I am to be the prime referee for Courts 1 and 2 today and will try to comment on both matches.

There is a blue sky, about 1/8 cloud, expecting it to become very hot later in the day.

Apparently the watering system was used last night and there was a fault which lead to it being left on too long. The courts are now damp but drying rapidly. Although play could start on time it has been decided to start not before 9:30am.

I just hit some balls on court 1 and it is currently running at 10 seconds. It was mown only an hour ago. I expect it will speed up as it dries.

Court 1. Malcolm Fletcher v Jenny Clarke
Court 2. Ken Bald v Greg Bryant
Court 3. Ian Dumergue v Toby Garrison
Court 4. Robert Fletcher v Paddy Chapman
Court 5. Stephen Forster v Chris Clarke
Court 6. Tim O'Leary v Aaron Westerby

The local paper in Hawke's Bay, The Today, had croquet on three pages. Ian Dumergue was in the front page (just a small picture), that picture was repeated on page 13, with a whole page of croquet images, and there was a story on Chris Clarke taking up half of page 23, with three pictures. Oh, I see that Ian D is also on the back page with another small picture.

The players are arriving, but there has been no practice so far, at 9:07am.