Varsity croquet triumph
Oxford had ambitious goals for the varsity match this year, and sailed to an easy victory against the Tabs despite an initially rocky start.
Heavy traffic meant that Oxford arrived 30 minutes late for the usual start time, and although Kirby finished his match quickly as expected, opting only to do a triple, other Dark Blues got bogged down in tight matches against their opposite numbers.
Gooding emulated his team mate by finishing his game with his first ever triple peel.
Gray and Snow performed confidently against opponents whose preference for golf croquet was evident in their ability to run hoops from tricky positions. The superior abilities of the Oxford pair soon came into play, however, and they won easily.
Mooring versus Elliston provided some excitement as the morning games drew to a close. Finishing level with his opponent on time, after Oxford's Mooring clawed back a few hoops in the last turn, Elliston suffered from the pressure, failing to get good position on his hoop and thereby allowing Mooring to make the final hoop.
The depth of ability available for the Oxford team meant competition was intense and trials were held for places on the side.
A squad of nine players was selected to compete. The three newcomers were by no means weaker than the more experienced players they replaced, and had been selected as the better doubles players. Hope did what was necessary to allow Kirby to do a quintuple peel whilst Evseev showed his excellent break play to set Gooding up for another triple.
In the following game, Snow and Hanson finished the match to claim a pleasing 9-0 victory for Oxford for the second year running.
6th Oct 2004