Mike and Heather – with Mike being declared the winner with a superior hoop difference, so he retains the Gnome trophy. Mick, Arthur and Paul all finished on 3 wins.
Final placings:
- Mike 4 wins, +17
- Heather 4 wins, +8
- Mick 3 wins, +11
- Arthur 3 wins, +10
- Paul 3 wins, +7
- Adam 2 wins, -1
- Jane 1 win, -20
- Richard 0 wins, -32
We raised £80 (plus Gift Aid) for UNHCR, or more strictly speaking, the UK arm of the UN Refugee Agency, this year’s national One Ball Croquet charity.
Mick is our qualifier for the national One Ball Croquet final at Nottingham on Coronation Day, Saturday 6th May (as Mike and Heather are not available).
2022 REPORT Played on Saturday 23rd April Manager and reporter: Richard
We had a good turnout of eight players for this year’s One-Ball Plus competition, including three newcomers to the game.
After five rounds of games, Mike was the clear winner with a 100% record. Tim and Richard finished on four wins each.
A big thank-you to everyone for your generous donations to the mental health charity MIND, which is this year’s national One Ball Croquet charity. We raised £95 in donations on the day, plus £156 collected previously at the AGM and Christmas meal, making an amazing total of £251 overall (plus Gift Aid on top).
The final placings were:
- Mike 5 wins
- Tim 4 wins, +23
- Richard 4 wins, +21
- Adam 2 wins, +2
- Mick 2 wins, -2
- Andy 2 wins, -17
- Jane 1 win
- Paul 0 wins
The national One Ball final (northern section) is at Nottingham on Sat 7th May. Richard and Andy will be our representatives there. (Others were invited but declined due to other commitments, not least the inter-club GC match at Moira against Watford on the same day.)
2021 REPORT Played on Saturday 24th April Manager and reporter: Richard
This year’s Charity One Ball Plus turned out to be a very close competition with lots of tight games. No-one won all their games, and everyone won at least one game.
Richard and Adam both finished on 3 wins, with Richard the overall winner (just!) for the second year running, on the basis of beating Adam by just one point in their game.
Mick finished on 2 wins, and Heather and Rupert one win each.
Just two games finished within the time limit (approx. 55 mins per game): Richard v Mick, and Richard v Heather.
Although Rupert finished in last place, all of his three losses were by just one point.
Results: 1st Richard (3 wins, beat Adam); 2nd Adam (3 wins); 3rd Mick (2 wins); 4th Heather (1 win, beat Rupert); 5th Rupert (1 win)
This charity this year is the British Heart Foundation, hence the red clothing theme. Thank you for the donations to the charity totalling £60 (plus Gift Aid) which will be added to the national Charity One Ball total.
2020 REPORT Played on Saturday 5th September Manager and reporter: Richard
This year’s national One Ball final has been delayed by four months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so we in turn had to rearrange our One Ball Plus club heat which eventually went ahead on the first weekend of September.
As last year, we had six players in the 13-point tournament, but with reduced time limits (45 or 50 minutes for each round) which allowed us to complete an all-play-all competition. A game was recorded as a draw if the scores were level following the completion of the two turns after time is called. This was the case in the game between Mike and Rupert which finished 6-6. Only two of the 15 games were completed within the time limit, both involving Mick.
The overall winner was Richard with 5 wins out of 5. After trailing against Adam throughout his first game, Richard managed to snatch victory 8-7 in the final turn, and after that played consistently well. Heather and Mick both finished on 3 wins, with Heather winning the game between them.
Results: 1st Richard (5 wins); 2nd Heather (3 wins, beat Mick); 3rd Mick (3 wins, lost to Heather); 4th Rupert (1.5 wins, drew with Mike, hoop diff. -7); 5th Mike (1.5 wins, drew with Rupert, hoop diff. -17); 6th Adam (1 win).
Many thanks to everyone for their generous donations to Macmillan Cancer Support, totalling £70. When combined with the Christmas/New Year donations (£77) we have raised a magnificent total of £147, plus gift aid, for the charity.
Richard will represent Ashby in the one-ball national final at Surbiton on Sept 20th. Although the money raised entitles us to an additional place in the final, none of the other participants are available that weekend or willing to travel.
2019 REPORT Played on Saturday 27th April Manager and reporter: Arthur
Six players braved the unseasonable cold and drizzly weather to contest the Ashby heat of the national charity one-ball competition. It was played as one-ball-plus, as last year, in an incomplete block format. Five of the twelve matches were completed within the hour time limit. Half the matches were decided by only one or two points. Mick and Richard both had strong starts winning their first two games; they met in round 3 which went to Mick, who then went on to beat Arthur in the final round to secure the gnome trophy. Adam played accurately and finished 2nd with the only player on 3 wins.
Results: Mick 4 wins, Adam 3 wins, Richard and Arthur 2 wins, Mike 1 win, Heather 0 wins.
Our club heat raised £70 (plus Gift Aid) in donations for the Alzheimer’s Society charity from players and non-players – many thanks to all. Richard will represent Ashby in the national final at Surbiton on May 12th.
2018 REPORT Played on Sunday 29th April Manager and reporter: Arthur
Eight players contested the Ashby heat of the charity one-ball competition on an overcast and cold day, with a breeze but fortunately no rain. This year the charity is the Down’s Syndrome Association, and players were encouraged to wear green, although preference was given to warmth during the actual games. The Ashby heat was run using the ‘One Ball Plus’ version of the game developed by Mike and others to improve the interactiveness of the game. This worked well with both players getting plenty of play in all the games, and everyone winning at least one game. The format was one incomplete block of 4 rounds, arranged so that everyone got to play a reasonable spread of opponent ability, and ordered so that the top two ranked players met in the last round. We played with a one-hour time limit and 10 of the 16 games were completed.
3 players ended up with 3 or more wins. Adam Wheatley was the stand-out player in terms of winning games beyond his ranking with 3 wins. He was pipped for 2nd place by Mick Haytack who completed (to 13 points) two winning games against Adam’s one. Arthur Rowe ended up with 4 wins after a close battle with Mick in the last round, not reflected in the final score as Arthur was able to make a couple of decisive breaks quite late on in the game after Mick had not quite got a wired position. Judith is, as expected, ‘delighted’ to be hosting the Gnome trophy for another year!
Overall placings:
1st Arthur 4 wins
2nd Mick 3 wins
3rd Adam 3 wins
4th Mike 2 wins
Heather, Richard, Martin and Derek: 1 win each
Our club heat raised £50 (plus Gift Aid) in donations for the Down’s Syndrome Association. Arthur was not available for the national One Ball final at Surbiton on May 13th, so Adam was our representative instead.