USCA President Dick Brackett picked an all-NC team to represent the United States at this year’s President’s Match with Great Britain. Brackett made the unusual selection to draw attention to the strength of croquet in NC. His choice was amply justified by the surprising result: the North Carolinians defeated a strong British team by fourteen games to one.

It wasn’t just tactics that gave the US team an edge. In many games it was simply that the Americans played better. Unfamiliar with American Rules, the British players were so busy thinking about what to do that their execution suffered. And of course they also made plenty of tactical errors, including (in one case) the classic one of setting up to run the rover wicket from the wrong side.

On the other hand, the Americans seemed to gain confidence with every round. Ed Roberts and Andy Short were particularly impressive, playing very well under the pressure of their first international test match.

Scores (USA names first):

Round 1

• Berne and Short lost to Avery and Openshaw 2-26
• Penwell and Roberts beat M. Burrow and Irwin 22-20
• Scott and Soo beat Cordingley and Dawson 26-3

Round 2

• Berne and Short beat M. Burrow and Irwin 26-16
• Penwell and Roberts beat Cordingley and Dawson 15-13
• Scott and Soo beat Avery and Openshaw 26-10

Round 3

• Berne and Short beat Cordingley and Dawson 18-17
• Penwell and Roberts beat S. Burrow and Openshaw 21-19
• Scott and Soo beat M. Burrow and Irwin 26-9

Round 4

• Soo beat Irwin 26-23
• Scott beat Openshaw 26-2
• Berne beat Cordingley 26-7
• Penwell beat M. Burrow 26-3
• Short beat Dawson 26-12
• Roberts beat S. Burrow 26-5

Last modified on 12 December 2004