We never need a reason to play croquet and on Easter Saturday we hosted a singles competition.

Croquet is typically a 13-hoop game. With six hoops on a court, a game is one circuit in a clockwise direction, and then repeated in an anti-clockwise direction. You might wonder why ‘13’ appears on the card, then. South Stake is happy to tell you: a game tied at 6-6 is decided by a re-run of hoop three (12 plus the decider).

This year’s competition had some new features. Usually, competitors register a week beforehand so order of play, pairing of opponents and handicapping is determined. This time, however, there was no draw and players had no prior knowledge of whom they would challenge.

The format was a seven-hoop game with a 25-minute cap, with no adjustments for handicaps, and a draw was held before every playing timeslot.

The games captain drew one tile at random and asked its owner to claim a court number and colour set (primary or secondary balls).

That lucky person then drew two tiles and chose whether to play either or neither of those, thus choosing the court and colour of both. One of those drew two tiles and repeated the procedure.

This worked very well and gave players an interesting day. Low-handicap players encountered higher-handicapped opponents and two beginner players were also able to participate: Lyn Jeffrey and Jennifer Hennessy. Players could also choose how many games they played, which was greatly appreciated by those who had family commitments and others who simply ran out of puff.

A dozen players began the morning; six finished the full set of timeslots.

Graham Bender won the most games on a gross basis, according to the statistician. Ray Doyle cleared hoop four from 20 yards out; Charles Campbell achieved a 16-yard hoop clearance; and Lyn Jeffrey made a 14-yard hoop.

With the ending of daylight-saving time, Dubbo Croquet Club will make several changes to playing arrangements. Everything moves half an hour forward, i.e. play starts at 9:00 a.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. and evening sessions are discontinued.