On the surface, this year’s Women’s Golf Croquet Championship on the Sussex coast seemed the least likely setting for a scandal. As befitting the game’s image as the most genteel of English summer activities, Dame Mary Berry – herself a keen player – was guest of honour at the opening ceremony, where she received a cake decorated as a croquet lawn. And yet behind the scenes, a fierce row was simmering over the fact that the most prestigious female prize in the sport was won by a biological male.