Open One-Day AC Tournament

The 'official' entry of 13 players was supplemented by the addition of 3 students from Cambridge University, who took advantage of the remaining 3 vacancies in order to get some practice before the annual Varsity Match against Oxford at Hurlingham the following Monday. However, the students were techically ineligible to play in the official tournament because their handicaps were too high, so they played in a separate side-tournament 'C' block. The 13 players in the main tournament were then split into an 'A' block of 8 playing 3 rounds of Level Advanced and a 'B' block of 5 playing 3 rounds of Handicap Advanced in a Swiss format, in line with the players' selected preferences.

The format for the 'B' block was then combined with the 'C' block by giving one of the 'B' block players in each round a bye with an automatic 'win' in that round while they actually played a Level Advanced game in the 'C' block, with the additional 'handicap' that they had to complete three mandatory peels against their high-handicap student opponent.

Then as a further rather abnormal arrangement, both of the two 'C' block student games in each round were deliberately double-banked with one of the 'A' block games, with an additional stipulation to the 'A' block players that when not in play they should use the opportunity to give tactical advice and coaching to the Cambridge students double-banked on their court. The fact that 3 of the 'A' block players were also Oxford University alumni added a little extra spice to the proceedings!

Each game was played in warm and mostly sunny weather, and to a 2hr-45 minute time-limit in order to ensure that the day would be completed at a reasonable hour in the early evening.

The 'A' block results below are displayed as if the 3 rounds were played as a Swiss format, which is in fact equivalent to a 3-round knock-out as far as the winner is concerned, since with a block of 8 either format guarantees that there is always a single player on 3 wins after 3 rounds; but the ranking of the 2nd to 7th places can vary according to which format interpretation is chosen, so the ranking of those places should be regarded as undefined.

To the relief of the manager these somewhat Byzantine tournament arrangements all worked out as planned, all games were completed as scheduled, with the A-block including two triple peels by Mike Porter and Rich Waterman, and all three blocks finished with an unambigous winner with just one player in each block on 3 wins out of 3 games.

The 'A' block final was between Rich Waterman and Richard Smith. Richard S gained an early lead, and in due course reached peg and rover while Rich W languished on 4 and 1-back. But then Rich W picked up a break with his forward ball which he took to peg with an OSL, and Richard S missed a long lift shot into corner IV which left Rich W the choice of either a dolly rush and a challenging 3-ball break for a win or a 6-yard roquet for a laid 4-ball-break and a probable win. Rich W bravely opted for the latter... and missed!, leaving Richard S an easy finish to win the game and the tournament, plus a handicap reduction from -½ to -1.

The 'B' block proved to be well-contested, with all six of the 'real' games (excluding the 'byes') being curtailed by the clock when the scores were close. Geoff Johnson was awarded a bye and a deemed win in the first round, during which he played a game with 3 mandatory peels against James Faulkner in the 'C' block; and then André Machell and John Smallbone each received a bye and a deemed win following their defeat in the preceding 'B' block round, during which they played with 3 mandatory peels against the 'C' block players Jack Sydenham and George Garnett respectively. Meanwhile Tony Elliott and Mark Lansdale, each having won two 'real' games in the first two 'B' block rounds, met each other in what amounted to a block final to decide the winner. Tony emerged as the +3 winner in another close game which once again reached the time limit.

In the 'C' block the Cambridge students had to come to terms with tighter hoops and courts which were much faster than the slow, rough courts on the playing fields available back in Cambridge, and with the big difference that this also made to the tactical risks and rewards available. Jack Sydenham appeared to adapt quite quickly, showing generally good judgement of length as well as some accurate shooting, while George in particular struggled with the judgement of length, over-hitting badly on some shots and under-hitting on others, notably failing to reach the safety of a far boundary when shooting and missing. Jack was also the only one of the three students to take a game off a 'B' block visitor playing with 3 mandatory peels, as well as beating James Faulkner and George Garnett in his other two games, so that Jack emerged as the clear winner of the 'C' block.