The Irish team of Nathaniel Healy, Russell Harris, Brian Havill, Alan Looney, Huw Spiers and Debutant Henry Bagwell travelled as holders to the new Scottish National Croquet centre at Balgreen in Edinburgh. However, Russell did a little unintended detour to say goodbye to the old venue at Meadows.

The Scots team of John Owen, Stefan Colling, Rosemary Saunders Robertson, Kathy Brown and Roger Binks was led by captain Chris Martin and had a clean sweep of the open 3 doubles matches before the two-session afternoon singles were equally shared 6-6, so the overnight score stood at 9-6 to the Scots.

The venue’s catering volunteer Charlotte did a wonderful job in warming us up with a welcome bowl of soup as a chilly East wind took its toll in the morning. This was followed by an array of other delicious dishes. Led by tournament manager Jane Morrison We all retired for a wonderful Italian meal washed down by delicious wines. CAI would like to extend our thanks to the SCA for their generous hospitality and to our accommodation hosts.

We were back out on Sunday morning at 9 am for a fresh round of doubles, which Scotland took 2-1, increasing their overnight lead. The fixture was rounded off by a round of singles, also won by the SCA 4-2 to yield a final score of 16-9 to the Scots. The lovely lawns were perfectly prepared by Roger and Campbell and were faster than those previously experienced at Meadows. 

Congrats to MVP Rosemary Saunders Robertson of SCA who won 5 from 5 in a devastating display of accuracy. Ireland’s star player was Russel Harris, winning all his singles. We look forward to next year's contest in Carrickmines to compete for the wonderful Appleton Trophy.