NELSON Bay Croquet Club entered two teams in the 2023 State Pennants Division 2 competition. The Samurai team finished 4th in the Hunter region qualifying competition and the Kingsley team finished 1st to qualify for the finals held at Canberra Croquet Club on Sunday 4th June and Tuesday 5th June.

State Pennants contests involve 4 players playing 2 singles matches and 1 doubles match, each of which is best-of-three games.

The Division 2 qualifying competition was closely contested with Nelson Bay and Toronto Croquet Club finishing equal on top with 4 contests won with 1 lost and 10 matches won with 5 lost …. but Nelson Bay were placed 1st on the basis of 25 games won and 16 lost versus Pelican’s 22 games won and 16 lost.

Canberra Croquet Club had offered to host the final and then qualified for the final from the Southern/ACT qualifying competition. With a strong team playing at home, they were the favourites and duly obliged to go through the finals unbeaten and become the 2023 Division 2 champions. In the final contest, the Kingsley team played Marrickville to determine 2nd and 3rd place; unfortunately, Marrickville proved too strong, winning 3-0, for Kingsley to finish 3rd.

A fair result for the Kingsley team which comprised Rob Batho, Sherry Gordon, Karen Lilly, Rae Uptin and David Wilson …. with Marty Quirke filling-in for one qualifying contest.

By David WILSON