By John Thomson
Monday 12 September’s level play match was scheduled as a Lilydale home game but because of the rain we had on the previous Friday night, Lilydale’s court was under water on Saturday morning, so there was no play on Saturday for the members, and the court was still unplayable come Monday morning. Fortunately, Lilydale was able to hire Ringwood Croquet Clubs facilities so play could proceed.
Lilydale played Monash Woodash, a combined team of Ringwood and Monash.
At the end of the first game the score was Lilydale 7 to Monash Woodash 1 hoop and it looked like it may be an easy day for Lilydale, but the combined side had a different idea and went onto win two of the four singles games. Fortunately the big win in the doubles set Lilydale up for a win on the day. The final scores being, Lilydale 3 games 33 hoops to Monash Woodash 2 games 23 hoops.
Next Monday Lilydale takes on the might of Sandringham, always very tough games.
In the handicap shield last Thursday 15 September Lilydale played Kew. Although this was a home game for Lilydale all Lilydale’s home games on a Thursday are played at Ringwood as Lilydale only has one court.
Both teams had players that were playing their first season of shield competition, so with this blend of experience and inexperience in both teams it was going to be interesting to see which team would get the upper hand.
In the first game Glenn, Lilydale’s captain, played one of Kew’s new players. Glenn was giving away 6 extra turns, which is a lot, but his experience showed and he was able to win 7 hoops to 5 hoops. The rest of the games were very even with both sides winning games.
The final score was Lilydale 3 games 37 hoops to Kew 3 games 33 hoops, that has Lilydale winning the day by just 4 hoops. All the inexperienced players would have learnt a lot from the day.
