Straight off the back of Brent Knoll Bowl and here we are again at the Halford Hewitt. This year we are playing at Royal St George’s and we have a team plus reserves! At one point we had 14 players down but eventually settled on 12. Welcome to the Lee brothers for the first time to this wonderful competition.
Overall the weather was unpredictable with Tuesday and Wednesday being the best of the week with 40-50 mph winds expected Thursday and Friday. Willacy, Stickler, Hector, Ford, Greg/Pete Whalley and Bradnock played on the Tuesday with the rest arriving either that evening or for the Wednesday practice day.
Our first round match was against Chigwell, who according to the Anderson scale are ranked similar to Taunton, so we felt we had a chance. However, we then knew the 2nd round would be tough with a match against either Eton or Ampleforth (who we did beat last year).
So in preparation for Thursday’s match we tasked Chef Greg to cook something special to warm us up and what a meal it was with scallops prepared by sous chef Higgy followed by rack of lamb for main course. Well done team.
Results:
1st Round v Chigwell Won 3-2
1) G Hector/P Stickler (W) 4-3
2) J Malden/H Lee (L) 6-5
3) G Whalley/A Ford (L) 7-6
4) P Whalley/D Higginson (W) 5-4
5) M Pyke/R Willacy (W) 5-4
2nd Round v Eton Lost 4.5 – 0.5
1) M Pyke/R Willacy (L) 1 Down
2) G Hector/P Stickler (L) 3-2
3) J Malden/H Lee (H) Halved on 17th
4) E Bradnock/PLee (L) 7-6
4) P Whalley/A Ford (L) 4-3
Despite the final score against Eton it’s worth noting 3 of the games were up at the 12th Halfway Hut. Eton went on to lose in the Semi-Finals.
Another fantastic week was had by all and I hope the Lee twins enjoyed it as much as us old timers do and we hope to see them back again next year.