By Casey O'Connor
Stanthorpe Mallet players welcomed the change in conditions which allowed them back on court this past week.
The Association Croquet group were the first to hit the court Tuesday (27).
Jenny Tunbridge has been in good touch in recent weeks and Tuesday partnered Heather Widderick against Grace Howard and Effey Russell.
It was a close game throughout and despite Howard scoring one run of two hoops and another of three and a run of two from Russell it was not enough to prevent their opponents from taking a 22-19 win.
Tunbridge scored a run of two and another of three while Widderick also played well to set up the win.
The Golf Croquet ladies played Wednesday (28). Kathy Hopgood (4), Kim Foster (1) and Sharyn Roser (5), played Di Wren (2), Shirley Page (6), and Shirley Evans (2).
Wren, Evans and Page were off to a flying start with some strategic and attacking play, especially against Roser.
Wren managed to “roquet” Roser’s ball away from the hoop to prevent her scoring on several occasions.
In the later stages of the game, the advantage turned to Hopgood, Foster and Roser.
The game ended in a 10-all draw. In a great game Roser scored two hole in ones and Page also scored one.
Kathy Hopgood showed great accuracy acute angle accuracy throughout the game.
In the second game, Shirley Page (7), and Kim Foster (3), played Di Wren (5), and Kathy Hopgood (8).
Hopgood once again played very well played very well showing great accuracy at the hoop and on the long shots.
“Roquet:- If the ball strikes another ball, this is called a “roquet”.
A roquet entitles the player to two extra strikes. The first extra strike is a special type of shot called a “croquet””
Five players were delighted to have the opportunity to play Gateball on Friday after several recent games were cancelled.
Jenny Tunbridge, Grace Howard and Heather Widderick played the red balls in the first two games and faced the white ball team of Les Williams and Sharyn Roser.
In the opening game, the Reds got off to a flying start.
The white team struggled to strike the balls with precision.
The Reds kept their opponent’s balls off the court for a large part of this game leading to a 16-18 win after scoring one Agari at the end of the game.
In the second game roles were reversed as the white team dominated with accurate play.
All this came after Les Williams changed his sunglasses. Ent on to win 13-9..
After the break, Howard and Tunbridge played the white balls against Williams, Roser and Widderick (red).
Whites again got the upper hand and kept reds on the back foot to take the win 13-7, with one Agari.
In the final game, reds got off to a slow start and had difficulty getting their balls through the first hoop and into play.
There was a shift in momentum when whites hit a lot of balls out of play as the greens dried out and became faster.
Reds finished with a comfortable 19-7 win in a game where three Agaris were scored.
