Croquet great Reg Bamford captains South Africa Down Under

Cape Town-born Reg Bamford captained the South African national team to a creditable sixth-place finish at the World Team Croquet Championships Tier 1 in Tasmania in Australia last weekend.

The main aim for the team was to avoid a relegation battle for eighth place – and that they managed to achieve in fine style.

As a result, ‘AmaCrockoCrocko’ will remain in the Tier 1 top division for at least another four years.

Bamford congratulated his team-mates William Louw and Andrew Hobbs for their achievements. Judith Hanekom was the fourth member of the South African team.

Tough draw

The South African quartet were drawn in tough Block A alongside the USA, Egypt and Spain.

South Africa finished third following two defeats (against the USA and Egypt) and a draw against Spain.

They moved into the Plate round alongside Spain and the third and fourth-placed finishers from Block B, England and Ireland.

South Africa topped the Plate standings after two wins (against Ireland and England) and another draw against Spain.

That moved them into the playoff for fifth-sixth place where they went down 8-1 to England.

For the record, the USA beat Egypt in the final.

Who is Reg Bamford?

Reg Bamford is an internationally renowned name in the sport of croquet.

Now 57, Bamford dominated world croquet in recent decades, having first competed at the highest level in the mid-1980s.

He is the only player to have won both versions of the World Championships (Golf Croquet and Association Croquet) and held both titles simultaneously in 2013.

Bamford has won the Association Croquet World Croquet Championship five times (2001, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2020), and the WCF World Golf Croquet Championship twice (2013 and 2017).

He has won the British AC Open Championship 12 times and the British GC Open Championship 12 times, the premier events in the UK of each code. 

He was ranked 29th in the 100 Best Sportspeople in the World for the year 2020 by Sports Pedia.

Off the sporting field, Bamford is a qualified Chartered Accountant having completed his articles at Deloitte South Africa in 1992.

He went on to establish Sable International, a company that offers services to expats and high-net-worth individuals.

Meanwhile, as reported by The South African website, Reg Bamford competed in last year’s Cape Town Cycle Tour.

Bamford took on the challenge of the 109km route, crossing the finish line in a time of 5:56:28 according to the official SportSplits tracking app.

Have you ever tried your hand at croquet?

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