Hello there - time for the second game of the doubles final.

Chris is ready, Rob's having some lunch after his very extended warmup this morning, and Reg and Ben are knocking up on Lawn 2.

Rob now holds the record for Open Championship wins with 11 victories (Reg Bamford and John Solomon have each won 10).

The doubles final will continue on lawn 1.

Hmm... Rob has just handed his drink on to Susan to take care of (probably because a dog put a tennis ball in Rob's coke last night during the first doubles match!)

Rather ugly drink - even by my rather low standards - half diet coke & half water. !

Right - we're off.....

Reg to 10 yards north of corner 4

Chris has put out a duffer tice south-west of 6. I suspect he overhit it by a foot or two. I asked him on the drive in why Rob's putting the duffer west these days, he suggested it might be to put hoop 6 in play if oppo hits the east boundary ball first. Certainly puts it in play of going for a really tight rush.

Ben has now shot down from corner 3. Seems to be some hands on hips, and black is unmoved. Blue down into corner 4

Commentary team doesn't have a lot of super-advanced expertise... Stuart Lawrence (USA), Susan Fulford and Quiller Barrett!

Rob shooting at the duffer....rushes yellow to 4y east of the peg

Takes off to black, doesn't rush it that close to blue in the corner. Takes off short and rushes blue about 4 feet west of corner 4. All a bit ugly as he left partner up by the peg.

Tries to roll off 1, putting blue 3 yards north of hoop 2

He's about 4 yards back and 30 degrees...

Decent effort bounces out and looks to be next to the east wire of hoop 1

Ben's lining up a shot at yellow from north of 2. Bonus is he gets to join up with black if he misses. misses, and has a 5 yard join

Looks like red can see yellow, so it was quite to the side of hoop 1. Clips off and Rob's lining this up.

Chris is pacing nervously... and it's a miss - up to the east boundary level with hoop 3.

Ben's got a 5 yarder pointing north - if he hits it well red's waiting up the lawn

Hits black, rushing it a few yards up the boundary

Plays the croquet stroke putting black to 2 and getting a 5 foot cut to 1... rushes it to about 4 yards south and a bit east of 1.

He's left himself a bit of distance there, and about 15 degrees...about a yar...

yard

Into the jaws. Chris is out of the clubhouse at lightening speed - has a 2 yarder for a break

Hits blue, rushing it 2 yards south of the hoop - now has a 2 foot hoop to get going

Runs it by about a foot, and has a 5 yarder at blue - which he hits the middle of.

(bad luck anyone wanting a neutral commentary!)

Through 3, and pauses for a chat with Rob. Nice to see two doubles players working together. Rob didn't seem too desperate for any popping, but we'll see. Provided no-one pinches his seat we should find out the plan rather soon..

Trying to remember when Chris and Rob last played together... 2009 British Open doubles

(another failed commentary send - fix for ipads also works - copy the bit of text that won't go there, hit refresh, then paste your text and continue. Rather useful that croquetscores now tells you that something went wrong. Definitely have found the error comes up when I fiddle around in other tabs - it's a killer on an ipad, and also can make things crash on a laptop. It fixed Sam's tablet problem too)

Chris still going around.

Makes 1b, partner into corner 2, blue is in the jaws of hoop1, but it got there from hoop6, so there's no pops coming. Black to the vicinity of 3b, but expecting the clip onto 3b.

Bit of an angled 2b, however Rob loosened that hoop up very early, and he's through with no concerns.

Blue rushed to the east boundary after 2b, and croqueted to about 9 yards north of corner 4, and black rushed to corner 4. Takeoff and he's into corner 3 to some applause from partner. Nice turn.

Reg has spent a lot of time waiting around this weekend, and after a quick conversation with Ben heads off to talk to William. Ben's taking his 1 foot lift, and cuts yellow a couple of feet south of corner 3 from in the corner.

Takes off to partner in corner 4, decides he can't do much, and lays up with a rush to hoop 1.

Looks like Rob's shooting from corner 2...hits!! Turns out he had a big double.

Something funny has happened, and Samir is out on the lawn with a stick!

Looks like Rbo played some sort of open cannon or promotion, and then black needs to be replaced on the lawn before play continues, and is likely in play with red with black in the way?... Chris is on the way over, so we'll get some facts...

Right...all very simple... Rob had a one inch rush to 1, so wanted an accurate yarding in of black.

He has now rushed to 1, makes 1 and rushes black off the south boundary about 4 yards off the end of A baulk

Chris pacing with his arms crossed, seems to be reasonably relaxed, but with yellow in corner 3, and a cliff on the lower half of the East boundary, it's not an easy pickup for Robert.

Croquet a black in to nearly peg high and a few yards in form the east boundary and plays a nice cut to get blue off the North boundary,but it's about 6 yards west of corner 3. Remember Ben had moved yellow south of c3 and probably in a bit in his takeoff.

Plays a fantastic croquet stroke putting blue to three and getting a rush to two!

Reasonably average rush, lovely hoop approach and runs hoop 2 off the boundary. Has a rush pointing at corner 1 which he takes fo just in from the west boundary peg high

Another beautiful croquet stroke putting yellow (which is for 3back) about four feet dead south of 3b, getting a rush North.

Rushes black up and sending it back over hits it a bit, so it's South of hoop 4 as well, but not too far. Will make it a lot harder getting the peel before four

Makes three, has a rush South, interesting if he will peel before the hoop...seems to be contemplating his options

Blue sent short of hoop 5, turns out the next sequence is rather plan C...

Plays to rushpeel yellow, gets a bad line...tries, ends up next to the hoop, so approaches the hoop as the easiest way to get peelee to the best spot, leaving black South. He doesn't seem to have much of a stop shot with this new mallet yet, but plays the peel quite hard, putting it 7 yards South of 4b, and leaving a 5 yarder which he rushes to the south boundary

Another very good croquet stroke gets a rush to hoop 5 on the slightly wayward pioneer and a good escape ball for the 4b peel.

(I should mention here that weird typos are due to having run out of juice on my laptop and now using my iPad...which is behaving perfectly, but has 19% battery remaining)

Makes 5, croquets blue to within a foot of 1 back getting a good rush on yellow which he rushes to a foot in front of 4b. Poor peel though, and yellow is now in front of the hoop, must be rush-peelable.

Puts black very deep, and creams through six off the lawn. That singles win seems to have really given Rob a second wind. His two failed hoops in the singles were basically about finding a hoop a bit firmer than expected while trying to run them with reasonable control. He's playing beautifully now though

Rushes black to corner 3, croquets it towards 2b and will be rush peeling partner

Ends up with a cut, but hits it too find and it just wobbles at the wire and sits back...can probably get it through with a takeoff though

Must have hit it quite hard as he has to collect red from off the lawn in front of hoop 2...on lawn 2

Takeoff peel puts yellow through by a couple of yards, and back in control now

Through 2back...has a rush up to collect yellow from behind 4back...skims black past the peg and yellow...gets it off the North boundary safely. Blue is down by 3b

Doesn't rush quite in front of penultimate, but it'll be a delayed double to finish

Hasn't done very well after 3back. Has to cut yellow in front of penultimate...doesn't get it there, takes off, but now also has a long approach to 4b. Crashes through off the boundary, so has a nice setup to do a straight double

Blue next to penultimate, black near the peg, and he's peeling from about six inches

Yellow through to a yard past the peg, red stays in the hoop. Runs the hoop

With yellow there likely to have only one escape ball, blue about 5 yards off the south boundary. Rushes black into the peg...makes sure he moves it some way away to avoid problems later.

Not a great rush on red, and the angled peel bounces out. Yellow still runnable and he runs it to the boundary. We'll be having a leave

Makes rover, rushes blue to west boundary in spread position, takeoff to black doesn't rush it to perfect position, and now contemplating his options...yellow still near rover. Quick doubles discussion...

Takes off putting black probably wired, leaving himself a 6yard tony...hits that and Chris is back to help plan the final placement of the balls...and it's a diagonal spread. Rover and peg plays 1 and 1

Plate final starting now on lawn 2... James Hopgood v Jeff Dawson. Jeff shooting at his duffer runs penultimate without touching the sides. And without touching red. James with the first opportunity here.

Reg and Ben contemplating. Chris confirms all balls are in their perfect spots.

4pm. I'm still not in Glasgow. Got to be there for 9am tomorrow. Gah.

Reg in the lawn now, shooting from the end of A baulk at two balls on the boundary..hits.

More discussions

James is off in the plate final, after some comedy early on. Reg is underway, I guess it's a ball to 1 back but I'm sure in the past he has done something odd pegging out oppo, but that was a very long time ago.

james is off again...off the lawn as he mis approached and failed hoop 2

Yup...Reg is going to run 1back...we must be having a ball off!

Right - back on the laptop as my ipad has given up this time. Reg is now on 3back and will be going all the way. I remember him doing this (at the Easterns???) against Goacher I believe. I didn't like it then, still don't, but it won the game for him then...

Quick catchup if you're not following avidly... Chris on rover, Rob on the peg, Ben on hoop 1, Reg in play and will be pegging Rob out at the end of this turn.

Right - Reg has now just run rover. Clips everywhere in the plate final, and not sure what the leave is coming in the doubles final.

James making the game look difficult on lawn 2

Blue (Ben's ball) is rushed up to a yard south of hoop 2 and black is going into corner 3

Chris and Rob discussing their options. Chris is a fantastic croquet stroke player, and will be wanting to give himself every chance of finishing in this turn.

(note that Im' almost certainly wrong in some part of my thinking this was Reg v Goacher. Cant' remember Reg playing at the Easterns, but it was a very long time ago too)

(aha - makes more sense - it was John Gibbons! - sorry Reg!!)

Chris takes contact in corner 2 - taking off to the hoop - nearly perfect! - looks to have gone too far though - more than 45 deg. Takes position a foot back

Has dead straight position, so should at least get another point if Ben misses.

Trophies out - apparently the Opens trophy is 24 carat gold! Lovely thing.

Ben shoots at Reg - misses.

Chris through rover. Robert Hurst watching as he shoots at the peg... misses to approx the middle of the north boundary

Reg has a 1 foot rush pointing south, so will be having a leave

Chris wanders in commenting "it almost hit hoop 5" - not his best stroke of the tournament! Shows a rather large gap to indicate what he missed by

James has run hoop 5, but it's unclear if he'll be shooting at red in front of 2back or if he can actually see blue in front of him. nothing at hoop 6 - must be some sort of advanced tactics... - runs away to the middle of the east boundary - couldn't afford to miss red as giving away a lift with superadvanced rules.

Reg has set up on the south boundary - probably wired from yellow, and Chris can't afford to shoot at this .

Chris to corner 3

Poor Ben... has to drag Reg out from in front of the Wimbledon final. Runs hoop 1, doesn't appear to have a rush anywhere - noone knows if he has roqueted Reg's ball - riveted audience!

Nope -hasn't roqueted it. not exactly sure where this rush is pointing.

Bugger - have been watching my computer - it's actually 5pm here. computer shows kiwi time (4am).

Ben rolling back towards corner 1, seeking a wire

Chris plays down to corner 4

Ben rushes off the north boundary - plan seemed to be to lay up in corner 2. Rob reckons they should have tried to make some progress as Chris will now move into corner 1.

Chris to corner 1

Ben has made hoop 2, Chris just north of C1, Ben makes 3 (might have done that in the same turn). Lays up tight in corner 3. Chris not moving. Susan defending Rob's seat

Tighter in corner 3. Chris still just out of corner 3

There will be three lifts, so no chance of Chris offering Ben a break given that

Not much movement happening here. Remember there is a time limit (with quite a bit of time to go), so no real need to be declaring any impasses.

Nope - action... Ben rushes down to a couple of feet north of corner 1. Good effort, but no cannon. Takes off to get a rush on yellow towards hoop 4

Rushes to a few feet east of 5. I wonder if he can make some progress up the middle in this turn?

Makes 4 with a rush pointing towards the end of A baulk, great shot cuts it into corner 1.

Lift conceded - but a chance to pick up a finish with a few more good shots here

Chips yellow out a couple of yards and has rushed to 2 yards south of hoop 5.

Approaches to 2 foot position, putting black south of the peg.

Runs 5... unlucky - ends up about level with black. Can cut it somewhere near yellow, but that would leave it near baulk

Plays a perfect angle cut - just not hard enough... ends up about a yard north-east of yellow - pretty good shot really. Really committed to this break now, but that's Ben's style, and as given him a lot of success

Good takeoff to get a straight rush to hoop 6 - underhits it badly. Might have also had an imperfect contact.

Meanwhile James Hopgood is on the lawn near corner 3 with his hoop 6 ball, I think. Jeff is on 4back

Ben runs 6 off the boundary and now has about a 6 yarder - he can smash it down to corner 1 (chris reckons he'll go for this), or can wibble at it and have a 3y backward takeoff

Awful shot - takes a huge piece of turf out of the ground, and there is a query if it was a double-hit. Apparently not. Basically took a huge amount of ground out, which stops the mallet and then accelerates through the ball. Reg not interested.

Blue did, by the way, wander forward and hit yellow in the end.

Ben heads off for a drink. A referee is being consulted - Jeff Dawson. He's desperately uncomfortable to have made eye-contact with the players and been nominated. They are seeking opinion from spectator referees. I saw the shot, but certainly have no opinion on whether something illegal happened.

No high-tech video present, and Ben's carrying on. Has a 4 yard sidey approach to 1back. He has hit is reasonably well, and has a 4 foot hoop. Jeff did ask around, but no referees with a firm opinion that they had witnessed a fault

Ben bounces out of 1back and Chris has a lift for a 4 yarder to win

Hits!

Takes off to have a 1 foot peg out. We should have a decider. Glasgow-dependent

Doubles final is 1-1 Final game

1. Reg 10 yards north of corner 4.

2. Chris has a nice duffer just NE of hoop 6

3. Ben misses to corner 4

4. Rob misses the duffer to the south boundary

5. Ben rushes yellow up to level with hoop 3, rolls it across to 2 and has a 4 foot rush pointing straight at hoop 1. Hits it really well, to within a foot of 1.

Rushes back to near black, stops blue towards hoop 4, but made no effort to get a rush on black (or just played a very bad stroke), and instead opts to play a huge roll. Plays it reasonably well, but no rush to 2, so will be approaching from 3 yards. Black is a couple of yards south of 3. Approaches to about 18 inches and he's through nicely.

Decent crowd still watching, lining the front of the clubhouse. Windy and pretty cool all day. Wind only just getting up, and nothing scary, Chilly though

James' clips still inexplicably on hoop 1 and 6...

Ben has now gone around to 1back and is having a pretty horizontal spread. Probably laying up for himself, but let's see...

croquets yellow up the lawn a couple of yards to wired spot, and will be laying up for himself. No sextuples from Mr Bamford this evening

In the plate final (hopefully single game), James' black clip has departed from hoop 6, and he currently has 3back surrounded by all the balls. It looks like we're going to have a good old NSL

Rob lifts the ball from the peg and is taking the defensive shot. Not the best boundary at the venue, but might be ok in lawn

Rob lifts the ball from the peg and is taking the defensive shot. Not the best boundary at the venue, but might be ok in lawn

Flicks red! - just saw it moving a bit. Rather handy not rushing it off the south boundary this time.

Rob's through 1, but struggling for control -plays a thick takeoff moving red in from the east boundary to hoop 4, and nearly cross-wires himself. Will need to approach 2 from well east..now has a 4 foot hoop 2. C'mon Rob!

Hoop 3 pioneer well north too.

Runs it off the north boundary. Feeling a bit sheepish to be the only one applauding that!

Luc is bravely occupying Rob's seat at the moment, and is claiming Rob and Chris are going to stop at hoop 5(!!)) Getting rather sheepish when challenged to explain why. Very lovely chap though, so happy to let Rob continue and then heckle him further.

Makes 4, rushes red into corner 4. Blue and yellow are at hoop 5, and the take off suggests... he'll be stopping after making hoop 5!

Luc feeling a lot cleverer now - he was reporting Chris's plans - and accurately. Yellow on the back of hoop 5, blue and black tight in corner 2, and the clip is on hoop 5 :-)

Reg lifts yellow, and is taking the short lift from B baulk - after putting the lawn back together from where Ben ploughed it in game 2!

Hits black.

(this is turn 7)

Reg got a cannon, left black near corner 2, rushed blue down to 3 yards north and a little west of corner 1, and laid a rush for Ben (for 1back) to blue.

8. Rob shoots black at blue.. misses.

Ben has been sent out to make some hoops

Rob's shot hilled a bit, but it was a very long shot, which started straight.

9. Ben has a 4 foot backward takeoff to 1back, and a good ball at 2b. Plays the takeoff well, and is away again.

Setting up for a spread, but he has run 3back horribly. It's playable, but now through all that far and currently he is looking at a sweep. Ian Vincent adjudicating

Plays the stroke as a sweep... and misses!
Black (Rob) has a 2 yarder, Blue has a 6 yarder. Chris won't be taking this shot! Red is now on 4back and Blue and Yellow on 1

10. Rob's got a referee on as he's got the peg in play of his swing. All ok though.

James Hopgood finishing off to win the plate!!!

He did wander past after getting to the peg with the best attempt at peeling being an attempted 1foot rushpeel that didn't, and muttered "rubbish" to Mrs Fulford. Susan, unperturbed, just told him 'I wasn't watching'. Am sure James feels loved. (we are sitting at A baulk of james' lawn!

Rob's setting up for the TPO

he'll have a long approach to hoop 5, and red has headed towards corner 3, so a bit of work to do

James pegs out to huge applause - wins the Plate event having won all his games

Rob approaches 5 with a very deep reception ball - now has a 6-7 yarder pointing at the north boundary

Rushes blue off the middle of North boundary

James "I haven't done a TP since Tuesday!" looks fairly pleased though

Has a cut rush on red - great shot puts it 2 feet in front of 4back.

Has a cut rush on red - great shot puts it 2 feet in front of 4back.

Has a cut rush on red - great shot puts it 2 feet in front of 4back.

oops - got three copies of that comment - he just played the one rush!

Jawses red getting a good rush to 6, which he rushes well south - might put this to 1back given that blue is still near the middle of the north boundary.

Nice hoop approach putting yellow a foot from 1back, and runs the hoop into the yardline area. 3 yarder on blue, which he hits in the middle

Takes off and rush-peels red - this will go to 2back and the TPO is well under way

Nice croquet stroke getting a 3 yard north pioneer at 2back. Makes 1back, roquets yellow, swaps yellow and blue and blue's going to 3back.

Will be handy if he can rush back and peel red, and remember it's Reg who will be left on the lawn. I wonder if Reg and Ben can be as patient as Chris and Rob were in the previous game. Or maybe he'll just play some majestic croquet strokes and win straight away?

Doesn't run 2b very well and has a rush to the end of A baulk. That's enough to draw Chris out of the clubhouse for a closer look

Red to penult going to blue which is a really good pioneer at 3back

Red has gone a couple of yards north and a bit east of penult, not a bad place, but he'll be wanting a rush out of 3b

Doesn't make Ben's mistake at 3back and he has a cut northish which he hits very well, but it cannons centre-ball into red - didn't deserve that. Red now about 4 yards north of penult.

Wee takeoff - rushes to a yard north of penult - lovely peel to about 4 feet north east of rover. Has a long rush to 4b, and now a backwards takeoff and a 1 yard straight hoop

Smoothly through off the lawn. Now has a 5 yard return. Luc "It went all the way to the Travelodge!"

Misses the return roquet to the middle of south boundary. Ben clutches Reg's shoulder in excitement.

This should be an easy finish for Reg for the title.

Reg lifts yellow, takes contact from blue, takeoff to red - gets a rush pointing sideways! - won't be desperately happy with that, but he should cope

This is turn 11.

It is 7pm, and i'm still not in Glasgow.

Rushes red off the east boundary level with hoop 4, and will be taking off to black

Great takeoff and he has rushed to hoop 1.

Blue's 3 yards north of hoop 6, and red is still on the boundary level with 4

Runs the hoop and rushes towards corner 4, chips black in to hoop 4 and gets a rush towards the north boundary. Should be all over now.

Through 2, has a rush to 3, and it's raining.

Reg is still going, has peeled rover. Making 6 now

And it's all over- Reg pegging out from a yard.

Reg Bamford (SA) and Ben Rothman (USA) beat Robert Fulford (ENG) and Chris Clarke (NZ) 2-1 to win the Open Doubles Championship

About a dozen frozen people have remained. David Goacher has also won something - Z ko?. Ollie Chapman having a good time with Dave Maugham.