Colman and Roberts triumph in South African championship

Phyllis Court pair Frances Colman and Chris Roberts won the handicap doubles event at the Western Cape Association Croquet Championships in South Africa this week, and Colman also won her classed event.

From a strong position of three wins in their opening four games, Colman and Roberts had the two strongest opponent pairs remaining in doubles but unlike in other events, they had their fortunes in their own hands.

Top seed Mike Town (handicap -1.5 from Woking) had teamed-up with the much-improved local player Silvia Short (1-5, Kelvin Grove, Cape Town) and they arrived to face Colman (11) and Roberts (-0.5) as undefeated favourites.

However, the Phylis Court duo got off to a great, if rather risky start, peeling their partner balls through both hoops one and two for a double score each-time and thereafter played more conservatively in deference to their accomplished opponents.

This low-risk strategy saw Colman and Roberts able to control the innings and build a safe and steady lead while keeping Town and Short at bay with only long shooting attempts offered as a way into the game.

Colman and Roberts wrapped that game up +10 and, with that head-to-head result in the bag, the title would be theirs with victory by any margin in their final game against David Wise (0, South Australia) and Jon Diamond (2, Tunbridge Wells).

The same patient low-risk tactics were employed by Colman and Roberts again, and this time to even better effect with a bigger lead established in the first hour and their opponents kept off the scoreboard entirely until the last 40 minutes of the three-hour game.

Colman and Roberts were able to enjoy the last innings of the game with an unassailable lead and satisfyingly pegged-out to win by +21 and they were presented with the Rondebosch Cup for the first time at their tenth attempt in the event.

Colman had already secured the C Class level play event with one game left to play in her trilogy against Paul Swaffield from Edgbaston.

Swaffield was on top form and controlled their game throughout to win +18 to win the B Class level play event.

Colman (AC handicap 11) needed to beat Jon Diamond (2, Tunbridge Wells) in her last block game in the Veterans Handicap and hope for a loss from Tony Whateley (5, Edgbaston) to win the block and qualify for the final.

She played exceptionally well to hold off the lower handicapped Diamond to win +2 but then had the agony of watching Whateley flirt with defeat against South African Peter Dreyer, before making two late hoops for victory.

That tied Whateley with Colman on the same number of wins at the top of the block, and he progressed at Colman’s expense thanks to his “head-to-head” win in their match.

Meanwhile, Roberts was in a similar position in the A Class level play event, where he needed a slip-up from others to progress from his block.

Roberts (AC handicap -0.5) played a very controlled game against an out-of-sorts Lionel Tibble (-1, Northampton), and the Henely player recorded a creditable +23 win.

The victory gave Roberts three wins from his four block games and was clear in second place behind top seed Mike Town (-1.5, Woking). In any other year he would have progressed to the semi-finals, however, scheduling difficulties meant that only the block winners would progress, and Town went on to win a straight final easily.

This week is the turn of Golf Croquet and the keenly contested Rainbow International event at the same Somerset West Club venue, near Cape Town.

Players from England, USA, Spain and Switzerland will pose a strong challenge for South African players from local clubs and as far afield as Port Alfred and Johannesburg.

Colman and Roberts will hope to improve on last year’s semi-final exit in the doubles event and perhaps on the previous season’s runner-up spot, and Roberts will also compete in the open singles.