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Dorothy Steel (croquet player)

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Dorothy Dyne Steel
Born(1884-04-21)21 April 1884
Died22 January 1965(1965-01-22) (aged 80)
Bedford, England

Dorothy Dyne Steel (21 April 1884 – 22 January 1965), commonly referred to as D. D. Steel, was an English croquet player.

Steel dominated English croquet in the 1920s and 1930s, winning the Best 10 competition six times (1922, 1923, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1937), the Open Championship four times (1925, 1933, 1935 and 1936) and the Women's Championship fifteen times (1919, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939).[1][2][3]

She represented England in three MacRobertson Shield tournaments, winning on two occasions.[1][2]

In 2011, Steel was inducted into the World Croquet Federation Hall of Fame.[4]

Career statistics

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Major tournament performance timeline

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Tournament 1914 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934
Open Championship A A A A A F F W SF 3R F F SF QF F W QF
Women's Championship F W F SF W A A W W W A W W 1R W W W
Champion Cup A A A A W W 4 4= 6= 5 4= 2 2 W 5= W W
Win-loss 4–1 4–0 4–1 3–1 5–0 5–1 4–1 10–0 9–1 6–1 4–1 8–1 8–1 2–2 8–1 9–0 6–1
Tournament 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 SR W–L Win %
Open Championship W W 3R SF F A QF 2R 1R 3R A A A A QF 4 / 22 66–18 78.6
Women's Championship W W W W W A A A A A A A A A 1R 15 / 20 74–5 93.7
President's Cup 4= 2 W 3 NH* A A 2= A A A A A A A 6 / 19
Win-loss 9–0 9–0 5–1 7–1 7–1 0–0 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–1 25/61 140–23 85.9

* not held because of outbreak of World War 2.

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

The Champion Cup/President's Cup is played as a 8/10 player round-robin and the number indicates the final position achieved.

The Champion Cup was won outright by Miss Steel in 1933 and was replaced by the President's Cup. Until 1938 ten players played in the event. Since then eight have played. [5]

References

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  1. ^ a b The Croquet Association Centenary Year Book 1897–1997. The Croquet Association. 1997. ISBN 0-902758-05-5.
  2. ^ a b Prichard, DMC (1981). The History Of Croquet. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-30759-9.
  3. ^ Townsend's croquet almanack. Townsend Croquet Ltd. 1988. ISBN 1-871714-00-1.
  4. ^ "WCF Hall Of Fame". World Croquet Federation. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Croquet Records". Retrieved 13 October 2012.