Game 1

1. Stephen to E Boundary
2. Dave to just outside Corner II
3. Stephen hits partner from A baulk, sets up quite diagonal DSL
4. Dave misses short shot

5. Stephen picks up the break.

The lawn was timed at 12 seconds at 9am this morning, but unfortunately it's a bit more overcast than the past two days, so may not get quite as fast as it did yesterday.

... For some reason Stephen has left an oppo ball in corner II after 1-back. Not sure what leave is coming here. He looks to be going to 3-back, rather than 4-back.

... Ah, apparently he got to a position at 2-back where he couldn't play for a rush towards corner IV, and instead opted to rush to corner II. So he had put partner in corner II, but has now swapped it around.

... So we have red just out of corner II (on N boundary), blue in corner IV, yellow 10 yards N of blue, and black in corner III. Black is for 3-back, everything else for hoop 1.

6. Dave lifts R from II. Starts from K, and takes off down the line to Y, but doesn't get a good rush. Take off to U is a foot short, but plays a good cut to 4 yards from straight in front of hoop 1, but fails the hoop.

7. Stephen has a shot with his hoop 1 ball from near 2 at partner in corner III. Misses.

8. Dave has a target (with a foot hole) from yellow at U and K, but is looking at what target R would have from N boundary. Obviously likes the look of that, and runs hoop 1 hard.

... Hits U. Doesn't have much space, so some work to do to pick up the break.

... Does that, but then promptly fails hoop 3.

9. Stephen hits his one-yarder, and plays the one croquet stroke he'll need to pick this break up. Rushes partner to hoop 1, with Y at 2 and R at 3.

... no rush after 1, takes off to the ball at 2, comes back after 2. Send yellow tight to hoop 4 (?), rushes partner N and sends it 3 yards N of hoop 4, Gets a forward rush from hoop 3 so should get his QP started from here.

... sorry for the break in commentary. Despite my best endeavours to be able to concentrate on this, my oppo forced me into a TPO....

Stephen finished his QP with what looked to me to be minimal fuss.

Game 2

1. Dave plays U (!) to E boundary (not sure how far N)
2. Stephen Y 10 yard duffer
3. Dave misses long shot from corner III
4. Stephen hit, had leave
5. Dave misses.
6. Picks up break, but grovels through 1 and shoots at partner near corner III. Hits. Should go around from here. I'll go and see what my oppo has done with his contact.

... Disappointingly, my oppo appears to be finishing from the contact.

... Stephen breaks down at 1-back

7. Dave picks up break, looks to be popping Y.

... fails the pop of Y before 4, but leaves himself a 4 yarder, which is tries to hit gently and misses.

8. Y runs hoop 1, misses 6 yarder at K into IV.

9. U continues its break. Has a POP on Y after 1-back. He has the parity to leave R in corner II, Y in III (or E boundary 7-10 yards S of III, K in IV and U in I).

... runs 2-back with no wire and has a long rush back. Rushes R off W boundary around peg high. Rolls it to near II (looks about 2 yards towards 2 from II).

... as expected, K goes into IV after 3-back. Y is rushed off boundary about 10 Y south of III, and U into corner I. I'm a bit surprised that he didn't take off from Y to R to put it on the boundary.

10. Stephen races onto the lawn, plays a thick take of from K in IV going to U in I. Hits U and now looks around the lawn(?)

... plays a thin takeoff (moving U 1 yard) going to R near II. Does look to have tried for a rush. Lays R a rush to 1-back.

11. K misses U

12. Stephen starts his break from 1-back. Wants an NSL but only just gets through 3-back.

... has to hit partner first, rolls it to E boundary for NSL, rushes K south(?) to what looks like a difficult place to send it towards the W of the lawn whilst getting a rush on U.

... doesn't get a good rush on U, has a bit of a cut-rush which doesn't go well. Is 2 yards W of 3-back, which few attractive options available.

... decides that the best option is to try to place it into NSL position anyway... and does!

... So that was. 12. Stephen starts his break from 1 back and has an NSL with parity you'd expect.

13. Dave misses shot lift.

14. Stephen gets a 2 yard rush to hoop 3 on partner, having sent another ball up to 4-back. Plays that rush well and has a standard TP.

... first peel done, all looks under control but he has a hoop 5 which needs some press-ups, but it looks straight forward enough. Grovels through has has to hit a hampered shot with a sweep.

... penult peel before 4-back rejects so another straight double required.

... opts to rush peel it after 4-back, but it goes through by 6 yards. He either now has to take off back to his ball at penut (which is 2 yards S of penult), of stop peelee to rover and have a long return.

... He plays the stop shot, leaving himself a 4-yarder, and R 3 yards N of rover. Hits K half-ball, which is good enough.

... straight rover peel sticks. The jump doesn't get enough height, and promotes R through, but doesn't get through the hoop.

15. Dave has a straight forward pickup for a standard TP.

... which he finishes without anything happening which was worth writing about. +3tp

Game 3.

1. Stephen K to E boundary level with hoop 5

2. Y to corner II.
3. U at K.
4. R hits double from III.
5. Approaches 1, but runs it to peg high; misses partner in corner II.

6. K (by hoop 1), hits in corner II, rushes to 1, makes the hoop, takes off behind U, rushes that to N of 2, gets a rush on R and approaches the hoop. Y is 7 yards S of 3, but that should be good enough for a break. Stephen has played to go to 3-back in the last two games.

... break to 4-back this time. K (for 4b) in corner III. Y (for hoop 1) 2 yards E of corner IV. R (for hoop 2) in corner II. U (for hoop 1) peg high on E boundary.

7. Dave takes off with R from K to partner in II, but misses.
8. Stephen misses his 17 yard shot with U at R.

9. Dave picks up the break, looking like a TPO

... fails hoop 3.

10. Stephen has a shot roquet, promotes R out of hoop 3, rushes it to hoop 2, and then takes off to Y for a rush to 1 (!?) Rushing R through 3 to Y looks like it would have been easier.

... however, he copes and now has a standard TP

... rush peeled 4-back before 3, penult after 3, rover before 3-back and pegged out from 3 yards.

+24tp

After Game 3, Stephen Mulliner leads +24qp, -3tp +24tp

Play will now stop for lunch, which is a roast rack of beef, complete with excellent yorkshire puddings.

Plate fans will want to know that the Swiss knockout draw was seeded based on swiss-results, and had four players with a combined handicap of -3 in the top half, and -6.5 in the bottom half. The semi-finals are Joel Taylor v Chris Farthing, and Alain Giraud v Christian Carter.

Game 4

1. Dave plays K(!) to max distance on boundary

2. Y 10.5 yard duffer.
3. U takes the long shot from III. Centre ball, rushes it to corner IV.

... plays a big roll, putting K defensive, but sends it off.

4. Stephen has a double from B baulk, with the balls 7 and 10 yards away. Hits, run a 1-yard hoop 1, and should go round.

... break entirely under control, but fails 1-back from nowhere, walking into the shot.

5. Dave has an easy pickup. The crowd want an SXPO, but I'm sure we'll see some POPs.

... hoop 1 jawsed before 5, and rush peeled afterwards.

... but fails hoop 6.

The hoop setter is claiming a victory, but also the sun has come out so the lawn will be playing faster and more solidly than this morning.

6. Stephen has an easy pick up for R, and I suspect will be going to 4-back.

... diagonal spreadl; U aout 4 yards SW of 2, K 4 feet from the peg. Joined about level with hoop 5.

U is for hoop 1; K for 6; Y for 2; R for 4-back.

Dave takes K to B baulk for the long lift at R&Y. Misses, by not very much.

It's not clear where Stephen's rush is pointing, but he's been on a tour of E boundary to look.

8. Stephen gets R to 2 yards N of 6, and a 4-yard roll up to hoop 2. Approaches well, and assuming he makes hoop 3 will have a delayed TP to win the match.

... underapproaches 3, and has an angled hoop. Runs it by a few inches.

... hits is hampered stroke with another sweep.

... Peels 4-back before six.

... Penult peel attempt before 4-back misses the hoop compeltely, and hits the 4-back pioneer. Plays a good approach to 4-back.

... Good rush of peelee to have 2-foot penult peel, which goes through nicely by 11 yards

... Four foot straight rover peel. Needs a bit of grass to hold the balls in contact.

... Peel goes through cleanly, to 2 yards from S boundary. Nice rush to the peg for a 5 foot peg out.

Stephen Mulliner +24qp -3tp +24tp +21tp

Full results for all events are on the CA Website.