ARCHIVES

ARCHIVES

AC Association Croquet

The Anderson Shield is once again being run as a B-level competition between club teams, but this year played to Handicap Advanced rules.

Anderson Shield results
by year:

Entry fee: £11 per team

Last year's winner: Watford


L-R: Ken Knock, Mike Bowser, Adrian Kirby
Click on images to enlarge


The delayed final round from 2024 caused due to adverse weather conditions and independent lawns closing early was eventually played between the two finalist Wrest Park and Pinchbeck at the Newport Club on Thursday 17th April 2025. Each team comprised three players and played two rounds made up of one doubles and one singles game in the morning followed by three singles games in the afternoon.

Teams were made up as follows:-

Wrest Park: George Collin (½), Tim Brewer (2½), Tim Nurse (6)
Pinchbeck: Adrian Kirby (0), Mike Bowser (4½), Ken Knock (9)

During the morning session the first game to finish was the singles game between Tim Brewer and Mike Bowser in which Tim ran out the winner +18. Meanwhile the doubles game between George and Tim Nurse against Adrian and Ken proved a much closer affair and could have gone either way. Unfortunately due to a miss-swing of the mallet in which Adrian suffered a minor leg injury a winning position was lost, and again Wrest Park ran out the winners +1(T) giving Wrest Park a 2-0 lead at the lunch break.

After the lunch break what looked like an impossible task for Pinchbeck who had only to lose one game to lose the match suddenly took on different manner as Mike Bowser ran out a winner against Tim Nurse +17; and almost unbelievably Ken Knock playing Tim Brewer swept the board +26, which at the end of the day earned him a reduction in his handicap by 3. This left George Collin battling Adrian Kirby with the match drawing at 2-2 to determine the winner. This proved a hit and miss affair which ran Adrian’s way +10.

So against all the odds Pinchbeck ran out the overall winner 3-2 to win the trophy for 2024.

Thanks go to the Newport club for making the facilities available to the Federation and providing a light tea of cakes and tea & coffee all day.

Report & photo by Terrey Sparks
QUARTER-FINALS
by 30 June		 SEMI-FINALS
by 31 August		 FINAL WINNER
Colchester Colchester
5-2		 Wrest Park
5-0		 Pinchbeck
3-2
Watford
Wrest Park Wrest Park
4-3
Newport
Norwich Norwich
2-2*		 Pinchbeck
2-2*
Downham
  Pinchbeck
 


*Match decided by a tie-breaker
The Anderson Shield
Deadlines for rounds:
Round 1 30 Jun
Semi-finals 31 Aug
Contacts:
Colchester 07738 689099
Newport 07971 016633
Watford 07910 789787
Pinchbeck 07930 865932
Downham 07593 098706
Wrest Park 01525 718550
Norwich 01603 507237

 

See also:

GC the EACF Ken Wheeler Shield
AC the national Inter-Counties Championship
AC Anderson Shield winners summary.

 

Anderson Shield Regulations - 2024

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  1. All member clubs in the East Anglian Croquet Federation shall be eligible to participate.
  2. The competition will operate as a knock-out with the early rounds operating on a regional basis wherever possible, with clubs determining home and away by using the EACF Virtual Coin Toss if there is no previous history in this competition, otherwise the opposite of their previous encounter. However, clubs with only one serviceable court may elect to play any home games away.
  3. The responsibility for arranging fixtures rests with the home club. However, a degree of mutual co-operation is expected between both clubs.
  4. Courts should be full size and in adequate condition such that there is a possibility of accurate positioning, and hitting a ball from one corner of the court to the opposite corner.
  5. The minimum allowed handicap allowed is 0. There is no maximum allowed handicap. The aggregate team handicap must be at least 10. The team captains should ensure that handicaps are correct and have been assessed by the club handicapper in accordance with the CA Handicap Guidelines. No player may play for more than one club in the course of any one season. However, members of a near neighbour club are permitted to play.
  6. All games shall be standard 26pt games played to Handicap Advanced rules, of 3 hours duration if single-banked or 3¼ hours if double banked, played under the current Laws of Association Croquet. Time-limited games shall be played to a result in accordance with CqE Tournament Regulation T2 ("Limit on Number of Turns"), with the additional rule that either pair of a doubles game may choose to play Alternate Stroke Doubles independently of their opponents' choice.
  7. Where two or more courts are available teams should normally consist of 4 players, with 1 doubles and 6 singles games in the match, making 7 games in total. Players are to be listed in handicap order by the Home ('H') and Away ('A') team captains and play their opposite numbers according to the following formula:
    • a.m.: H1 & H4 v A1 & A4, H2 v A3, H3 v A2
    • p.m.: H1 v A1, H2 v A2, H3 v A3, H4 v A4
  8. Where only one court is available teams should instead consist of 3 players, with only one player in each team playing in two doubles at the captains' discretion, giving a total of 4 games in the match, and no games may be duplicated. In such a 3-a-side match the team aggregate handicap must be at least 7½. If the number of games won by each team is equal, then the winner is the team winning the most games within time. If the result is still undecided it shall then be determined by using the Nottingham Tie Break (2-ball breaks by each team starting in corner IV, with each player in the team by rotation playing one stroke until the turn ends; if necessary the exercise is repeated until a winner emerges).
  9. It is expected that the home club will provide refreshments including a light tea at the end of the match at no cost to the visitors.
  10. In the event of a dispute all clubs concerned should make representations to the Manager, whose decision shall be final.


Manager