Good Morning! Another fine day but since Michael Wright wrote his preview the clouds have rolled over and there is about 5/8 cover. There is a gentle wind that I expect will become stronger as the day progresses. I'm in shirt sleeves so it must be 20 degrees.

I will start by trying to over two courts. The third Aust v US match is our of sight on Court 1.

Court 3.
Game 1,
1. K (Robert Fletcher) to eb.
2. Y (David Maloof) to between 6 and the peg.
3. U (Tim O'Leary) hits K, bounces off 1, leaving Y on wb 6y S of 2, K a yard in-court from it.
4. R (Ben Rothman) hits U (7y), has a break.

Court 6.
Game 1.
1. K (Rich Lamm) to eb.
2. R (Ken Bald) to wb, peg high.
3. U (Jeff Soo) misses from III to IV.
4. Y (Malcolm Fletcher) misses from I to II.
5. U misses K and goes 5y past.
6. Y misses from II to I.
7. U misses K to IV.
8. Y misses R to 8y N of R.
9. U hits K, fails to get position at 1, retires to IV.
10. R hits Y(12y), leaves Y in II, K 6y E of 3,tries to roll 1 from IV, fails and leaves U a yard SW of 1 and joins Y near II.
11. U to IV.

That was a hectic start to the day! The wind is increasing and the flags are standing out square.

Court 6.
12. Y (Malcolm) hits R, moves K to 5y N of 4, gets U from IV and rolls 1, fails and goes between R at 2 and II.
13. U misses K(15y) to eb,
14. Y hits R, leaves it at 2 and takes off to oppo's balls. He hits U sends it7y S of 3 and rushes K to within a foot of 1. He makes 1 and has a break.

Court 3.
4 (continued). Ben continues his break. He has made hoop 5 but it is not very tidy.

Court 3.
4 (cont). R, Ben, has gone to 4b and is setting his leave, a diagonal spread with K at the peg and U near the wb.
5. Robert and Tim are standing by 5. K is lifted to III and Robert shoots at Y. Hits and should be away.
Court 6.
12 (cont). Malcolm, with Y, goes to 4b and sets an NSL with U on 4 and K SW of 2.
13. U is lifted and Jeff shoots from III at R. Misses to IV.
14. Ken, R makes 1 and has a break, probably a delayed triple.

The wind has increased and with heavy overcast I am cold and must put on some more clothes. There are still 3/8 blue skies downwind.

Court 3.
5(cont). K, Robert, has made 1 and 2 and is taking R, the potential candidate for a tpo, to 3. He has Y a few yards S of 3 and U is on the N bdry in front of 3. He was taking croquet from R a few yards E of 6. He put R into position for the peel and is now using U as the escape ball, with Y only peg high as the pioneer for 4.

Court 6.
14 (cont). R, Ken, has reached 1b with no attempt at peeling. He breaks down at 3b, failing to get position. His clearing shot put a ball in baulk.
15. U, Jeff, makes 1 and has a break.

Court 3.
5 (cont). Robert is peeling penult after making 6 with his ball, K. This is the second peel of the tpo. R goes though to level with the peg.

Court 6.
15 (cont). U, Jeff, has reached 5 with good control

Court 3.
5 (cont). Robert is lining up the rover peel before 2b. The 4 yard peel went through, just. G

Court 6.
15 (cont). Jeff has reached 1b.

It has become cold and windy but the clouds are in heavy banks and we may get more sun before too long. The wind is strong enough to worry the players on their back-swings.

Court 3.
5 (cont). Robert has gone to the peg with K and he now pegs R off. He leaves U on the eb so that 4 is between it and 1. He leaves K in IV.

Court 6.
15 (cont). Jeff has gone to 4b with U and has set a diagonal spread, with R at the peg and Y near the wb.

Court 3.

6. Y takes contact from U, splits the balls to near the s bdry and U to peg high near the wb. He sends Y to a yard W of 1.
7. U hits K(16y), makes 1 off Y, sends Y to near the eb, comes back to K, fails to get position at 2. The partners consult. u is sent to a few yards N of IV.
8. Y misses K.

Court 6.
16. R is lifted to III and hits K. He bounces off penult after making 3b and 4b.
17. K hits and has a break.

I will concentrate on the more interesting 3-ball game on court 3.

Court 3.
9. Long discussion. K goes to a yard N of U.
10. Y to peg high on wb.
11. U rushes K to III and sets up, probably wired from Y.
12. Y moves a yard S.
13. U adjusts the rush, still in III.
14. Y moves a yard N.
15. U rushes K to 2, makes the hoop and sets up N of 3, presumably wired from Y.

Court 6.
K sticks in 3 and calls referee to check the hoop. The hoop is OK.
18. Y peels Y through 3, makes 4b, goes to the peg, leaves U 9y N of 4, K wired from it close to the peg and his balls on the wb with a rush.
19. K is lifted to A baulk and misses U to 4y S of III.

I am very frustrated that I appear to have lost several pages of commentary on courts 3 and 6. Positioned between courts 4 and 6 I was able to work until mid-morning when the WiFi started to drop out, probably because there were so many people connected.

Suffice to say that Australia is ahead 1 game to nil on both courts. I have re-located to the main clubhouse, close to the WiFi and have had to abandon my commentary of Courts 3 and 6. However, the last I saw of court 6 was when a US ball stuck in 4 and handed control to the Australians.

Just as I became organised down here, Ian Dumergue pegged out the second game and Australia has won that match, so overall Australia leads the US 7 matches to 3.

To try and keep you informed I will try walking up to see what is happening, coming back here to write the commentary.

Court 3.
With his opponents clips on 2 and 4b, Robert Fletcher has just made hoop 1 with a good pioneer at 2 and has every expectation of completing a standard triple to finish as his partner clip is on 4b.

Court 6 has the US players setting up after making a break of some sort

I have now re-located to the balcony and have a better view, complete with power to re-charge the IPad.

Court 3.
Robert Fletcher is still in play and appears to have completed the first peel, of 4b. He ha just made 6 but is unable to contemplate a peel as the peelee was out to the side of the hoop. He positions it in front of penult, and goes to 1b. He makes it and readies for the penult peel on the way to 2b. That has been called the "Death Roll", but that will not apply to him, I expect.his pioneers at 2b and 3b are each very good as he lines up the peel.

Court 3.
The peelee is on the E wire of penult, possibly rush-peelable, maybe not. He makes 2b, sends that pioneer to peg high and makes 3b. The play is now obscured behind a large shelter. He is rolling to the North. The other ball goes to 2 y W of penult but his ball goes almost onto the SE wire of penult. Tim comes onto court for consultation. A referee is called and I think is to run 6 to roquet R. He runs 6 but misses R, so puts his clip on 4b, the Y clip on penult and retires. Y is on B baulk.

David Maloof lifts U to B baulk, sends Y to 3 and approaches his hoop, 2. To 4 ft, almost straight. He backs off twice, waiting for the wind, and makes the hoop on the third stalking.

There appears to be no action on court 6 so I suspect they are at lunch. I will go to lunch myself.

Court 6. One game all.
Game 3.
1. K (Rich Lamm) to eb.
2. R (Ken Bald) duffer tice, 1yNNE of 6.
3. U (Jeff Soo) misses R from III to 16 y N of I.
4. Y (Malcolm Fletcher) misses U from I to III.
5. U joins K 1 y S.
6. R misses U by 1 cm (I was in direct line. I have walked up to court 6 and will write commentary from here, before walking back to send it from near the clubhouse.
7. K leaves U near the eb rushes R to 4y S of 1, approaches to 1 y, bounces off.
8. R hits K gently, makes 1 with a rush to Y in II, fails to get a cannon by cms, leaves K on the wb, just S of II, rushes Y to 3 y W of 2 and has an angled shot at 2 which bounces off. Y is halfway between 2 and 3.
9. K declines the slightly shorter shot at R and shoots at Y, missing to the eb.
10. R hits Y to the eb, 4y N of K, leaves Y 3y S of III and rushes K to within couple of yards in court from U. He gets a rush on U to the wb fails to get position at 2 and retires to a yard N of Y. K is 3y NW of IV and U is 6y N of 2.
11. Long discussion, standing near K. Jeff, U, gets his mallet and sends U to I.
12. Ken, R, takes the rush to IV, sends Y to 3y E of 4 and rushes K to 3 y N of I, where U awaits. He puts K out towards 1. Not trying for the rush and sends U to 3yESE of 2. He joins Y, giving himself a rush to U and 2.
13. K has a 20 y shot at the oppo's, but they send U to III, playing safe.
14. Y, Malcolm, sends R to 2, not quite, 7y SE, goes to K, makes 1 from an angle to applause from most of the Australian team assembled under this tent, hits R to the N bdry near the end of B baulk, goes to U in III, sends it to 5y N of 4 in a big split to K. Rolls 2 and makes it to more hearty applause. After 2 he rushes K to the wb, sends it to near 4 and glances off 5 so he has a 6y shot on U, which he hits to the eb. He takes off to R and rolls 8y to a 1 y position at 3. He makes 3 and should have a less stressful break from here.
Clips are U and K on 1, R on 2 and Y in play. Ken interrupts him for a short talk before he makes 5.
Malcolm makes 1b and leaves U behind, 7y SW of 2. He makes 2b and 3b, hiring K on the hoop stroke. After discussion he rolls K to 3y SE of the peg, roquets R and rolls them both off court, R in IV and Y a yard N.
15. U is lifted to A baulk and Jeff shoots at R. Misses by 18 inches. Looks disgusted.
16. R, Ken, fails to get a cannon, just, rushes Y to 3y S of K, sends it to 5y S of 3 and rushes K to 8y ESE of his hoop, 2, a bad mistake. He fails to get position and retreats to the eb, level with Y.
17. K is 6yNNE of 2. K shoots at Y, misses to 5y S of R.
18. R misses K to IV, a yard from U.
19. U hits R, sends it to 2, going to almost exactly between Y and K, hits Y to 2 and sends it to 4y W of 1, going to K. Hits K and takes off to 1, too far and retires to join K on the eb, with a rush for U towards 3.
20. R shoots at oppo's balls. Misses.
21. K, Rich, calls a referee to watch for a cannon, just fails, rushes U2y E of I, sends U to 10y S of 2, gets rush on Y to 1, approaches to 2 ft, makes 1 with a rush W and should be away. However he cuts a good rush to 2 and might have broken down, but makes an excellent approach from about 6 y and has a better break, although his pioneers are both 10 yards from their hoops. After 2 he collects R from the eb, rushes it to Y and rushes Y to a yard from 3. Before 3 he calls his partner and both partner and referee respond. The referee is sent back and presumably they discuss but reject the possibility of a tpo. He over-approaches 4, with Y at 6 and Y at 5. K clears U to the S bdry while K is a yard away, 2 ft N of the boundary to the E.
22. R hits K (14y), rushes U to 3y WNW of 5, sends U to 4y SW of 3 and gets a good rush on R to 2. He makes an angled 2 to applause and has a break, but does not attempt any peeling yet. He makes 3 and hits a long return roquet (10y), sends U to 5 and is away. After penult he puts K to 6y s of 2 and has the other two balls at rover. After rover he cut-rushes his partner ball to the N bdry, puts it to the wb, 3 y in. And rushes K to 8y NNE of 4. He then rushes and croquets U to a foot from the peg, wired from K, and joins Y on the wb, giving Y a rush to 5 or K.
23. U is lifted to A baulk and Jeff shoots at an open double (20y). Misses by a yard, to his disgust.
24. Y turns and hits U, sends it to rover and gets a rush on R to the eb near K, puts R. To 7y E of the peg and rushes K accurately to 4b. He makes 4b, and rushes K towards R but it glances off 3. He gets a rush on R to penult, makes penult and should finish. He does.

Australia win 2 games to 1.

Australia thus wins the three doubles today and leads the US by 9 matches to 3.

Goodbye until tomorrow!