REPORT ON GC SELECTORS INVITATION TOURNAMENT

 The GC Selectors Tournament for 2025 had two aims - more data on player performance to add to the year’s earlier tournaments, and encouragement of newer players who might compete for State team selection in future.

The invited players were:

Gareth Denyer, Darren McLoughlin, Chris Williamson, Terry Abbott, Peter Gordon, Stephen Burns, Rod Peet, Sue Sellers, Liz Montague, Jill Sullivan, Brenda-Lee Peet, Georgina Carnegie, Pauline Markwell and Aniko Osvald. Karen Bisley and Tony Croft also accepted invitations but unfortunately had to withdraw at the last moment. Warm thanks to referees Lynda Toms, Michael Chambers, Michael Chang and Douglas Greening for covering four lawns, often alone.

The tournament began on 23rd May, with a delayed start owing to heavy rain and threatened flooding. However, the courts quickly dried and were soon fast and true, with the hoops tight and unforgiving. The following two days provided ideal weather conditions.

Separate Women’s and Men’s blocks were run as round robins of two-game, 3-hour matches, similar to the format of the Inter-State Shield.

There were quite a number of unexpected and interesting outcomes, and some remarkable see-saw results (as often happens with best-of-two matches).  Among the highlights were a dominant campaign by Sue Sellers, winning the Women’s block, and a nail-biting win by Chris Williamson in the Men’s, and newcomers Aniko Oswald and Rod Peet taking the runners-up places with some outstanding play.