The 2023 Team Handicap Knockout Cup is about to start, with teams vying to wrest the cup from Southbourne.
Format
I am pleased to announce we now have 14 teams which is 2 more than last year.
With 14 teams, there will be a full set of matches for the 1st round. The best winning team relative to its required score will then receive an automatic bye into the semi-final. If 2 teams have the same ‘best score’ then the team with the lowest average rating will receive the bye. The other winning 6 teams will play in the 2nd round.
This competition is scheduled to run from the Spring 2023 to the Autumn 2023 and to be completed before our leagues start next season. This worked well for the start of this season when the 2022 Cup competition was completed with the semi-final and final held in September. Indeed, it became a welcome curtain raiser!
Consistent with previous years, the 1st round draw has been regionalised so there is less distance to travel and teams will not play the same team in the 1st round as last year.
1st Round Draw
Yeovil v Dorchester
Purbeck v Weymouth
Ringwood B v Highcliffe Carlsens
Poole The Other One v Wimborne
Highcliffe Fischers v Poole Position
Bournemouth Buccaneers v Ringwood A
Southbourne Seagulls v Bournemouth Bandits
Timescales and Practicalities
Matches should be completed by Friday, 21st April 2023. This gives just over 8 weeks to arrange and play the matches.
The 1st named team has the choice of venue.
The Rules, including the rating handicap system, can be found here and via the main menu under B&DC League.
A blank Match Scoresheet can be found here. This includes the required scores so please familiarise yourselves with it. (If the scoresheet does not appear on your screen, this will be due to your browser settings. Please check your downloads folder.)
As stated in the rules, we will be using the latest live monthly ratings which will include games played up to the end of the previous month. So as an example, if a cup match was played now, it is the fixed February 2023 rating that will count (and games played in February 2023 will not count).
Please remember to have a calculator ready at your matches to calculate both teams’ average ratings and the difference in ratings to work out the required score!
Team Captains
The team captains are as follows:
Yeovil – Adam Batson
Dorchester – Mark Potter
Purbeck – Steve Peirson
Weymouth – Allan Pleasants
Ringwood A – Martin Clancy
Highcliffe Carlsens – Ron Salinger
Poole The Other One – Angus Norman
Wimborne – Mike Davidson
Highcliffe Fischers – Richard Ursell
Poole Position – John Weatherlake
Bournemouth Buccaneers – Daniel Miles
Ringwood B – Matthew Hull
Southbourne Seagulls – Nikki Forster
Bournemouth Bandits – Paul Errington
Good luck to all the teams!
