Our penultimate Association Croquet fixture of the year took us to the beautiful lawns of Cheltenham to face a strong undefeated team which was already assured of the South West Federation title.
The omens didn’t look great from the start since we’re not used to Cheltenham’s tight stainless steel hoops and very short grass.
John Guy and Ian Lambert battled hard in the doubles fixture against Richard Marriage and Mark Oldale and deservedly won 23-14, but Stuart Smith got tonked by their captain Klim Seabright 26-8.
In the afternoon session it was, unfortunately, one-way traffic as Cheltenham racked up three wins of 26-10, 26-10 and 25-20 with only Ian Lambert getting close to a win.
The final result of 4-1 to Cheltenham confirmed the strength of their team.
Stuart Smith
