On the courts and in quiet corners of the clubhouse, behind the toolshed, and by the garden beds, Dubbo Croquet Club members have been exhibiting some unusual behaviour in recent weeks!

Hushed conversing, furtive scanning for eavesdroppers, comments made behind a concealing hand; appearances at the Friday practice and coaching session; mallets which have obviously been polished; fleeting moments of tension on court; and even seating choices for “smoko”. These are surely signs, but of what?

While the Australian team for the MacRob Shield is entering their final stage of preparation before competing against England, New Zealand, and the United States for the prized trophy, Dubbo Croquet Club’s doubles’ championship was conducted over the King’s Birthday weekend.

With a total of 14 players registering strong interest early; late substitutions were also welcomed as Peter Heywood and Darron Wilson had to withdraw. Thanks to Tracey Keenan and Sandra Burns for stepping up, and also to the additional pairing of Bryan Smith and Kate Colwell, who filled the eighth slot to round out the schedule.

By the start of play, there was an impressive lineup with an interesting mix of experienced and novice players, with teams comprising Tricia Shanks and Des Pope, Lillian Wallace and Mavis Grant, Margaret Sheridan and Ian McKenzie, Stan Ellis and Tracey Keenan, Ingrid Stufano and Graham Bender, Warwick Herd and Sandra Burns, Kate Colwell and Bryan Smith, and the dynamic duo of Don and Pam Day rounding out the list.

With a handicapping system designed to allow fair competition between contestants of unequal skill and experience, croquet traditionally allowed the awarding additional hits to the less skilled and less-experienced players on higher handicaps. However, the Australian Croquet Association – in step with the World Croquet Association – recently adopted a new (and fairer) policy where Dubbo was one of the many clubs worldwide trialling the “Advantage” method last year when playing against Orange. Refinements to “Advantage” eventually led to the “Target Hoop” protocol.

For the King’s Birthday doubles competition, Dubbo fielded eight pairs in which each pair played every other in a time-limited seven-hoop format with all games played on the unique ‘Wonderland’ artificial grass, a Dubbo initiative.

Ben Vang did the heavy lifting of building the competition schedule, so the current Captain had only to do some tweaks around the format, procedural matters, and accommodating late withdrawals and substitutions.

Play started on Saturday in clear, sunny weather with conditions very welcome for competition – despite the wind-chill factor – after the previous fortnight of cold, soggy, overcast days.

The standard of play was very high, notably Sandra Burns’ exceptional hooping and jawsing from daunting distances; Warwick Herd’s casually executed but admirable hooping, Ingrid Stufano’s long-distance clearances, the unchallengeable ability to run hoops from difficult placements by both Graham Bender and Bryan Smith.

The newly-implemented handicapping system requires a lot of calculations to be made and allowances to be factored, with final results therefore not available at this stage.

The unadjusted results have placed Pam and Don Day on five wins and two draws, followed by Tracey Keenan and Stan Ellis with five wins and one draw, then Sandra Burns and Warwick Herd with four wins.

All participants, in a nod to the MacRob Shield centenary, were accorded a Cherry Ripe.

Final outcomes will be reported in a future report.