Croquet Mount Maunganui played host to the North Island AC Championships from 20th November to 24th November 2019.
As is the tradition, the Championships began with the Doubles on the first two days. It was the top seeded pair of John Christie (Thames Valley) and Tony Stephens (Hawkes Bay) which remained undefeated across their 5 games to claim the 2019-20 Doubles title. The Bay of Plenty pairing of Mike Crashley and Keith Ebden were the runners-up after only dropping their game to Christie and Stephens.
The Open Singles saw 12 entrants split into two pools of 6. The top two from each pool advancing to the semi-finals.
From Block A, it was Crashley who qualified top after winning all five of his games. Stephens qualified second with his only loss being the 22-23 loss to Crashley.
In Block B, Christie advanced as the top qualifier with 4 wins from 5 games. The second qualifier from Block B came down to a tie-breaker after Steve Clarke (BOP), Pamela Fisher (Waikato-King Country) and Allister McGregor (Waikato-King Country) all finished with three wins. With Fisher and McGregor tied on net hoops, +20, it was decided by the result of their match and Fisher advanced.
In semi-final one, Crashley continued his winning way beating Fisher 26-11. In the other semi-final, Stephens beat his doubles partner, Christie, 26-12 to set up a final with Crashley.
Stephens was able to turn the tables on Crashley from their earlier meeting in block play, winning the best of three match in straight games, 26-1, 26-20, to win the 2019-20 North Island AC Open Singles Title.
It was a straight round robin event for the 9 players entered into the 0-3.5 Singles. It was local player, Cindy Clarke, who was victorious having won 6 of her 8 matches. Bonnie Johnstone (South Tarankai) was the running up on net hoops, +22, after Johnstone and Baurbe Murray (Wellington), +8,had both won 5 games.
For full results, click here.
