Solomon Cup Challenge

9 Jul - 14 Jul 2001

The 2001 Solomon Trophy matches between the United 
States and Great Britain are being held at Surbiton in 
suburban London, July 9-14.  It is being played in the 
traditional format, alternating singles and doubles and 
best-of-three match play.  Nine doubles matches are 
played, and 12 singles.

The American team members are:
Rory Kelley (captain)
Bob Cherry
David Bent
Paul Bennett
Ken Rosenberry
Britt Ruby

The team has an average world ranking in the 180’s.

The British team members, as originally announced, were:

Player          World Rank             
C. Clark             10                   
C.Irwin               7
Robin Brown          24
Phil Cordingly       45                          
D. Harrison Wood     35                          
Matthew Burrow       29                         

This team had an average world ranking in the mid 
twenties.  At the last minute, however, two 
substitutions were made: Matthew Burrow  and Robin 
Brown were replaced by D. Foulser and S. Tudor.  Even 
with the changes, the British have an overwhelmingly 
powerful team.

The Americans have never won the Solomon Trophy, which 
was begun as an annual event in 1988. The highest 
American score so far is 7 out of 21 matches.  

We will publish reports from Surbiton as we receive 
them and post them on this board.

Being held at Surbiton. Lawns shaggy and hence slowish, 
but basically easy paced. Weather warm and overcast 
with sunny intervals. First to 11 matches 
wins the trophy.

Sam Tudor and Dave Foulser were two late replacements 
for Great Britain, and fared well.  Playing with Phil 
Cordingley, Sam played a solid break to the peg from
a missed lift after Phil had hit and gone to 4b on the 
sixth turn of game 1. In game 2 roles were reversed 
when Sam, somewhat hairily, picked up a 5th turn break 
after a corner 2 opening.

David Harrison-Wood and Chris Clarke staged a late 
comeback when looking likely to lose the second against 
Kenster Rosenberry and Paul Bennett. After the 
Americans came to grief at rover when going out, David 
went to 4b in multiple turns, and Chris ultimately 
closed out the match with a triple.

Tomorrow sees the first series of six best-of-five 
singles (1 v. 2, 2 v. 1 
etc.).

Results

GB1	C. Clarke & D. Harrison-Wood	beat	US2
	R. Kelley & D. Bent		+15, +3tp 
(C)
GB2	C. Irwin & D. Foulser		beat	US3
	K. Rosenberry & P. Bennett	+10, +23
GB3	P.Cordingley & S. Tudor		beat	US1
	B. Cherry & B. Ruby		+25, +26

Current Match Score: GB 3 - USA 0

Phil

The lawns freshly cut, and easy paced. The weather is  
overcast with a freshening wind and heavy showers. The 
first team to win 11 matches wins the Solomon Trophy.

Day Two was another highly satifactory day at the 
office for the Great Britain team, winning five 
of the six singles best-of-five matches (four in 
straight games) with one unfinished. This 
brings the current match score to GB 8 - USA 0, giving 
rise to the possibility of Great Britain clinching the 
victory on Wednesday, the third day.

Chris Clarke completed his first ever 78 - 0 victory by 
seeing off Dave Bent with a hattrick of +26tps. This 
outcome was briefly threatened when Dave hit a lift, 
but then fell foul of an angled hoop shot and rabbit 
run at hoop 1.

Next to finish was Phil Cordingley with as easy, though 
not so impressive, victory over Brit Ruby. Brit's 
shooting deserted him, and then when he had a couple of 
chances in game three, hoop running became equally 
elusive.  Phil has now conceded a grand total of just 
four points in five games.

New boy Sam Tudor continued to show a degree of 
maturity beyond his experience in defeating Paul 
Bennett in straight games.

Colin Irwin on the other hand is nothing if not 
experience personified, and also won in straight games 
over Kenster Rosenberry.

In the final two matches the Americans found the odd 
glimmer of hope. Rory Kelley had a two game lead until 
a gritty fight back saw Dave Foulser triumph in a 
sweaty fifth.

Finally, David Harrison-Wood and Bob Cherry ground out 
a marathon four and a half hour second game, which 
ended in David pegging out Bob with his other ball for 
4b, Bob for penult. I then witnessed a period of some 
thirty minutes play where David retained the innings 
without at any stage playing the backward ball. Not 
surprisingly, the match was pegged down upon 
completion of the fourth game.

Tomorrow sees the second series of best-of-three 
doubles.

DAY TWO RESULTS 

	Great Britain			USA	
GB1	C. Clarke		beat	US2	D. Bent	
	+26tp, +26tp, +26tp
GB2	C. Irwin		beat	US1	K. 
Rosenberry	+20, +20, +17tp
GB3	P. Cordingley	beat	US4	B. Ruby	
	+26tp, +26, +23
GB4	D. Harrison-Wood	ties	US3	B. 
Cherry		+26, +3, +22, -17
GB5	S. Tudor		beat	US6	P. 
Bennett		+17, +16tp, +23
GB6	D. Foulser		beat	US5	R. 
Kelley		-12, -26, +24tp, +24, +12

Current Match Score: GB 8 - USA 0

------------------------

DAY ONE RESULTS


GB1	C. Clarke & D. Harrison-Wood	beat	US2
	R. Kelley & D. Bent		+15, +3tp 
(C)
GB2	C. Irwin & D. Foulser		beat	US3
	K. Rosenberry & P. Bennett	+10, +23
GB3	P.Cordingley & S. Tudor		beat	US1
	B. Cherry & B. Ruby		+25, +26

- Phil Cordingley
  (edited very slightly by Bob Alman)

The Solomon Trophy matches are being played at Surbiton 
on easy paced lawns.  Weather is overcast with 
sunny spells, isolated showers, and gale force winds.   

The main story today was the gusty, gale force wind 
which reduced several of the players (well, alright, me 
then) to the double digit handicap level. The exception 
was Clarke and Harrison-Wood. Their scores (25stp, 
18tp) might have suggested a continuation of Chris's 
rich vein of form of yesterday, but in fact both tps 
were done by David. Chris showed more faith in David 
than I've ever seen him show in Robert by leaving to do 
the lunchtime shopping as David commenced the final 
turn of the match.

The fun was in the other two matches. When Rory Kelley 
and Dave Bent managed to retain the innings in game one 
against Phil Cordingley and Sam Tudor whilst scoring 
only two points, I knew it was going to be a long day. 
Nothwithstanding a tight, firm second hoop, Rory and 
Dave ran out eventual winners. In game two, Phil 
managed to grovel to 4b with nine separate one 
hoop breaks, with Sam following to hoop 6 with four one 
hoop and one two-hoop break. After a number of false 
starts, Dave got to 4b and Rory cruised to the peg with 
a peel, and the match looked over. But a gutsy (dare I 
say again, hairy?) break to the peg by Sam inspired 
Phil to go out from 4b when the lift was missed. Match 
pegged down at one all.

Colin Irwin and Dave Foulser against Bob Cherry and 
Brit Ruby featured the Brits being pegged out in both 
of the first two games. In the first, Colin 
saved the bacon by winning from penult. In the second, 
Dave couldn't emulate the feat from 3b. No details 
(match finished at 21:45) but Colin and Dave clinched 
the match Openshavianly +4 in the third.

Tomorrow sees the third and final series of doubles. GB 
need one more match to retain the trophy.  

DAY THREE (Wednesday)RESULTS

GB1 C. Clarke & D. Harrison-Wood beat US3 K. Rosenberry
 & P. Bennett +25stp(H-W), +18tp(H-W)
GB2 C. Irwin & D. Foulser beat US1 B. Cherry
 & B. Ruby +5, -3, +4
GB3 P.Cordingley & S. Tudor tie  US2 R. Kelley 
 & D. Bent -15, +3

- Phil Cordingley

The Surbiton lawns are easy paced and the weather is 
cloudy with sunny spells, windy but not like 
yesterday.  This was the day that Great Britain won the 
Trophy.  

Great Britain completed a clean sweep of the third 
series of doubles, and then polished off the two pegged 
down matches for good measure. They thus now have an 
unassailable 15 - 0 lead and retain the Solomon Trophy.

Phil Cordingley and Sam Tudor were first to finish and 
thus record the trophy winning point in an otherwise 
unremarkable match against Kenster Rosenberry and Paul 
Bennett.

Chris Clarke and David Harrison-Wood managed to spin 
out their first game against Brit Ruby and Bob Cherry 
until 15:30 without an actual lunch break to record the 
longest game so far. They then polished off the second 
in an hour as David went round on the 4th turn, Brit 
completed two peels of a tpo before missing a return 
roquet after 4b and Chris finished from the contact.

The tournament dinner was held this evening in an all-
you-can-eat Chinese restaurant in Worcester Park. The 
battle of the trenchermen was narrowly won by Dave 
Foulser, who narrowly outpointed David Harrison-Wood in 
the final round.

Tomorrow the match will be completed with the second 
series of six singles, 1 v. 1, 2 v. 2 etc. The 
Americans will no doubt be trying to avoid the 
whitewash as hard as the Brits will be to inflict it.

Today's Results (THURSDAY)

GB1 C. Clarke & D. Harrison-Wood 
  beat US1 B. Cherry & B. Ruby	+5, +16
GB2 C. Irwin & D. Foulser		
 beat US2 R. Kelley & D. Bent +13, +12
GB3 P.Cordingley & S. Tudor 
 beat US3 K. Rosenberry & P. Bennett +14, +26

Completed from previous days

GB4 D. Harrison-Wood 
 beat US3 B. Cherry -26, +3, +22, -17, +16
GB3 P.Cordingley & S. Tudor 
  beat US2 R. Kelley & D. Bent	-15, +3, +16

Current Match Score: GB 15 - USA 0

- Phil Cordingley

Apologies to all my readers for the delay in posting 
the final days report. This was due to a severe case of 
Montezuma's Revenge, which struck immediately after I 
got home.

With the trophy safely back in British hands, the final 
day was about whether America could avoid the whitewash.

Straight games wins for David Harrison-Wood over Brit 
Ruby, Dave Foulser over Paul Bennett and Chris Clarke 
over Kenster Rosenberry did not bode well. In game one 
of the latter, Chris managed to accidentally peg 
himself out when rolling from corner four to corner two 
having tpo'ed Kenster. As he was for hoop 2 and Kenster 
for 3 at the time, this did not seem such a smart move. 
But ultimately a longish two ball break essentially 
clinched the game. Two more triples rapidly followed to 
complete another 3 tp day for Chris.

Sam Tudor, the Welsh number 5, completed his 100% 
success rate for the event with a 3-1 win over Rory 
Kelley. One can only speculate what might have happened 
had the selectors picked the Welsh number 1 instead...

Phil Cordingley struggled at first against a fiercely 
determined Bob Cherry. Two mis-approaches on the ridge 
at hoop six cost the first game. The critical game 
turned out to be the second. Another lawn induced error 
from Phil ended his first break at 2b. Bob then went to 
4b, Phil hit the lift and took his backward ball to the 
peg and Bob hit his lift, went to the peg and pegged 
out Phil. Phil hit the lift and, despite oppo balls at 
opposite optimal points, looked to be going out until a 
missed 4 yard return roquet after 4b. Bob then had some 
Harrison-Wooding (playing with the peg ball rather than 
the backward ball) until he reached rover, when 
Phil hit a final 25 yarder and this time made no 
mistake. Phil went on to take the next two games and 
the match.

So that made it GB 20, USA 0, with Colin Irwin losing 
2 - 1 to Dave Bent.
 
Dave got to peg and 4b aginst 1 and 4b when Colin does 
what he does best: hit the last lift. An immediate 
error rushing a ball into the peg was then rectified by 
a good approach to 1 from the west boundary, and the 
inevitable tp followed.

So 2 - 2, and 21:30 and getting very dark by this time. 
A discussion between players and captains followed. 
Dave offered to have a peg shoot-out, but this was 
rejected by the Brits. The Brits offered a two ball 
game, but this was rejected by Dave. So finally it was 
agreed that the match should go into the record books 
as "unfinished".

Now I'm off to give solid food a try again. Oh joy!

FINAL DAY'S RESULTS

GB1 C. Clarke	beat US1 K. Rosenberry	
  +5tpo, +4tp, +24tp
GB2 C. Irwin unf. US2	D. Bent		
  +20, -9, -5, +5tp
GB3 P. Cordingley beat US3 B. Cherry		
  -11, +3, +14, +20tp
GB4 D. Harrison-Wood beat US4 B. Ruby +12, +26tp, +16
GB5 S. Tudor beat US5 R. Kelley	+18, +26, -7, +6
GB6 D. Foulser	beat US6P. Bennett +22, +25, +10

FINAL MATCH SCORE:
GB 20 - USA 0, UNFINISHED 1

PREVIOUS RESULTS

Day 1 - Doubles

GB1	C. Clarke & D. Harrison-Wood	beat	US2
	R. Kelley & D. Bent		+15, +3tp 
(C)
GB2	C. Irwin & D. Foulser		beat	US3
	K. Rosenberry & P. Bennett	+10, +23
GB3	P.Cordingley & S. Tudor		beat	US1
	B. Cherry & B. Ruby		+25, +26

Day 2 - Singles

GB1	C. Clarke		beat	US2	D. Bent	
	+26tp, +26tp, +26tp
GB2	C. Irwin		beat	US1	K. 
Rosenberry	+20, +20, +17tp
GB3	P. Cordingley	beat	US4	B. Ruby	
	+26tp, +26, +23
GB4	D. Harrison-Wood	beat	US3	B. 
Cherry		-26, +3, +22, -17, +16
GB5	S. Tudor		beat	US6	P. 
Bennett		+17, +16tp, +23
GB6	D. Foulser		beat	US5	R. 
Kelley		-12, -26, +24tp, +24, +12

Day 3 - Doubles

GB1 C. Clarke & D. Harrison-Wood beat US3 K. Rosenberry 
& P. Bennett 
+25stp(H-W), +18tp(H-W)
GB2 C. Irwin & D. Foulser	   beat US1 B. Cherry & 
B. Ruby	+5, -3, +4
GB3 P.Cordingley & S. Tudor	   beat US2 R. Kelley & 
D. Bent	-15, +3, +16

Day 4 - Doubles

GB1	C. Clarke & D. Harrison-Wood	beat US1 B. 
Cherry & B. Ruby		+5, +16
GB2	C. Irwin & D. Foulser		beat US2 R. 
Kelley & D. Bent		+13, +12
GB3	P.Cordingley & S. Tudor		beat US3 K. 
Rosenberry & P. Bennett	+14, +26

[EDITOR'S NOTE:  THANK YOU, PHIL CORDINGLEY, FOR YOUR 
EXCELLENT AND THOROUGH REPORTING OF THE SOLOMON TROPHY 
MATCHES.]