By John Thomson
At last the weather cleared and Lilydale Croquet were able to play a home game without the threat of the court being flooded and having to hire Ringwood Croquet Club’s facilities.
Lilydale were hosting Mornington who were sitting second on the ladder, but still 4 test’s behind first placed Lilydale, who haven’t dropped a game so far this season.
As always, the day starts with the doubles. Because of work commitments, Lilydale’s captain Glenn Crook was unable to be there for the full day’s play, so Glenn played in the doubles with Alan Jones instead of Alan’s usual partner Craig McCracken. The change in the pairing still played off with Lilydale winning in a close game 7 hoops to Mornington 5 hoops.
In the first of the singles games Glenn Crook showed his class in this game winning 7 hoops to Mornington 1 hoop.
The next singles saw Lilydale’s Craig McCracken play his first game of the day. Craig got off to a slow start with his opponent getting a break by a couple of hoops, but as always Craig showed his fighting spirit and eventually got on top and came away with a comfortable 7 hoops to 4 hoops win.
At lunch it was Lilydale 3 games 21 hoops to Mornington 0 games 10 hoops.
With two games to play after lunch Lilydale were determined not to ease off the pressure.
Alan Jones played the first of the reverse singles and had a very comfortable 7 hoops to Mornington’s 3 hoops win.
The last singles was a lot tighter with Lilydale’s Craig McCracken able to hang on to a small lead to win by 2 hoops, 7 hoops to Mornington’s 5 hoops.
The final score for the day was Lilydale 5 games 35 hoops to Mornington 0 games 18 hoops.
With one week to go in this competition Lilydale already has the winner’s trophy in the bag, the question now is can they go through the season undefeated.
Thursday 10 November was the semi-finals of the handicap season. The top two teams in both the Eastern and Western Districts of Melbourne play off to see who would go through to the grand-final.
The teams were, Eastern, 1st Lilydale 2nd Sandringham White, Western, 1st Ivanhoe Park, 2nd Essendon White.
So it is Lilydale to play Essendon White and Ivanhoe Park to play Sandringham White.
The first singles game was very tight, Lilydale’s Glenn Crook was giving away four extra turns, which was telling. After 12 hoops it was all tied up at 6 hoops a piece, so it was off to the 13th hoop to decide a winner, Glenn eventually prevailed and won the game 7 hoops to Essendon 6 hoops.
The next game was the doubles and Lilydale’s top duo of Craig McCracken and Alan Jones played. The Essendon pair were certainly not going to let Lilydale get a break, and again after 12 hoops it was 6 hoops a piece and off to the 13th and deciding hoop. Again, Lilydale managed to win this hoop and win the game 7 hoops to 6 hoops.
In the next singles, Alan Jones was giving away two extra turns. Even despite the extra turns Alan still had a reasonably comfortable win, winning 7 hoops to Essendon’s 4 hoops.
The next game saw Glenn Crook team up with Mick Crawley for Lilydale. This game was very even all the way through with Lilydale just getting a break towards the end to come away with a 7 hoops to Essendon’s 5 hoops win.
At the break it was Lilydale 4 games 28 hoops to Essendon White 0 games 21 hoops.
With only two games to play Lilydale had won the day, but Essendon was going to fight back and win the last two games.
First up was Craig McCracken for Lilydale in the singles. This was another nail biter, again after 12 hoops the score was 6 hoops each with the 13th hoop to decide the winner. Eventually Craig won the hoop in an epic struggle, Lilydale 7 hoops to Essendon 6 hoops.
The last game of the day was a doubles and Glenn Crook and Mick Crawley again paired up. These two are getting used to playing together now and it showed in this game with a reasonably comfortable 7 hoops to 4 hoops win.
The final score for the day, Lilydale 6 games 42 hoops to Essendon White 0 games 31 hoops.
Even though Essendon did not win a game there were three games that went 7 hoops to 6 hoops, which is as close as you can be without winning.
In the other semi-final it was Ivanhoe Park coming away with the win against Mornington White. So, it will be Lilydale to play Ivanhoe Park In the grand-final.
