We have now finished 4 days play at Sussex County Croquet Club (Southwick) and the block stage is complete and the draw for the knockout has been performed. The lawns have been well prepared despite heavy rain the day before the event started and also on day 2. The club had worked wonders to persuade cooking celebrity Mary Berry to open the Championship and this garnered additional local publicity.

In block A, defending champion Soha Moustafa won all her matches, dropping just a single game to the excellent Diana Wilson who has improved constantly and achieved 4 wins to qualify alongside Manal Khodeir and local Southwick member Liz Farrow.

In block B, Amany Hassan did not drop a game and only conceded more than 4 points on one occasion. Amany looks like she has a solid reliable game. Two English players Jayne Stevens and Lynn Pearcy were second and third – a fine performance from both, but particularly Lynn who had to work her way through the qualifier to reach the championship. Fourth place was taken by Dallas Cooke (NZ) in a good quality play-off game against Ghada Karam.

Block C was won by Maram Nabil who dropped a couple of games. Gabrielle Higgins came second despite some drops in form, Perihan Elwy overcame a slow start to come third and Susana Romero (ESP) took the final spot. 18 year-old Jessica Bullen (NZ) was the unlucky 5^th, losing a 3 way play-off for 3^rd to 5^th.

Block D was won by Jenny Clarke who did not drop a game from Debbie Lines who had patches of looking very dangerous. Tafida ElKhoudary was third and Kate McLoughlin (Aus) won a 3-way play-off against Kathy Brown (Sco) and Sylvia Short (SA).

Rachel Gee won all her games in block E from Mervat ElShazly in second. Good performances saw Paz Gonzalez de Aguilar and Sylvija Freimane take third and fourth and relegate Abeer Moustafa to the Plate.

In block F, Pouline Salib won all her games. Ashley Cooke came second with 4 wins, past Champion Judith Hanekom was 4^th again with 4 wins and the standout performance came from Liz Drury (Eng) who qualified third having played her way through the qualifier and having started June as a 6 handicapper.

Block G saw an upset with Begona Elzaburu (ESP) winning all her matches from third seed. Noha Mamdouh, Virginia Arney and Glynis Davies filled the remaining places.

Block H went pretty much to seeding with Jamie Gumbrell winning, Sarah Hany second and Begona Gomez (ESP) just pipping Helen Reeves (NZ) for fourth.

The knockout draw was completed before a BBQ at the club with skittles, darts and boules being the evening entertainment.

The top quarter of the draw should see Soha reach the semi-final barring unforeseen accidents. The second quarter looks the strongest on paper with the unbeaten Jenny Clarke and Rachel Gee being joined by the dangerous Debbie Lines.

The third quarter starts with a potentially interesting last 32 match between Maram Nabil and Judith Hanekom. I expect Maram to win, but it could be close. Perihan against Ashley should also be competitive and whilst I expect Pouline to continue her unbeaten record, the match against the impressive Susana Romero is a potential banana skin.

The final quarter has the unbeaten Amany Hassan who I expect will play Jamie Gumbrell in the quarter final.

The most remarkable feature of the blocks was the performance of the England players with 9 of the 11 making the knockout. Given England only had 7 players in the knockout in the past 4 events combined, this is clearly a stunning achievement, with a higher proportion of English players qualifying than Egyptians - many congratulations to them.

Before the knockout draw, I had Rachel Gee and Soha Moustafa as my tournament favourites. The draw has not been kind to Rachel and whilst I expect Soha to reach the semi-final, it is now impossible for these players to meet in the final. Amany will take some beating with her reliable play in the bottom half. It has all the makings of another exciting event. Tune in to the Croquet England youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@CroquetEngland) tomorrow to see 32 players carved down to 8.

Chris Clarke