Nailsea and District Croquet Club (NDCC) recently hosted an advanced competition.

Five of the nine total entries came from Bristol Croquet Club.

The competition was played under advanced association croquet rules and saw some exceptional play.

To exemplify, Marcus Evans, from NDCC and competition organiser, competed against David Goacher (Bristol) in a fascinating, if occasionally a little scrappy, match.

Evans attempted a succession of peels, a move most players would not even contemplate.

He fluffed his attempt at "four back," leaving the ball in the jaws of the hoop.

A clever shot to get position across the lawn allowed him to simultaneously complete the peel and set up for the penultimate hoop.

There he fluffed again but recovered by running a different hoop and coming back to complete the next peel.

He then set up nicely for the last hoop and to win the game, but again things went slightly wrong, and he had to attempt a jump shot to do the peel, but unfortunately failed.

Goacher had another shot at catching up, but when Evans got back on the lawn, he pegged out two balls making it a "1-ball" match.

Evans set up for the final hoop.

Goacher slightly overran a hoop approach from a long way out.

Evans did a cheeky shot to ensure the last hoop.

Goacher had little choice but to try to hit Evans' ball, a long shot diagonally down the lawn, but he missed – just.

Evans ran his hoop and with a pressured shot hit Goacher's ball to allow two easy strokes to win at peg.

With high-class play on all four well-prepared lawns on two days of tight play, Evans finally came through as the winner having won all five of his games, with Dave Kibble (Bristol) as the runner-up.

John Hancock said: "It is great to see such high-class play at our local club.

"It was an inspiration to all us lower-ranked players, and an enjoyable way to spend time at the weekend."