The doubles between Wicks/Burch and Hopgood/Giraud is 1+4-b v 1+4-b pegged down overnight. Hopgood and Burch are on 4-b and Hopgood has just made a leave for Giraud.

The sun is out and the hoops have been getting more difficult each day and are probably now approaching average.

The standard of play this morning has been poor with hoards of errors on the lawns I have been watching. Last nights draw saw Fulford get a really easy path to the semis whilst the top half looks stronger. Rumour has it that Rothman appealed against his non-seeding, but with no prospect of success. That said, 100-1 against him winning is tempting.

Chris

On lawn 3, Mulliner is playing Vincent. We've just had the 6th error and the clips are 6 and penult v 1 and 5.
On lawn 2, Death is playing Berthouze. Only about 5 errors in this so far. It is 2 and 1-b v 5 and break

I'll do a bit of commentary on Bamford v Dawson which has just started double -banked on lawn 2

1.Bamford Green 11y N of C4
2. Dawson White 12 yard Duffer
3. Brown misses Green from B-Baulk to 2 yard N of C4
4. Pink misses white, hits hoop 5 and finishes 3y NW of hoop 4
5. Green hits Brown and I expect a ball to 1-b

Berthouze has just failed hoop 6
Avery has just started against Patel and bounced over his 4th turn shot - very unlucky
Vincent is trying to rush to hoop 1 v Mulliner

Reg running hoop 1 from 4 feet straight - through by 1 inch, he has a 7 yarder through the hoop - hits

Samir plays a hoop1/2 cannon from the east boundary and fails to rush into the SW quarter. Rolling up from 8 yards East -a bit short and angled - taking it on .......fails and bounces off near C1

Avery hits a 9 yarder from C2 and now has a laid break
Death has a break with his 1-b ball.
Vincent makes 1 and has a break

Avery fails hoop 2
Death is round to 4-b with a leave

Vincent misses 5 yarder after hoop 2
Bamford is round to 1-b with a standard fairly flat spread

Vincent shoots, but hits hoop 1 and stays there. Mulliner should finish from there.
Reg went much further south than I expected and is almost level with hoop 4. I expect Dawson to take the short lift. It appears the ball at the peg has an open shot, but it is longer than the lift. Dawson lifts the W boundary ball and takes the short lift.................snicks it

Patel has failed hoop 2

Avery misses from 3 to 2.
Patel makes hoop 2 and opts for a precision rushing pickup rather than take on the 6 yarder.
Dawson's rush to hoop 1 only goes 5 yards. He opts to rolls in front of hoop1 - good shot - less than 2 feet straight. Makes it and should go round - but how far?

Mulliner completes his doubles peel to win the first +22
Wicks has just missed a 3 yarder on lawn 1 v Maugham
Death has failed to 4-b peel for the second time and is now on 1-b with hi break
Patel needs to roll up to hoop 4 from 9 yards straight.........gets 4 foot straight in front...........runs it hard

Death fails 2-b from 1 foot straight

Dawson has also gone to 1-b and has also made a standard diagonal spread
In game 2, Vincent fails to hit his first ball hard enough to get off the lawn, so places it is 3rd corner. Mulliner rolls then 2 balls to the peg and leaves a double from C3 with one ball not rushing to hoop 1 - that's good. Vincent could just play 2 yards East of partner and hope Mulliner misses, but he's shootng gently ..............................misses finishing 2 yards NE of hoop 5 - that's ok.
Mulliner goes to near C3 for his double, but then returns to A-Baulk for his 12 yarder..........then returns to B-Baulk to take a 16 yarder with a ball in the background.............centre ball.
Berthouze overapproaches hoop 6 from the side and has no possibility of running it. He can return to partner and have a good leave. Death hits from 2 to 1.

Bamford lifts the ball at the peg and takes the short lift.......misses. Dawson plays his 1-b ball and will try for 3 more hoops
Mulliner makes hoop 1, but is hampered.......taking on an open 12 yarder...............hits
Patel is round to 4-b with a contact leave

Dawson only just runs 1-b (the firmest hoop at the club) from perfect position. He's looking at what appears to be a tricky sweep shot

Plays it with his bottom hand miles up the shaft and centre balls it

Dawson blobs 2-b from dead straight, just as Death had done - is there a slight bobbly bit there??? Bamford now has a standard sextuple

Bamford turns down the sextuple and plays his 1-b ball

Mulliner has gone to 1-b with a diagonal spread
Death reaches 2-b and peg. Berthouze misses the lift.
Avery makes a leave from his contact. Patel is shooting from h3 to C4...................misses

Vincent shoots from near the W boundary at Mulliner's balls near the E - it's a target............misses
Avery 2-balls hoops 2 and 3 before going to Patel in C4
Death makes 2-b, but still has work to do.
Bamford ha reached 4-b with another diagonal spread

Mulliner sextuple coming up on lawn 3 - stay tuned!!!

Avery goes down the hill at hoop 4 and now has a short angled hoop..........hoop moved a mile as he smashed it through
Death has a 5 foot angled 3-b........smashed it through (it went through off the ground) and should now finish

First peel through after hoop 2 from Mulliner
Avery fails hoop 5 off partner

Dawson lifts his 2-b ball and takes the long lift..................misses

I expect Patel to shoot from 6 to 5.No he's taking his lift and taking a more aggressive 11 yarder at partner near C4............middles it - it certainly gives him more than hitting the other shot.

Mulliner sets up for the 2-b peel before hoop 5

Death wins the first +17 (5+6)

Mulliner jawses 2-b before 5 and hasn't got a hoop 6 pioneer

Mulliner rushes 7 feet north of hoop 5 and has a tricky backward take-off.....good shot.
Makes 5 and is now trying to work out which ball to hit. He's rushed back to C1, sent it towards 1-b, rushed peeled through 2-b and now needs to send peelee to 3-b getting a rush to hoop 6 on a ball 7 feet N of h5. Peelee a bit short, but gets a decent rush t hoop 6.
Reg has made hoop 3 but without the 4-b peel.

Mulliner makes hoop 6, but he sent the reception ball almost t the N boundary and subsequently hasn't got a rush back to 3-b. Some big rolls coming up

Patel peels 4-b after hoop 3 and should take the first v Avery.

Bamford is hampered after hoop 5...copes

Mulliner misses 4 foot cut-rush after hoop 6.

Avery asks Goacher "what's happening in your match David?"
"It's a bit slow" Goacher replies

Bamford didn't get the 4-b peel before 6 and is now trying to peel it before 1-b. His 2-b pioneer hits the peg and finishes in the wrong quarter. Gets the 4-b peel, but has to approach 1-b from 4-5 yards straight........not bad..........runs 1-b by 9 yards and is back in control

Reports are that Chapman is game and break down to Wilkinson

Susan advises that Fulford has won the first +26tp
Wicks has just failed 2-b

Parish takes the first off Riva

Both Patel and Bamford are approaching penult with 1 peel left to do

Both finish to take the first

Vincent faults his failed hoop 5 stroke

Mulliner now has a quad to finish from 1-b

Mulliner finishes in the jaws of rover going to Vincent's balls at hoop 5. He can still hit one of them............snicks it

Mulliner now needs to rush to 1-b and the ball in front of hoop 5 doesn't go very near it - maybe 5 yards away at best. Rushes to middle of W boundary. Takes off to 1-b......finishes 4 yard 10 degrees...........misses so badly that he finishes 2 yards away from opponent on the West boundary!!!!

Vincent takes off and finishes cross-wired from the ball at hoop 1........misses partner near C4

Mulliner shoots from 1 to 2.............misses

Death has a standard tp to take the match

Death misapproaches 4 and scatters the hoop 5 pioneer.
Berthouze misses partner near C1
Death misses from C2 to h3

Vincent has made another error and Mulliner is taking his 3-b ball to the peg

Berthouze fails hoop 1. Death lags back to partner
Mulliner has reached peg and 1-b with a spread

Berthouze shoots from h1 to h2.........misses

Vincent takes the same shot at a target from the W boundary as before, but this time hits in the middle. If he can play a break to the peg and peg Mulliner out, this could get entertaining. Unfortunately, he hasn't shown any sign of being able to hold a break together yet.

Death now has a standard double peel to take the match

Vincent needs a 2 yard backward take-off to hoop 5 for his break...........1 yard straight hoop............runs it with a rush!! Game on!!

Dawson hits 3rd turn on a C2 opening and will be trying to make a dream leave

Death doesn't get the peel after 6 or 1-b. ow setting up for a delayed double.

Bamford shoots from C3 4th turn......misses

Death doesn't get control for the penult peel before 4-b - straight double required now.
Vincent has a controlled break

Dawson plays a couple of good strokes to pick up his break in the second

Death peels penult but only by 6 yards. Rushes to rover..........too far.
This is becoming a proper croquet Championship as the conditions become more challenging.
Death makes a leave for rover and peg
Vincent misses short roquet after 2-b.

Mulliner has easy 4 ball break to take the match
Dawson misapproaches hoop 3 and retires to C2
Bamford turns down 8 yarder pointing at C2 and takes 14 yarder...........misses, leaving Dawson the 8 yarder

Fulford wins 2-0

Mulliner grovels through 3-b and is hampered

Dawson hits 8 yarder and makes a leave
Mulliner trying a sweep..............misses and gives himself a slap

Vincent has a 3 yarder with his hoop 1 ball.........hits. A ball to the peg with no peels would leave 3-b and peg v 4-b

Bamford misses from h3 to C2
Dawson makes h3, but still has some work to do for a break.
Vincent has a 2-3 foot hoop 1 for a break..........straight into the right hand wire.

Death wins the match
Mulliner makes 4-b and should finish

I'll just focus on Bamford v Dawson and Patel v Avery now
Avery hits partner form A-Baulk 3rd turn after a Duffer from Patel
Dawson looks like he's going to go further than 1-b this turn

Mulliner wins the match and will now play the winner of Giraud v Sharpe followed by Fulford in the QF

Avery fails to get going 3rd turn and retires to C4
Patel misses 10 yarder with ball in background
Avery shoots at partner from h2 to C4- misses
Patel shoots from h1 to C4...........misses

Dawson has gone to 4-b and made a contact leave. It is the standard him in C2 ad C3 with Bamford either side of C4
Avery misapproaches h1.

Avery lays up.
Patel misses from N boundary to h1
Avery makes h1 without any prospect of a break
Bamford lays up near C4 with Dawson still in C2 and C3.
Dawson shoots from C2 TO C3.........misses

Bamford rushes 4 yards past hoop 1 and opts not to approach, bt take-off to the balls near C3. Finishes 4 yards short and misses!!! This gives Dawson a standard tp to make it 1-1

Chapman has tpoed Wilkinson in the second and is 2-b + peg v 1, game down

Dawson has made hoop 1, but partner is his h2 pioneer
Avery has failed h3
Patel shoots from at a 10 yarder...........hits

Dawson has done well to jaws peelee after hoop 3

Dawson opts to rush back to peelee after hoop 4 which I believe is wrong

Dawson fails to get a hoop 6 pioneer and now needs to take off to a dodgy h5 pioneer from near the N boundary. Plays a perfect stroke and makes h5 with a rush

Dawson has a 2 feet 20 degree hoop 6...................stabs it through and now has all 4 balls NW of h6

Making 1-b off partner

Patel is stiil on his first break and has just made 1-b

Delayed double now required for Dawson

On lawn 1 Maugham v Wicks is past the 3hr mark in game 1

I think this tournament is in danger of not finishing

Dawson has sent his 4-b pioneer onto the left hand wire of hoop6 which will make his tp very difficult. I think getting to the peg should now be his priority

Dawson rushes peelee through hoop 6 from 3 yards. He can rush brown a few yards in front of 4-b. Hopeless attempt at peel bounces off. Rushes brown 2 yards SW of 4-b and approaches well. Now needs straight double to finish

Irish peel goes 4 feet past rover

Rushes into right hand wire of rover and will now be laying up peg and rover

Patel goes to 4-b
Avery makes a leave
Patel hits with his h1 ball

Goacher takes the first against Hopgood 22-12 in 4 hours

Dawson makes a sort of OSL. Bamford lifts the ball in the middle and shoots from A-Baulk............hits

Patel has a standard tp ahead of him for the match

Bamford has picked up a break. I think he will go to 1-b, but will he leave a rush for his forward or backward ball?
Patel is doing nicely with is tp.

One of the key aspects of super advanced is that two breaks up is a very big lead.

Chapman v Wilkinson is penult v 2-b in a one-ball game in the second, Wilkinson game up

Chapman has made to the peg, but Wilkinson has hit his last shot

Patel peels rover going to 3-b
Bamford has stopped at 1-b with a spread where the peg ball is on the W boundary

Bamford has laid up for his 1-b ball.
Dawson lifts his ball for rover by the peg and takes the long lift from C3.............misses

Patel wins +24tp to take the match

Chapman takes the second +6tpo to equalise

Bamford is going to 4-b, but will need to play a lot of good shots to make a good leave

Bamford reaches 4-b. He has left Dawson's peg ball near C4, his rover ball by the peg and is laid up just S of C2

Wilkinson has the first break in the decider v Chapman

Dawson lifts the ball at the peg and shoots from B-Baulk at Reg............hits.

Dawson opts to rush oppo to rover instead of rushing to partner, which would make finishing easier. Rushes 5 feet SE of rover, takes off to 18"" position, blobs.

Bamford has a 5 footer at a small part of the ball...........misses, joining with partner
Dawson runs rover and shoot at partner...........hits. Now needs to take off to C2 to split oppo up ....good shot.

Bamford's 4-b ball is near C2, his h1 ball is 3y S of C3 and Dawson has a rush to the peg from near C4
Bamford shoots from C3 to C2..........misses

Dawson rushes 4.5 yards N of the peg.......1-1

Game 3
1. Bamford 9y N of C4
2. Dawson Duffer hits h6 and finishes a foot W.
3. Bamford shoots at partner from C3.............misses to C4
4. Dawson shoots at the Duffer.......very stabby stroke, but hits in the middle

4 (cont.) Dawson lays up at h1, with Bamford W of h2 and E of h3
5. Bamford shoots from the W boundary at the ball E of h3..............misses

6. Dawson has a 2 yard 15 degree hoop 2...............turns it down and returns to partner.

Chapman is most of the way through a tpo in the decider

7. Bamford takes a 16 yarder which may miss into C4........rushes it to Dawson's boundary ball.

I'll take a 30 minute break now

7. Bamford goes to 1-b with a horizontal spread.
8. Dawson lifts the Westerly ball which is his hoop 1 ball and takes the "short": lift......hits hoop 4 and bounces 3 yards SE of h3. Reg could play his hoop 1 ball here..........no it's going to be a ball to 4-b.

Riva has equalised against Parish

9. Bamford goes to 4-b with a horizontal spread

10. Dawson lifts the Westerly ball which is his h1 ball and takes the long lift at the in-lawn ball..............misses

11. Bamford runs hoop 1 and misses 8 yard return roquet.
12. Dawson misses partner near C4
13. Bamford misses 14 yarder

14. Dawson has picked up a break with his h1 ball. TPO???

14. Dawson doesn't get the 4-back peel after h3 and is setting up for a delayed tpo

14 Dawson jawses 4-b peel before hoop 6. Blobs h6.

15. Reg hits 3 yarder at half a ball and should finish

15. Chapman win the decider +10tpo

15. Bamford jawses penult after h3

15 Bamford is on 4-b and still needs to complete the final peel

Hopgood has equalised v Goacher

15. Bamford still not fully under control for his rover peel

15. Bamford wins +20tp

Chapman is break up in the first v Rothman
Giraud is being tpo'ed by Mulliner in the first

Mulliner has turned the tpo down

Mulliner blobs hoop 6 from nowhere, giving Giraud a good chance with his backward ball for a standard tp

Riva beats Parish

Giraud has made it to the peg with 1 peel

Mulliner has been left an 10 yard lift..........snicks it. Rolls towards C4, hitting h4, leaving a 6 yarder.........misses.
Giraud has croquet with his peg ball.

Giraud makes a leave. Mulliner misses. Giraud takes the first +20 (2+6)

Mulliner is now 1 and 4-b conceding a lift v 1+1 in the second.
Goacher beat Hopgood.

That's all for me today.