Morning all,

Once again I've forsaken the excitement of the opening half hour in favour of sitting in a column of traffic on the M6.

It's Singles Day again today, and we have a rerun of the World Championship Final on Lawn 2 - that's Mulliner - Maloof if you need to be told.

Mark Ormerod is playing Robert Hurst on Lawn 1, David Walters faces Stuart Lawrence on 4, and Jeff Soo is playing Samir Patel on 3.

As I came down the drive, Mulliner was taking a rush to 1 with Maloof's yellow clip on 2. Ten minutes later, Maloof is rushing yellow to 3, and there are two clips on 2 (a red and blue, I think, but it's a long way distant so I'm unsure)

Ormerod is wirebound at hoop 2 with black and is pondering whether to try the shot. Red and Yellow are joined at 3 and Blue is off the boundary at 4. Irwin's refereeing... and he's through by a few inches.

He shoots at the nearer ball (red) and rushes it to yellow on the boundary. Jolly good.

Walters is for 4 against Lawrence. Nowt else has started, so you've not missed much action there.

Samir was chatting to me as I set up, which gives a clue to his game so far - Soo's had all the lawn time, though I'm puzzled as to what the two of them have been doing with it. Soo approaches hoop 2 with the forward ball.

Today is a different day from yesterday. That's often the case, I find. But - specifically - the weather is fine. It was insipidly sunny at home first thing (that's 30 mile west on the coast), and I guess all that sunshine will get blown eastwards during the morning.

People are wearing shorts, though there's a cooling breeze. A chilling breeze.

Essick, Hurst, and their supporters are sitting outside the tent. I'm the only one under cover, which shows some local knowledge of the changeability of weather conditions in an English summer.

Ormerod wriggles through hoop 5, and recovers fine. Partner ball is down at 2b, and there's no indication of unsteadiness in the break.

Maloof is approaching 3b, with no clue as to his intended leave. There's a ball near penult and one adrift from hoop 2.

Soo's just run 6, and Walters is laying up with an NSL - a proper one with oppo on the wire of hoop 4 (yellow) and vaguely up on the west boundary (red)

Last night's leftover doubles game went on as I was leaving (about 6 o'clock). A TPO, which finished about two hours later. The local Thai restaurant was booked for 8.30, so that all seemed to go to the desired schedule.

I don't like to use the word ragged to describe Maloof's leave. He's finally got something which gives (a) Mulliner a long shot, and (b) a chance of progressing if he misses. Black is on the west boundary, blue is a couple of yards from the peg, red and yellow have a rush in. So basically a diagonal spread, but with blue wide open.

Mulliner declines the lift, shooting blue at red/yellow from where it lies. He misses. A good result for David.

Walters has approached hoop 1, not got position, and is joining up on the east boundary. Yellow and Red are at hoops 1&2.

Ormerod has laid what I'm calling a Thursday-morning Standard Leave. Same as Maloof's but his balls rolled into corner 4 a yard apart with no rush. Hurst lifts the sort-of-near-the-peg ball and takes the short shot from A-baulk.

A miss.

Jeff Soo has just sat down in the tent, with a bottle of smoothie (pink flavour) and a scone from Tesco's Bakery. I'm very impressed with Stuart Lawrence, who seemed to be enjoying drinking tea yesterday. I think the US team are starting to turn Anglicised.

You'll judge from that that Patel is in play. Soo reached 4b with black, and Samir has a red clip. He's going towards hoop 2.

The clouds are like in a Constable painting, if there are any art historians reading. I wouldn't be surprised if there's rain again, as it's still cold and a bit grey. Some brightness over my right shoulder, so it all depends on which way the wind's blowing.

Ormerod has an all-round break with black from 1 to 2. He's drawn yellow into play, but red's still in corner 4. He's laid up behind hoop 2 with a rush in, and Hurst is taking a shot at him.

Hurst misses into corner 2. A negative position, and Mark will need some work to progress.

David Maloof has two balls up at 4b. His split after hoop 5 snicks the peelee, nudging it a ball's width. It's still in position. He jawses the peel.

Ormerod has a good stop approach from yellow in corner 2, but splats the blue into the hoop. Hurst hits length of the lawn and is in corner 4 with partner. Blue and Black are around hoop 2. I can't see whether blue's rushable to hoop 1.

I've seen very little of Robert's play. It's either been raining and he's been on a distant lawn, or I've arrived late and been distracted by something else. I don't think he's had much chance to build up momentum so far, so we'll see what he does with this.

He has a 45 degree cut to 1, and gets it 3 yards behind the hoop. Good effort. Spanks through the hoop, getting control. A three-ball break, with the fourth ball far enough out of corner 4 to pick up by blasting through hoop 4.

Walters is walking off the lawn with clips on 1b and penult. Balls are everywhere. I think he's peeled blue through 4b, left it near the boundary, had some sort of 1b fail, and allowed Stuart a shot at him. Stuart's just hit that and he has a ball at hoop1.

The game I should have been watching, but haven't, is Patel vs Soo. Samir is having a TPO on Black. A lot of technical lining up around rover.

... and the game that I was watching, but then looked away from, has had a development. Hurst's yellow clip is on hoop 2, and Ormerod has taken back the innings.

Samir puts his yellow level with hoop 4, blue is idling somewhere off A-baulk. Red is in corner 2.

Maloof is having a straight double to finish. The first peel is good.

Ormerod is trying to get some progress, with oppos near corners 1 and 4. He just needs a roll from corner 4 to hoop 4 and it'll look more assured.

Lawrence has reached 1b.

Soo has parked his blue in front of hoop 1. Yellow is some way beyond and wired. Red remains in corner 2. Patel shoots yellow into corner 4

A good hoop 1 from Soo, who snicks some right wire to land two yards from red in corner 2.

There's a nice smell of toast this morning, and I can't tell where it's coming from. I could do with a coffee, but there's no spectators nearby.

Wixy, who must be psychic, has just offered to get one, even as I type this.

Wixy is my new best friend.

There's the first result of the day - Maloof beat Mulliner +25TP

Thanks for the coffee, Wixy.

My mug commemorates the Diamond Jubilee of the Girl Guides Movement 1910-1970. Wixy is amazed by anything that's 46 years old.

Samir is laid in corner 1, with a rush to hoop 1. Soo is virtually in corner 3, with a clip on 3. Soo goes to just out of corner 4.

Lawrence has an NSL against Walters, who's just missed into corner 4.

Ormerod has made it as far as 4b. He should finish this turn on 4b and peg. Hurst is on 1 and 2.

Patel is round to 3, and is having some sort of wired layup.

Samir has hoop 3, and lays up behind hoop 4. Blue is now in corner 3.

Ormerod has reached peg with a diagonal spread.

Walters is back in, taking a cut rush to 1b.

... which goes three feet in front of rover.

I can't believe that was as bad as that, Maybe he was trying to rush to blue, which he's now rolled behind. He'll rush blue to 1b, and he's away. Take off approach from behind the hoop.

Black and blue are 1b and penult. Lawrence is for 1 and 4b

Hurst centre-balls his last lift. He's for 1 and 2, and playing the hoop 1 ball.

Samir is putting some points on the board. He's run hoop 5, hit the peg to deny himself a rush on blue, approached the hoop, and he's two-balling away. Red is behind 2b.

Samir Patel on a two ball break is a great test of my typing skills. This is a very fast turn.

Walters made no progress in that turn. He laid up and Stuart Lawrence shot down to partner near corner 1.

That game is now more interactive than it is interesting.

The problem with a Maugham Standard Leave is that you don't want to stick in 1b. That's where Maloof is - in the jaws with blue and black a yard away, and red a foot from hoop 1.

He's claiming a jam, and Colin Irwin is investigating the clearance.

The grass was cut once again this morning, so the hoops have all been fettled. I heard Ormerod expressing concerns over clearance on Lawn 1. We await the verdict of the referee.

Patel bt Soo +11tpo. A clinical finish in the end.

Referee's verdict: the hoop is good, and Maloof's clip stays on 1b. Mulliner starts an easy break. All other clips still on 1

Hurst has a break, and has just done hoop 4.

Walters has done what I think was a rush peel through penult. Anyway, he's got two clips. Now up at 4b with a peelee down roverwards.

Soo and Patel are back on. Four clip on hoop 1. Jeff's in front, and there's still four clips on hoop 1.

Mulliner's laid up with a sextuple leave.

Hurst has blobbed 3b off oppo. But there are two balls at the peg a foot apart.

Walters bt Lawrence +17. Someone's just asked if this was the first game. Yes.

Maloof misses into the third corner. Let's see what the World Champ makes of this.

Ormerod is playing ultra-defensively by rolling partner to the boundary after 4b. He's not yet got a rush to penult, but there's a yellow ball at the peg which is begging to be used as a pioneer.

He get's a good rushline but a lousy rover pioneer.

The rover pioneer (red) is on the hoop 1 / hoop 2 line. Blue is just off the boundary by hoop 4. He's having to take off to it from mideast boundary

Begrudgingly, I'd have to say that takeoff was OK. A good recovery from the difficult position he gave himself.

And now there's a straight rush to rover, but he's put blue safe again, this time on the west boundary.

Mulliner has the second peel going to a very shallow hoop 5 pioneer. He rushes that to 5 and has a press-up to check the line. The fourth ball is somewhere a bit inland from 3b, and that's his escape ball / pioneer to 6

Ormerod's now lining up a five yard pegout. He's called Colin on to umpire it.

Ormerod bt Hurst + 16

Actually +15, Jeff Soo tells me. Yellow's clip was misplaced.

No 3b peel from Mulliner yet. He's going to have to roll it through going to red, which is more or less peg-high and his 1b pioneer. Blue goes through as far as the peg, and Stephen has to scoop off 1b. This now looks like a break.that a layperson might recognise.

Mulliner runs 2b, and rushes yellow into the jaws of penult. Blue and Red are both up near 4b, but neither has a controlled position. He wants to rush blue in, peel it now, and rush red down the lawn to 3b. The rush is OK, and he's picking his rush position.

Blue is either through or not through. From this position it's impossible to tell. Worst case scenario - blue's in the jaws.

Blue was through. He's rushed it towards penult and he's taking a rush on yellow back to 4b. Straight double to finish.

Hurst is still struggling to get his rhythm. He's in the jaws of 2 with a break in front of him. Ormerod can't see him, so has joined up near hoop 4. Hurst runs 2 and shoots at partner at 3. A good hit. All other clips are on hoop 1.

Maugham and Rothman are about to start on Lawn 2 with second colours. Or second colors, if you prefer.

Wixy and Essick have just begun on Lawn 3.

A tricky final peel from Mulliner. Long and wide, and he jawses it. A sharp intake of breath from your commentator, as he jumps it and scrapes the top of the blue. Black falls through the hoop, and he's an ugly bit of promoting to do if he's going to have this.

I think Blue hasn't even entered the jaws. Ooh, that was a good shot.

There you go - Mulliner bt Maloof + 20SXP.

After Hurst hit that long shot, he pulled out the break. He's just run 5 and has control.

Rothman has had a supershot opening. Maugham went east, and Rothman has missed him from B-baulk.

Walters has YET ANOTHER Maugham Standard Leave. Lawrence this time lifts the ball at hoop 4, takes the long shot and hits. He's through hoop 1.

Maugham hits on the fourth turn.

Soo is on 1 & 3, Patel is on a triple. The first peel is jawsed and he's picking balls up around hoop 4. He's just leathered a ball through 4 to the boundary, and taken the rush back up the lawn to 4b.

A hiatus in the Wixy / Essick game, as they wait for the double banked black to get peeled through.

Maugham fails hoop 1 and Rothman joins up at hoop 2.

Rothman is now taking off to Maugham in corner 4. Advantage USA.

Hurst went to 4b with a diagonal spread. Ormerod missed and Hurst is doing OK.

Just snicks his rush to 3.

Rothman is hampered after 1.

Oh. Missed that. Patel bt Soo +24tp

Stuart Lawrence has done a leave, and Walters is taking the long lift. Black and Yellow are on 4b. Walters misses.

Wicks is in play against Essick. Matt was on 1 & 4, but Wixy has peeled the hoop 1 ball to 3. Wixy is now approaching 2b.

I think I'll take lunch. Chili con carne.

Yum yum.

I'm back, with a big bowl of chocolate gateau.

Mulliner has just this second done the first peel of the next sextuple.

Maugham has just hit Rothman's diagonal spread.

Hurst has quit the lawn with clips on 3b and 4b. There are three balls around 3b

Mulliner rush peels 2b before 5

Wixy has jawsed his penult peel on the way to 1b. Matt Essick has already broken for lunch.

Mulliner peels 3b VERY cleanly. He nearly has 3b and 4b in the same stroke. It's just as well the black snicks the outer edge of 4b, as it was heading straight off the lawn.

Mulliner now running 1b with two balls at 4b

A facepalm from Wicks. He walks off the lawn and has a drink of water. He takes off his sweater. We can't figure this out.

I think he's found himself croqueting the peelee from well behind rover and needing to get back up to penult. He smacks into the peg on his take off, and gets...

YES! - a loud shout and clenched fist from Mulliner.

... an open shot at green. All back to normal. He makes penult and peels rover. White wriggles through and is still in the jaws. He need a jump

I think this'll work if he can rush white through 5 to the peg.

Instead he cannons it away (not well), and leaves balls everywhere. He says something a bit sweary, and hits the fourth ball. Back in control and that's...

Wicks bt Essick +21TP

Lots of on-schedule peeling from Mulliner, but now he's committed to a straight double again.

The peel only reaches the peg. Some interaction between Maugham (white) and Mulliner (blue), as Maugham goes north up the middle while Mulliner rushes down to rover.

Stephen gets a bad clang on the peel. Black stops a foot wide of rover. He runs with blue. Yellow is somewhere up at the peg, so there might be a respectable B-spread here.

Duh! It's a contact, isn't it?

He leaves red and yellow six yards apart near corner 4, with red a bit in. Black is in corner 2. Blue is in corner 3.

Maloof is for 1 and 1.

Wixy and Patel are taking issue with some of my reporting. I might have inadvertently implied that Samir's excellent defensive leave last night was a "rough old OSL".

To catch up on Wixy's facepalm - he'd tried to get a tight rush on partner, but dribbled into contact with it. Everything I said after that was factually accurate.

Maloof takes off from corner 3, gets a rush on partner, makes hoop 1, and is hampered.

Ormerod went to 4b with a spread. Hurst hit and is taking a rush to 4b. His other ball is on 3b.

Maughamsy is popping Rothman's green through hoop 1 on the way to 5. DBM's other ball is for 2.

Maloof is heaving black out of corner 2 as he approaches hoop 2. I think that's short, and his hand gesture confirms it.

While I continue to insist that my reporting is 100% accurate, Maugham was popping green on the way to rover, not 5. I assume it's a TPO, as he lays up in corners 3 & 4.

Hurst makes penult and gets hampered. He takes corner 4. Ormerod has a midlawn six yarder.

Ormerod hits with his 4b ball. He's for 1 & 4b. Hurst is now for 3b and rover.

Rothman has rolled pink and white in, so that they're both in the areas of 2 and 3. He's stuck somewhere where he can't run his hoop and can't take position. He's triangling to middle of the north boundary, but he ricichets off hoop 2 and joins with pink. Maugham has a two yard rush to hoop 2, with white on the north boundary about three yards from corner 2.

Ormerod is off with his backward ball. Cannon out of corner 4, and he's just run hoop 2.

Maloof has run hoop 3 too hard, and missed a return roquet on Mulliner's blue. He's widely split, so Stephen will join up in corner 4.

... or just hit centre ball.

Stephen is playing his peg ball, and is looking for a position where red and yellow are wired across the lawn. This is looking bad for the US, who can't afford to concede another match.

Rothman and Maugham are luncheoning, so Maloof marks green. He's shooting at his partner, so I guess it must be unwired. He's looking at it... but it misses.

Mulliner beats Maloof +23, and I think that's all over.

I've checked my summary screen, and - yes - it says that GB have so far won one test match in this event. So the hosts retain the Solomon Trophy.

No peeling from Ormerod on Lawn 1, and he runs 2b. Partner clip is on 4b so he shoves his blue up there. I doubt he'll do the flamboyant straight triple finish, even though the event's won.

Matt Essick is standing outside the clubhouse eating a bowl of something. Possibly apple crumble. He had been on the lawn, but there are too many balls in positions I don't like - there's a clip on 3 and a clip on penult. Black is in the jaws of penult with all the balls somewhere in the penult-peg corridor. The red and yellow clips (which I think are Wicks's) are on hoop 1.

Wixy's back from lunch. Will he have black off?

Yeah. Not much doubt of that. He needs a 12 hoop break with one peel, as the penult rush peel is already his.

Ormerod goes to peg leaving yellow near 3b (its hoop), red (for rover) near the peg, and rolling his two balls off 7 yards apart near corner 2.

Hurst is making the spectators scatter from the bench that's immediately beyond his shot. He's shooting the peg ball at black, and cuts it along the boundary towards blue in corner 2.

Wixy already on 1b, with black in front of rover.

I've been corrected by one of Robert Hurst's interfering spectators. He didn't ask them to move from his line - he asked them to move the teacup which was sat on the grass behind his shot.

Wixy had the rover peel on the way to 2b. He's running 4b off partner.

Matt Essick is a great one for whistling. He seems to do this while he's in play, and I can hear him as he's sat just along from me waiting for Wixy to give him the contact.

The wind is blowy, and it may rain in the next half hour.

It's getting cold again.

Hurst shuffled some balls around. Ormerod missed. Hurst shuffled balls again, and failed rover off Ormerod's peg ball. He probably can't see it, so he may join in corner 2. Yellow is in corner 1.

Whistlin' Matt Essick has his contact. He's for 3 and there's a ball in corner 4 and one level with hoop 2 on the west boundary. He's taking off from that one to the corner ball.

Maugham is back from the lunch break. He takes a rush towards corner 2 / white / his hoop.

It's raining, and I've put my coat on.

Some rolling around on Lawn 3. Essick has cornered at his hoop, leaving Wixy's red and yellow about 12 yards apart on either side of hoop 2.

Ormerod rolls behind 4b, leaving Hurst a long shot to join. He feathers the hit in, to applause from the Americans.

Wixy has wide join near hoop one. Essick takes the corner-to-corner at the peg ball, and misses narrowlyish.

I guess there's been a failed TP from Lawrence on Lawn 4, as there are clips on 3b and rover. Walters has the same clippage, but he's in play, and with a peelee placed at rover.

Maugham is on a finishing turn at 3b with everything in front of him.

Walters is for rover and rover with partner in the jaws.

Wixy is for 3 and Matt is running from corner to corner.

Wixy in no rush to finish, and turns down his five yarder in favour of douring into corner 1.

And Matt hits from corner 2 to corner 3. Now he's having a roll to his hoop (3).

Maugham finishes against Rothman with +12TPO

And Walters beats Lawrence. No news yet of the score

Essick has got to hoop 5, and is back in corner 2 (his favourite). Wixy has 3 and rushes to 4.

Ormerod by Hurst + 6.

Scrappy.

Robert's been hitting well in the second half of that, but not able to capitalise on his positions. Both players nearly playing well, but not quite.

Walters's score was +7TP against Stuart Lawrence.

Jeff Soo is now practising on Lawn 1. It's 13-3 to GB now, and the Brits are a game up in the remaining two singles today.

Wixy is for 6 against 5. He has a tight rush to 6, wired by hoop 4 from corner 3.

Matt goes to corner 4, and Wixy runs 6, rolling to corner 2.

Rothman's having the first break against Maugham.

Essick is now in corner 3 with Wicks somewhere behind 1b. I guess he's wired. It's still 5 (blue) vs 1b (yellow) and peg (red)

I had an email last night from a Mr C Clarke of Christchurch NZ.

He asks who I'd choose for the England MacRobertson Shield Team next year.

The last three days have been more of a test of stamina than usual, and the weather's been shocking. But my assessment is -

I'd regard Mulliner, Patel and Maugham as automatic picks. Samir's been very impressive, and Stephen - well, he's playing like a World Champion. Dave's play hasn't been error-free, but his ball control is as good as it ever was.

David Walters, as a Welshman, wouldn't be in the frame for selection, but I wouldn't be upset to see Wicks on the list. There's a crowded field for those last three places, and I guess Burch and Death would be on the list.

...Wixy has just had 3b, with Matt in corner 2. He's rolled to the boundary by 4b.

Matt's taking the cross-court shot, but he's running out of time to get back in this game.

It's a miss.

Back to Chris Clarke's question.

The US team would be interesting. They're on home soil for the Mac. I'd be surprised to see a team without Matt Essick - he's 17 and still improving, and I'll be interested to see his progress at next week's Open Championship at Cheltenham. He's the only one to take a match off Patel.

Stuart Lawrence has played well. His match against Ormerod yesterday went for eight hours (with stoppages), but he hits well, takes balls round and score triples. A few mistakes, but some of that may be due to the horrible conditions.

Jeff Soo and David Maloof make a -

Hang on. Wixy clanged 4b, and Matt's back in. He crashed through hoop 5, and has all three lawns in play. He needs to roll off 5 and he's back in this.

Both of the other balls are on the east side of hoop6, so he needs to get a decent rush to 1b

• I was just saying that Soo and Maloof are strong. Ditto Rothman. With Danny Huneycutt, that's a fairly solid six.

But what do I know?

Matt has a ball tight on 3b, and he approaches 2b. He nearly overhits the approach, but it's good.

Wixy is sat alone at the far end of the lawn, studying his phone.

A big round of applause - Matt Essick bt Jack Wicks +5

I'm talking to Quiller Barrett, the President of the CA, who's just arrived, and have only just noticed another TPO. Maugham has just had Rothman off again. Green, again, is for hoop 2 and pink is for 1.

Rothman makes 2, rolls to three and splats into the wire.

Maugham is for 2 against Rothman for 3.

Maugham is now in with a break. He runs 4.

WIcks bt Essick +26tp

Maugham bt Rothman + 11TPO

Sorry I didn't see much of that Wicks game, but that's it for the day. Three doubles tomorrow, and then all is finished.