CROQUET

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12434, 30 April 1926, Page 10

CROQUET

PARTNERSHIP PLAY SOME GOOD ADVICE NOTES BY “ROQUET” The following advice, written by a minus player in England, iB w*ell worthy of perusal in the Antipodes where handicap double games are to be found included in all club and tournament programmes. HANDICAP DOUBLES THE ART OF GOOD PARTNERSHIP. '■A"pood bridge player would tell us that m the company in which he plays almost everything, apart from the luck of. the cards, depends upon sound combination. Though in a somewhat different sense this is true in the doubles game in croquet, where the subtle art of good partnership should more often than it does make the difference between failure and success. Many double games resolve themselves into long drawn out struggles, | in-ahd-out affairs of which the issue remains in doubt often up to the last turn played, when . one side or the other is so fortunate as to secure an all important innings. Such games may be interesting enough to take part in, even desperately exciting when it comes to a finish, but as often as not the play has been happy-go-lucky throughout, with no single line of tactical policy developed by each side. Each player will have done the best for himself, and in' doing so will have believed himself to be doing the best for his side. On the other hand, one does know of pains in croquet who play exceptionally well together; they appear to combne to perfection, and wherever they go they succeed. There must be broad general rules which can be observed with advantage, and golden maxims which, however platitudinous they sound, cannot be too strongly impressed. It is a time honoured convention that prescribes that the lower-bisqued partner shall be the one to take supremo command, and suppose that nearly every parr starts off upon this truly excellent understanding. HOW TROUBLE BEGINS. A possible exception may be in cases where tho individual bisques of 1 the partners are the, and for this reason such combinations are often somewhat of a mistake, unless of course one of the partners is willing to surrender Ins rights. “You are the boss,” says the higher-bisquer, “and 1 am just going to do everything you say or advise!” Yet how often later on in the game do we hear such remarks as: “All right, partner, please yourself; you know what I think, but have your own way!” This is how' trouble most often begins, and to put the matter quite tersely, in an essentially tactical game such as croquet, one head is nlmrfit always better than two. 3 i may be, oF course, that the one head occasionally feels the need of advice from a second head, in which case in the doubles game it may he had for tlie asking; at the same time such advice should be neked for as seldom no possible, Careless errors, or omissions about to he committed, are of course not referred to. This clearly is the duty of every partner, whatever his handicap, hut beyond this no opinion at all about the game should he given by tho weaker partner, unless or until it is asked for. This may seem a very sweeping assertion to make, but the.writer believes it to hold good in every case. It is probably the most important rule of all, and the one most consistently disregarded. Bad captaincy may be responsible for

many disasters, but divided or vacil* luting captaincy is responsible for many, many more. The entire tactical responsibility for the game must devolve upon the lower-bisqued player, and whatever his partner's handicap, the captain, beyona briefly explaining what he wants done, and w*hy he want* it done, should make it a rule to interfere with him as little as possible. He may, of course, have to interfere with him a very great deal, but he should still remember as a golden maxim that it pays best to do so as little as possible. Some players appear to hold the converse to be true, and even consider a tournament match to be the proper occasion for giving a weak partner an exhaustive lesson in croquet. Not only is this a great waste of other people’s time, but more often than not it has the opposite effect to that which was intended, m that it reduces the bewildered “pupil” to a state of abject incompetency. THE OTHER EXTREME. But to turn to the other evtrem« 4 It is equally unpardonable for the strong player to leave his partner all too severely in the cold. Yet tins mistake is most commonly made. Often the weaker partner is not even asked how he prefers the balls to be left with a view to starting his next turn —an unforgiveable omission. Or again, he is told nothing of the why and wherefore of things. He may be told what he is expected to do, hut not why he is expected to do it, which makes jusll a whole world of difference. One's partner must be credited with that desire to take an intelligent interest in the game, which as a player of tournament croquet he is almost sure to possess. Once reduce him to a mere stroke-making automaton he either becomes indifferent or despondent. The importance of unremitting encouragement throrughuut cannot be overstated. This costs nothing at all. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred one knows perfectly well that your partner is out tn do his best both for your sake and his own ; that in point of fact he is doing his best with every turn that he plays. Let him know then, from time to time, that you appreciate this fact. This in the end will repay you a hundredfold, for while at croquet wholehearted and unstinted encouragement is the best possible incentive to successful play, tho converse of it is the surest possible precursor of demoralisation. Remember that the two great stumbling blocks in t.hp way of success in handicap doubles are indifference and despondency. Make sure that so far as it lies in your power to prevent it your partner becomes a prey to neither. By so doing you will fall a prey t 4 ! neither yourself.