Adelaide hosted the Nationals this year and the entries were amazing.
112 players in the Doubles (14 blocks of 4), 68 in the Men’s Singles (17 blocks of 4), 48 in the Women’s Singles (8 blocks of 6) and 96 in the Open Singles (16 blocks od 6). The large numbers meant that courts within 90km of Adelaide were used including Mt Barker and Victor Harbour.
Ian Dumergue and Ashley Faulkner won the Doubles and incredibly, after breaking his mallet on the Saturday (described as looking like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz), Ian used Ashley’s mallet, handing it on each time as if in a relay!
In the Open Singles, Daniel, Alan, Martin and Jeff all made it the last 16 with Marty going on to make the final. After losing the first game, Trevor Bassett struck some form to claim the title, 15-26, 26-0, 26 TP-0.
Helene Thurston and Ashely Faulkner battled it out in the Plate, with Helene eventually winning 24-26, 26-20, 26-22
WA achieved double success in the Singles with Helene winning the Women’s Singles and Daniel claiming the Men’s.
Jeff finished 3rd in the Gold and Silver Medal.
WA performed admirably in the EIRE Cup and their game against SA could have gone either way for much of the day.
To top off a successful carnival, Irene Wardell-Johnson won the AB Morrison Trophy.
A thorough review of the carnival can be found in Vol 50 No2 June 2000 of the Croquet Australia Magazine. All images were obtained from the article.
