[First published in the Croquet Gazette April2022]
By Andy Dibben
Chairman – Surbiton Croquet Club
When learning AC, and the use of bisques, your coach will often say “with 2 bisques you can set up a 4 ball break from any starting position”. They will then demonstrate this, usually by showing how to set-up for hoop 1 after a standard opening.
In real life, there is an almost infinite number of ball positions that can be left when your opponent’s turn finishes and you only have a short time to work out what your next move should be.
The following is a simple exercise you can do at home to set up random starting scenarios and to formulate what your break building strategy should be for each starting position. Working through a number of scenarios will help you make better use of your bisques during real games.
I find that the 2-3 minutes during a TV commercial break is a good timeframe to work through 1 scenario!
You will need a pack of cards, 4 small coloured counters to represent the balls and a copy of the attached lawn layout with a 13 * 13 grid pattern marked out on it.
- Shuffle the cards
- The position of each ball is determined by drawing 3 cards. The first card determines the West-East position (Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13) the second the North-South position and the third which is its next hoop (7 = 1 back to King = peg).
- Assuming you are R & Y, what ball would you would play, is it worthwhile taking 2 bisques to set up a good 4 ball break and how you would you do it.
For each shot be realistic about your chances of the shot working based on your current ability. (ie, having made a roquet in corner 3. If you are for hoop 3 it may be valid to assume that you can do a straight drive putting a ball at hoop 4 going to a ball near hoop 3 but, If you were for hoop 1 doing a big split roll putting the roquet ball as a good hoop 2 pioneer whilst getting your ball behind a ball near hoop 4 for a perfect rush to hoop 1 is not a high probability shot!)
Rather than have all 4 balls in Random positions, an alternative exercise is to say Blue and Black are together having broken down approaching a hoop. Use the cards to put Red & Yellow in random positions and then working out whether:
- Blue and Black should take bisques to continue to the break
- Red and Yellow have an easy option of using bisques to get a break going
