By John Thompson
On Monday 22 May, Lilydale Division 2 Level Play team hosted the Brunswick Croquet Club for the last match of the season.
Lilydale has been sitting on top of the ladder most of the season but they had to win this match to stay on top and win the Shield for the autumn season.
The first game was the doubles and Alan Jones and Craig McCracken paired up for Lilydale, these two players have now played many times together and have formed a good partnership.
Alan and Craig started well and kept their Brunswick opponents at bay.
The pair controlled most of the hoops and went on to win 7 hoops to Brunswick 3 hoops.
The second game was the first of the 4 singles games.
John Thomson of Lilydale started slowly with the Brunswick player having 3 hoops before John scored, John fought back and after 12 hoops the scores were level with the 13th hoop to play to decide the winner.
The Brunswick player set up better in front of the hoop and eventually won the game with 7 hoops to Lilydale’s 6 hoops.
Craig McCracken was his usual composed self even though the Brunswick player was playing well, Craig eventually was able to get a break and went on to win 7 hoops to Brunswick 5 hoops.
At the break the scores were Lilydale 2 games 20 hoops to Brunswick 1 game 15 hoops.
With two games to come it was still to early for the Lilydale team to start celebrating.
In the second last game, John Thomson started well and was able to control the game and went on to win 7 hoops to Brunswick 4 hoops.
This win meant that Lilydale had not only won the game but also finished on top of the ladder to win the season.
With 1 game to play, it was too early for the Lilydale team to start their celebrations.
Alan Jones had a tough fight on his hands with the game going hoop for hoop, eventually, Alan was able to run a couple of consecutive hoops and get away to 7 hoops to Brunswick 5 hoops victory.
Final scores: Lilydale 4 games 34 hoops to Brunswick 1 game 24 hoops.
Congratulations to the Lilydale team for taking out the 2023 Autumn Level Play Shield.
This is the second season in a row that they have won the Level Play Shield, well done to the team.
Grand Final, Thursday the 25th of May, the Autumn Handicap Season was played.
This game was played at the Ringwood Croquet Club between Lilydale and Ringwood.
The forecast was for rain and there was a very cold wind blowing so players and spectators were all rugged up for the occasion.
The first game was a singles game with Lilydale’s captain Glenn Crook playing.
Glenn was giving away 5 extra turns so he would have to be at his best to win this game, and he was.
Glenn played a brilliant game placing his balls well running some brilliant hoops and winning the game with 7 hoops to Ringwood 3 hoops.
The next game was a doubles game.
Lilydale’s pair of Alan Jones and Craig McCracken started slowly and just could not make up any ground with Ringwood winning 7 hoops to Lilydale 3 hoops.
In singles, Murray Howlett of Lilydale gave away a massive 7 extra turns to his Ringwood opponent.
Murray has been in great form all year and this game was no exception.
The Ringwood player used her extra turns well and after 12 hoops the scores were 6 hoops a piece, the Ringwood player was now out of extra turns and Murray was able to use his superior skills and win the game 7 hoops to Ringwood 6 hoops.
In Doubles Glenn Crook and John Thomson paired up for Lilydale, Glenn and John gave away a combined 4 extra turns and although they battled hard they could not control enough hoops.
Ringwood 7 hoops to Lilydale 4 hoops.
At lunch the scores were Lilydale 2 games 21 hoops to Ringwood 2 games 23 hoops. Ringwood held a slender 2 hoops advantage with a singles and doubles game to come.
Murray Howlett and Alan Jones of Lilydale were giving away a combined 5 extra turns.
Murray and Alan were playing very well added by the fact that the Ringwood pair did not use their extra turns to their advantage. Lilydale 7 hoops to Ringwood 3 hoops.
This win gave Lilydale a 1 game and 2 hoops lead with a game to play so it was still anybody’s day.
In Singles, Craig McCracken was not only up against Ringwood’s best player but Craig was giving him 2 extra turns as well.
The game was tight with the Ringwood player using his extra turns to hold a lead but once he had used them Craig started to come back and ran some very nice hoops to close out the game.
Lilydale 7 hoops to Ringwood 5 hoops.
Final scores. Lilydale 4 games 35 hoops to Ringwood 2 games 31 hoops.
Well done to both teams, this was a very hard-fought match by both teams.
Congratulations to the Lilydale team for winning the Autumn Handicap Shield grand final.
Like the Division 2 Level Play team, the Handicap team has taken out back to back shields in the Handicap Shield.
The next shield season will be in the spring.
