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Andrew Winn, Mike & Sylvia Steer and Elmyr & Val Hughes all played in the Johannesburg Country Club (JCC) Association Croquet Tournament held between 16 - 24th February. Events included Advanced Singles in A and B divisions, Advanced Doubles, and Handicapped Singles and Doubles.
Elmyr got to the semi-final of the handicap singles, losing to Esther Jones of Edgbaston and JCC in a close match. The final was won by Bob Stevens of Hurlingham. The Steers had some good wins in both the handicap and advanced B Class singles, but saved their best for the doubles where they won half their games. Andrew Winn went to defend the Advanced and handicap singles titles which he won in 2007, and to partner Bob Stevens in the Advanced Doubles, where they won half of their games.
To give him a boost against a larger field of opponents with handicaps down to -1, Andrew took his new Fenwick-Elliott Australian carbon fibre mallet, untested apart from an hour on the Bowdon winter lawn. Unfortunately the mallet shaft fell to pieces during the first A Class game, which Andrew promptly lost while trying to continue with a couple of loaned mallets. The next day Andrew was loaned a David Barrett Flexipower mallet which he used for the rest of the tournament, getting used to its different shot ratios with the hot Barlow balls, and somehow managed to retain the A Class trophy, including an exciting +1 win against Paul Swaffield who had pegged out two balls leaving himself on 4-back and Andrew on 1-back.
