NELSON Bay Croquet Club entered two teams in the 2023 State Pennants Division 3 competition.

The Club’s Fingal team finished fourth in the Hunter region qualifying competition and the Birubi team finished first to qualify for the finals held at Toronto Croquet Club between Monday 22 May and Thursday 25 May.

State Pennants contests involve four players playing two singles matches and one doubles match, each of which is best-of-three games.

The Division 3 qualifying competition was closely contested with Nelson Bay and Pelican Croquet Club finishing equal on top with six contests won with one lost and sixteen matches won with five lost.

However, Nelson Bay were placed first on the basis of 36 games won and fourteen lost versus Pelican’s 35 games won and sixteen lost.

The final was also closely contested with three of the five teams finishing level at the top, winning three contests and losing one – Marrickville, Nelson Bay Birubi and Wollongong.

They were placed first, second and third on the basis of matches won – Wollongong first with nine matches won, Birubi second with eight wins and Marrickville third with seven wins.

A great result for the Birubi team to finish runners-up.

The team comprised Barry Elliott, Les Guzowski, Ralph Harrison, Allen Lees and Marty Quirke, with Tony Knife filling-in for one qualifying contest.

A special mention goes to Marty Quirke who won all four of his matches in the finals 2-0 – a great effort.

By David WILSON