Dixon Engineering have kindly sponsored this East Midlands Federation Competition hosted by Ashby Croquet Club. This competition has run for many years and was previously called the Coors Cup and Bass Shield.
Teams from Derby, Leicester, Long Eaton and Nottingham joined the two Ashby teams Ashby A and Ashby B.
The teams were divided into two blocks: Block B comprising Ashby A, Long Eaton and Nottingham and Block G had Ashby B, Derby and Leicester.
Ashby A and Ashby B both won their blocks convincingly and at the end of the block stage Tim Ash from Nottingham and Andy Sherwood from Ashby both had 4 out of 4 wins and were in strong contention for the individual trophy.
The finals rounds consisted of teams in each block playing the team in the other block in the same position so Ashby A played Ashby B, Nottingham played Derby and Long Eaton played Leicester. The cold weather from the morning had now been replaced by sunshine and the final positions were not resolved until the last games finished.
Andy Sherwood (Ashby A) played John Picken (Ashby B) in the crux match. Tim Ash had already won all his six games and Andy had won all his five so far with a strong hoop difference so if Andy won he would take the Dixon Cup and Ashby A would take the Dixon Shield, if John won then Tim Ash would take the Dixon Cup and Ashby B would take the Dixon Shield. In the event their game was drawn so Ashby A (Mike O’Brian, Andy Sherwood and Pete Bensley) took the Dixon Shield with a much bigger hoop difference than Ashby B and Tim Ash from Nottingham won the Dixon Cup.
Photos from Alison Murray