CROQUET - PETER Dyke from Nailsea took part in the finals of the Golf Croquet All England Handicap, which were held at Ramsgate last week.

PETER Dyke from Nailsea took part in the finals of the Golf Croquet All England Handicap, which were held at Ramsgate last week.

Twelve competitors who had qualified in regional finals around the country took part. Peter got off to a bad start, losing all three games on the first morning, but recovered well winning all four games in the afternoon.

On the second day, he faced two strong opponents in the morning and he narrowly lost 6-7 to Farook Malik. His second game of the day was against Nick Mounfield, who was undefeated in the block stage of the competition.

Peter scored hoop one from the boundary, but then lost the next five hoops, due to strong clearances and excellent hoop running by his opponent. Peter took the next two hoops, Nick took the ninth and Peter the 10th.

At the 11th, again Nick did some strong clearances to take control of the hoop. Peter attempted an angled jump shot from over four metres from the hoop. It bounced before jumping over his opponent's ball just in front of the hoop to score the hoop.

At the 12th, Peter's clearance was not strong enough and Nick ran an excellent angled hoop to win 7-5.

In the afternoon, Peter won his two remaining games to take sixth place, with six wins out of 11 games.

The top four players played two semi-finals and a final. In the semi-finals, Farook Malik from Surbiton beat the previously undefeated Nick Mounfield from Letchworth 7-3 and Richard Harris from Ryde beat Brian Wilson from Lansdown, Bath, 7-2. In the final, Richard Harris beat Farook Malik 10-5.

On Wednesday, Nailsea Croquet Club held its last Wild Wednesday competition of the season. The winner was Pat Long with 81 points, David Richards took second place with 69 points, third was Brigit Clayton with 62 points and Geoff Hughes came fourth with 56 points.

The overall winner of the Wild Wednesday competitions for the whole season was Jim Gregory.

Finals results - LARS Plate: David Richards beat Ian Telfer +10; open handicap singles: Geoff Hughes beat Marcus Evans +18; handicap play golf croquet singles: Mike Tracy beat Ryan Cabble 7-6; handicap play one-ball: Tony Hinchliffe beat Mike Tracy 2-1 (+3, -5, +4); open advanced play singles: Marcus Evans beat Kriss Chambers 2-1 (-19, +9, +9); over-50s: Rob Royffe beat Ian Telfer +24; ladies singles: Linda Shaw beat Pat Long +24; golf croquet doubles: Jim Gregory & Valerie Jackson beat Andrew Fraley & Mike Tracy 7-3; Marshall Midda Shield: Chris Jackson beat Polly Reynolds 7-5; level play golf croquet singles: Jim Gregory beat Peter Dyke 6-3; short croquet: Brigit Clayton beat Brian McCausland +13; Enginuity Plate: David Richards beat Pat Long +18; equal bisques: Linda Shaw beat Rob Royffe +15; advanced play one-ball: Peter Dyke beat Brian McCausland 2-1 (+7, -5, +5).

In addition, John Grimshaw won the B Class Advanced Play with Peter Dyke runner-up; David Richards won the C Class Level Play with Jim Gregory runner-up.