There was no victory for Nailsea and District Croquet Club (NDCC) this week, but they put in a worthy effort during a 3-2 loss to Bath. 

The NDCC Intermediate team travelled to Bath Croquet Club for the away fixture.

Bath could only field three players so the format of the match was one doubles and one singles game in the morning and three singles games in the afternoon.

By lunchtime Nailsea were 2-0 down as Rob Royffe (9), Acting Captain, and Sue Burns (20) were beaten 26-13 by Tony Curson (14) and Bob Hart (9) who were both on form and able to exploit home advantage - handicaps in brackets.

Roger Baddeley from Nailsea (12) was given hardly any time on the lawn by Martin Alabaster (9) who admitted that he rarely played that well and won 26-4.

After lunch Nailsea regained some self-respect with Burns beating Curson 26-18 and Baddeley beating Hart 26-4.

However, Alabaster continued to play faultlessly and beat Royffe 26-5 to give Bath a 3-2 victory.

After the match, acting Captain Royffe said: “Especial congratulations are due to Burns and Baddeley who are both in their first season playing in the Intermediate League.”