The measurements now required are 35 by 28 yards, though until last year 40 by 30 yards was considered a match ground. The boundaries should be marked by a chalk line, and at each corner a white spot should be made exactly one yard from each boundary, to mark the position for replacing a corner ball, a matter of much importance in every game. The six hoop setting, with 4-inch hoops and two stout pegs is universally adopted. The hoops are of round iron half an inch thick, square topped, and painted white, No. 1 being generally a light blue to shew the starting-point. They should be long enough to be driven quite nine inches into the ground, and stand the same distance above it, and they are generally painted black in the lower half to show when properly driven in. Of the pegs, one should be plain white, the other (the winning peg) painted with the four colours, blue, red, black, yellow, in order, and both should have small crossbars inserted on which to place the clips. It is essential that the balls should be in these plain colours, and it would be well if the vendors of croquet implements would avoid the striped balls, so bewildering in sequence, and so much more difficult to aim at. Every so-called set should be provided with four iron clips, painted to match the balls, which are used to indicate the position of the game, and are placed on the top of the hoops in the first half, and on the sides in the return journey.
In the matter of mallets every licence is given, each player using the kind he likes best. The weight of these varies from 2-1/3 to 3-1/2 lbs., and the length of the head and shape is a matter of individual fancy. Many well-known players keep a variety of mallets and sometimes change the weapon frequently in a game; but for my own part I believe in getting accustomed to one mallet and sticking to it. The shapes are some of them most peculiar, and one of the old players for years used a mallet head like a thick solid block with square ends, while a player recently appeared with a mallet head of extraordinary length, and somewhat resembling the bottom of a rocking-chair. Some mallets are sliced at the bottom, with the idea that by this means the ball is hit more directly in the centre, and is not so liable to be topped. Some again have a flat brass plate attached at the bottom for extra weight, while one lady plays with a beautiful ivory mallet, long in the head but of smaller diameter than the usual box-wood ones. Heads of lignum vitæ are also used, and many players have india-rubber 1/4-inch thick affixed to one end, by which means two balls can be rolled together a distance of nearly thirty yards without any undue effort. This is a great boon to lady players, as without the india-rubber a very powerful following stroke is required, a hard hit only separating the balls, the hinder or playing ball rarely reaching half the distance.
The manner of equalising in a competition is by handicapping the strong players, who give bisques, viz., one or more extra turns in each game, which may be taken at any time in continuation of a break, but not more than one bisque in the same turn.
The manner of holding the mallet and striking varies in the hands of different players, Mr. C. E. Willis the present Champion at Wimbledon and at Maidstone being the finest example of a side stroke player, as set forth by Mr. Whitmore and and Mr. Peel, while Mr. Bonham Carter, Mr. Spong, Capt. Drummond and many others consider the aim much more certain with the forward position, a kind of pendulum stroke in which the weight of the mallet tells more than any force used. Some of the most successful of the lady players, too, use this method of striking, notably Miss Maud Drummond (winner of the Ladies' Gold Medal in 1896, and of the Wimbledon Championship Badge in 1897) and Miss Elphinstone Stone (present holder of the Maidstone Ladies' Cup), but Miss de Winton (Gold Medallist, 1897) and Mrs. Wood adhere to the older side stroke.
Since the early days of Croquet, when six or eight players engaged in one game on a small lawn, with hoops often wide enough for a child to crawl through, and sometimes a cage and bell occupying the centre of the ground, the game has changed almost beyond recognition. Then "tactics" were unknown, everybody's idea being to go into position for the hoop their ball was to pass through, and by tight croquet to send off every adversary to the greatest possible distance. Players thus disposed of were often required to shoot back from a ground occupied by a second set of players, and a good long shot won more applause than anything else in the game; but with the introduction of the dead boundary, the game changed entirely. Rules were made, more than 4 balls were never employed in a game, and the terms "roquet," "dead ball," "live ball," "pioneer," "break," "rush," &c., soon became familiar words, a complete list of these, with detailed instructions for playing the game in a scientific manner, are so admirably set forth in Mr. Lillie's book, published last year, that intending players will do well to study it, but the meaning of a few of the terms may not be out of place here.
A "roquet" is made when the playing ball strikes another ball; after a "roquet," croquet must be taken by placing the two balls together, and either striking your own ball so that it goes to some required point, only moving the other ball a little, which is called taking two off; or by sending each ball in a different direction (a splitting stroke); or again by rolling the two balls together. In taking croquet, if either ball touches the boundary line it is considered dead, and the turn ceases. The "live ball" is the next to play, and the "dead ball" is the name given to the adversary's ball which has just played. A ball is considered "in play," when in its turn it has made a point and has still to continue its turn, but is "in hand" after making a "roquet" until "croquet" is taken. The "rush" is a roquet sending the ball hit in some desired direction. Thus in taking croquet, it is often advisable to get near another ball on some particular side, to "rush" it into position for a hoop, etc. The rush is one of the most telling strokes in a game, but requires some practice, as the ball must be struck low, with the mallet held freely and pointed rather in an upward direction. A ball hit at all on the top is apt to jump, and indeed a leapfrog stroke which will clear another ball and sometimes a hoop, is often successfully carried out by the best players, when their ball is blocked from the desired object. To "wire" is to place the balls in such a position that they are screened from the next player's shot, by one or more hoops. Making a "point" is the hoop or peg made in order. The "pioneer" is the ball sent on to the hoop next but one in order, to assist the playing ball at that point. "Break" is the name given to a succession of points made in the same turn. A "rover" is a ball which has passed through all the hoops, and only has to touch the winning peg. To "finesse" is to play into a corner so that the dead ball shall not be easily available to assist in the adversary's game, and that the friendly ball may join it when it's turn arrives. This is only done when the opponents' two balls are together. "Counter finesse" is for the adversary next playing to send his partner's ball to join the dead ball in the corner, thus preventing the others getting together. To "peel" to put another ball through its hoop by croquet. This stroke is named after the late Mr. W. H. Peel, who was particularly successful with it, and only last autumn at a handicap meeting on the Wimbledon grounds he won a game in which he "peeled" his partner's ball through the four last hoops.
The option of beginning in a match falls to the winner of the toss, who always elects to do so, and by that means usually secures the first break. In a partner match, however, the winner of the toss often puts in the other side first, as it is an advantage for the captain to play immediately before his strongest opponent. In starting the ball is placed one foot from the first hoop, in position for making that point. It has been suggested that a change in this rule would be of advantage. For instance, if each ball started from a spot in the centre of the ground, it would make a greater variety in the opening tactics.
