Players arrived at Roehampton for its annual gold cup advanced weekend to find the heavy overnight rain had created lakes where there were once croquet courts. Eventually the rain stopped and just as it looked as if they might start drying out, the heavens opened again and the flooding became worse than before. Frustrated by the lack of croquet, some of the players retired to the main clubhouse and invented an icosohedral dice-based croquet board game. With rain still falling, lunch was taken and hopes began to fade of any play on Saturday; one player even chose to go home. However, as forecast, the rain abated shortly after lunch, and a combination of sandy soil and a lot of hard work by players with the rollers and the bowdry (other brands of water soakeruperers are available) the courts became playable by 3.30 pm. The photos show court 2 at 11 am and 3 pm. This year’s edition of the gold cup (so named because of the colour of the trophy) was played as a flexible swiss. was …
Original: https://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=press/news&NewsID=8884