Hello from West Palm Beach, Florida, on day for of the Association Croquet World Champs. Day four is playoff day, and we have two playoffs, and two pegged down block games that will determine if there are further playoffs required.

I've got a very comfy spot with a little breeze, overlooking lawn 2 which is where we have a straight playoff from block E between Australian Kevin Beard and American Jim Bast. Both lovely chaps, so my loyalties here are completely divided.

I can't remember how to do bold or italics etc, so if someone can flick me an email at physjcw@gmail.com, that's be handy. Also happy to pass on messages to players and answer any (almost!) questions.

The players are currently just finishing their warm-up. Single banked on lawn two. There is a huge sandy patch near corner three...there is some sort of mold issue I believe which the sand helps, and it makes the ground smoother, but these huge sandy areas are a bit scary to play over!

The toss...Kevin wins the toss, takes play, Jim opts for blue and black. Tony Hall has arrived as referee for the lawns in this area.

1. Kevin plays red 10 yards north of corner 4
Kevin is in a smart black fedora getting good protection in this wonderful Florida weather, also a couple of wrist supports.

2. Jim shoots over the sand from corner three with black, missing to just out of corner four

Jim's in dark blue USCA shorts, a white wide brimmed "Tilly" hat and two black golf gloves. He was number eight seed in block E...he was also in the US team in the last MacRobertson Shield...tough block that one.

3. Kevin takes the short shot with yellow, hitting a good chunk of black. Croquets it between the peg and hoop two, and sets up with red on eat boat having a rush on yellow pointing at black.

4. Jim looked at taking the long shot...nope, shoots from north boundary at black, nails it! Quality start. Black is now between one and five. Takes off to red and yellow. Reaches the yard line...that was tight!

Rushes yellow to hoop 1...approaches...has a peek...bounces out of 1!

5. Kevin hits with yellow, croquets black towards hoop 2 going to partner, partner to well south of hoop 3, rushes to 1...and he's through.

Sorry for the slightly vague commentary.... the lovely Ted Salter just appeared with a computer for me!! And it's a Mac - very scary piece of technology, but now we are set.

Right... Kevin made 1, plays a lovely croquet stroke sending out a good hoop 3 pioneer and getting to red over in the north east corner of the lawn with a rush back to the centre of the lawn. Takes off to get a rush on black, and will be away with a decent shot here. Rushes it to 4 feet south of hoop 2. Very nice approach to get a 1 foot slightly angled hoop which he runs through to the boundary. Didn't look the most confident of hoop strokes, but made sure of it. Now has a 4 yarder back which he makes look easy. And it's a 4 ball break.

Meanwhile.. Ian Dumergue has gone to the peg without getting his rover peel, so he's set up in corner 2 on peg and rover, Dan takes the long lift down the east boundary. This match is a pegged down block game. Ian winning puts him through, Ian losing brings Robert Wilkinson and Steve Jones into a playoff. Not only do I have Ted's computer, but he's sitting here with binoculars being incredibly helpful! Dan has hit with his 3back ball and his other clip is on three.

In the other pegged down game, Chris Patmore had a dream start with Ian having failed 2back in the gloom two days ago with Chris on penult and 1. Chris is now approaching 1-back having peeled partner to rover. Through one-back with everything in good order and peelee two feet through penult. Ted has a big interest in this game as Patmore winning earns Ted a playoff for the last block plate with Ian Lines (Chris's current opponent).

Meanwhile Kevin has just approached 4 to a bit angled, forces it through, but the break is looking rather ragged from where we left it - red is 9 yards south of hoop 3, and blue is pretty much between the peg and hoop 5 (it's the hoop 5 pioneer). Doesn't get a rush out of 4, but plays another beautiful roll getting a really good hoop 6 pioneer and a rush on red to closer to blue. Now has a 4 foot rush pointing pretty much straight at hoop 5... hits it well, and he's back to having a tidy four ball break.

Rhys Thomas is here today. He has been working incredibly hard at the PGA venue setting hoops, fixing holes in the ground and refereeing. I first met him in 2000 when the Oxford University croquet club came on tour around California - brilliant trip (Thanks Ian Plummer!!) - Rhys got us into a live recording of Who's Line is it Anyway, and we were generously hosted by several croquet clubs.

Back to 2016 and Kevin still has a nice break. Chris Patmore has run 2back and will be trying to peel rover going to a 3back pioneer which is 3 yards WNW of 3b. ... missed the peel onto the wire, but has an ok rush to 3b... rushes it well.

Up in the distance on lawn 4, Pailas has been crouched over a corner 2 cannon for about 10 minutes. I suspect a lot of that is the battle to get the right balls to be in contact - the ground is making it a little difficult to keep balls in contact.

BEARD v BAST: Still turn 5: Black has been left 8 yards south, and slightly west of hoop 2, making 2b off partner with reception ball to the west of the hoop - means he'll be tidying that black up. Blue is a foot north of 3b, so it's pretty much under control.

Thanks for the question James... Chris has retired from singles croquet, and going by the comments of others he is going an excellent job of managing this tournament. The good news is that his back is standing up well to golf and we had a brilliant week in Orlando playing with Ian and Euan Burridge prior to this tournament.

BEARD v BAST: Kevin has run 3b, red and black are each about 2 yards from the peg, taking croquet with blue near 3b ... this will need a couple of good shots to get a decent spread

Now has a 2 yarder on black.. which he hits perfectly - will be a good spread.

PATMORE v LINES: Chris is through 4b, yellow is a foot in front of rover, the manager has advised Ted he'll get a 5 min warmup, as Ian had that prior to resuming his pegged down game, and hasn't had a turn! Tony Hall has just advised that a lot of the issues not the lawns are due to damage from hoop holes. We're moving the hoops fairly frequently and the superhoops have big fins on them.

oops ...that last comment should read "a lot of the issues on the lawns..." - Mac auto correct for ya!

Patmore just has a rover peel to do.

6. BAST lifts black from by the peg and shoots from corner 3 - goes off 5 feet north of corner 4

Kevin pops over to ask me to say hi to Wendy :). Hello also to Ellie - we miss you here.

PATMORE v LINES: straight rover peel from 8 inches dead in front. Patmore lines it up carefully ... Ted is on his feet ... needs this to get a playoff.

BAST "[my lift] started off about 6 inches to the right... probably broke 4 feet" !!

7 BEARD rushes yellow across, croquets it well to hoop 2, but the rush on blue sends it 5 feet NW of hoop 1. Nice takeoff gets a 2 foot straight hoop. Runs it by about 9 yards... has a 6-7 yarder.

DUMERGUE v PAILAS: Pailas fails penult off partner, but with Ian's balls in the vicinity.. probably a 3 yarder.

Patmore still lining up, Dumergue still casting .. hits.

BEARD hits his return, plays another perfect croquet stroke and runs hoop 2 under control with blue a foot right of hoop 3. Taps yellow, probably didn't have the rush to corner 3.. not that I'd want to go into that area with all that sand!

PATMORE successfully negotiates his straight rover peel with an Irish peel, and has rushed to have a 2.5 yard peg out.

DUMERGUE has rushed partner to rover and looks like he has an easy hoop to win and go through to the knockout...picking up the clip. Has rushed to rover.

sorry - rushed to the peg. Lining up a 4 foot peg out. Patmore has pegged out also, so it's a playoff between Lines and Salter.

BEARD v BAST: Turn 7 continues... Beard made hoop 3 and took off down to corner 4, no problems there and now black is 5 feet SE of hoop 5 and he is approaching 4 from a couple of feet. Let's see what sort of rush he gets on partner back to 4back ... it's a 3 harder... our hardworking referee is having a wee nana nap. Hasn't been called into action yet today.

Internet is misbehaving...back to the phone...

Rushes yellow short of the peg, but has played another really nice croquet stroke putting yellow two feet south of 4-back and has a rush on blue pointing at penult. He'll need to cut that north a bit..does, and thick takeoff to hoop 5. Runs 5 too far, but his the turn, means things get messy up at for back. But of a fight with the internet, and missed him failing the peel, but has made six and partner now to two back and it'll be a four ball break to the peg.

testing that internet is back...

Ok, back on a computer.. Kevin has made 1back, rushed towards north boundary and is contemplating putting that to 3b or blue (which is currently next to hoop 6) - I'd be using blue. Yellow is about 4 yards north of 2b though, so blue is handy as a pivot.

First attempt to get a 3b pioneer sees black go 6 feet SSE of rover, we'll have another crack at getting a pioneer...

Blue 5 feet NW of 3b, and a decent rush on yellow to keep things under control at 2b.

It's really nice to know there's some readers out there - thanks folks... sorry for the typos - me and Macs have never seen eye to eye!

That's handy ... LINES v SALTER is on lawn 6 - the layout here, if you're standing at the main doors of the very impressive clubhouse looking forward... to the right and well behind the sides, there is 1,2,3,4 in a line up the side, then 5 next to 4, back towards the clubhouse to 6 and 7 next to that (so these are the two main lawns in front of the club) snaking back out we have 8 , then 9,10,11,12 are back up the lefthand side.

I can try to draw that, not sure how it will come out...

9 7 5 4
10 8 6 3
11 2
12 1

BEARD v BAST turn 7 continued... It looks like Kevin was teasing 4back, but hasn't peeled partner. Or maybe things got messy - I was distracted. Anyway, the upshot is that he has croqueted black to the peg and will be making rover off partner - not ideal, but he might still be able to organise a leave. Croquets yellow into the jaws of rover - shame he hasn't got those first two peels done!

SALTER v LINES: This is also a sudden death playoff, I missed the start, but now we have Ted in play, having evidently made hoop 2, with a slightly wayward hoop 3 pioneer, but he has got a good rush on it with a big croquet stroke which sends a ball to 5 feet NW of hoop 4. The other ball is 8 yards north of the east boundary and a little in, so he's in good nick as he approaches 3 to a really close position. No rush out of the hoop though - it's nervy stuff on playoff day!

There is another match under way: NZ's John Christie v Harry Fisher of England - loser is out and winner goes into a quasi-best-of-three with Spaniard Jose Riva. The format of that is that it's basically a best of three there the winner of Christie/Fisher starts with a 1-0 advantage.

BEARD made penult off blue, croqueted it to the peg, taking black down to rover. Made rover off yellow, running into black, croquets it to a standard position on the west boundary.. went scarily close to the peg from this vantage point (!), and has rushed blue down to level with rover. Croquets it up to 4 yards north-east of the peg and appears to have run into yellow. This is ugly - has to roll off into corner 4, but hoop 4 is well in play of the route the striker's ball will take.

Wee bit of exercise as your commentator jogs on to watch yellow... yellow into corner 4, red whiskers past hoop 4 to go off about 2 yards north of yellow. Not a perfect leave, but perfectly reasonable.

8. BAST lifts blue from east of the peg, shoots at black from B baulk.. hits! Black rushed to the west boundary... long takeoff - that's travelling... well off the lawn.

9. BEARD hits blue, promoting red about 3 yards up the boundary. Probably a bit far given that boundary isn't very good - you really want a lot of control with a dodgy boundary. Plays a very good croquet stroke to get blue about 5 yards into the lawn and north of the line of rover. Decent rush and has an approach to 4back from about a yard to the side. Not happy as yellow sails a bit far south and west, but he has a 2 foot hoop... another uncontrolled hoop (my specialty!), and with a bit of a wick of the wire he now has a sweaty six yarder back at partner. No problem at all! Rushes it to about 5 yards in from the east boundary and between the level of hoop 6 and the peg. Black is only just off the west boundary, and blue is well south, so there's some work still to be done here.

Croquets red as a good rover pioneer, but doesn't get a great rush, and Kevin is approaching penult from just north of 4back. it's a 2 yard very angled hoop. Hands on hips... stalking... swinging...

Maybe not "very" angled, but not nice. Hits the far wire and plops into the middle of the jaws.

10. BAST hits his 2.5 yarder and now has a thickish takeoff sending yellow closer to hoop 3 and gets a cut on the ball at rover towards hoop 1... no - cuts it really well to a couple of yards from black. Black is in from the boundary, but this is an ugly angle to have to play to get a rush to 1 and a pioneer.

SALTER v LINES: Meanwhile, Ted finished that break, and had some sort of standard leave... either spread or NSL... can't tell as Ian left the ball near the west boundary and took the long shot with yellow... missed. Ted now has the long rush to 1.

BAST puts red a few yards west of hoop 2, rushes black to 4 yards north of hoop 1... good takeoff, but fails the 4
foot hoop into the front of the jaws.

11. I got to have a closer look at that ball in hoop 1 as Kevin shoots at black and a hint of blue from hoop 2. Blue is actually on a wire, and I wasn't hanging around as a not-officially-appointed ref for that shot! Kevin shoots.. misses by a bit to the south boundary.

12. BAST has a good look at blue and decides to take the 11 yard pickoff with black at Kevin's peg ball. Misses. Would have had everything for a hit - really good option there.

13. BEARD rushes black to corner 1. Yellow, for penult, has been left north east of penult. Kevin is leaving blue where it is. Tony Hall has taken up an official referee post guarding the lawn, so I'll stay with Ted's computer for now :) Wasn't planning to do anything more than watch stuff being shot at or rolling off lawns.

Kevin has rolled black towards the west boundary level with hoop 2, hits partner and is wiring (hopefully only one!!) ball from black giving himself a rush to penult. (don't worry - Jim is on the edge of the la
wn and not reading this!!)

Tony's wandering up for a look too and Stephen Howes.
14.
Kevin has made sure there is something open, and Jim is casting... goes through the middle. I suspect yellow was wired.

15. Kevin has a bit of room to get black out, but will be making sure of this rush to penult. Black going between penult and the peg to get a decent angle for the croquet stroke. Gets it about 9 yards into the lawn. 3 foot rush... he'll be approaching penult from a yard to the side...

Good shot - 1.5 foot hoop... runs it smoothly this time to get a rush south of black - cuts it to 3 yards SE, should finish from here...

Rushes black to 4 yards north of rover. Didn't see where from - was trying to work out what Salter was up to on lawn 6. Kevin has a 1 yard hoop for the game...

pretty straight. Black is deep, so he can slap this through...

Smoothly through to the south boundary to some applause from Ian Dumergue. 5 yarder ... rushes it to red - great shot.

Rushing to the peg... Ref on to watch in case of grievous. Nick shot and a 2 foot peg out ...

Nice shot...stupid fingers.

KEVIN BEARD wins, and is through to the knockout. JIM BAST into the plate.

Three Aussies started today with chances to qualify for the KO. Beard through in a straight playoff, Dumergue through by winning his pegged down game. Salter needed Patmore to win (he did), and now looks in control against Ian Lines - we'll head over there now - might as well stay on this thread for that game. Ted's Mac's battery is holding up well.

Tony is now refereeing an empty lawn. (well, lawn 1 and lawn 3 on either side of it to be entirely accurate). He's doing a really good job - always nice to have a cheerful ref on call!

+SALTER v LINES: BLOCK F playoff+

nope, that didn't work...
SALTER v LINES: BLOCK F playoff

Aha - thanks Tim - sorry I keep forgetting how that works. ...finally...

Salter v Lines: Block F playoff

Ok, we're on lawn 6 (well, they are). Ted got to 4back quickly, Ian missed the lift. Then things got messy. Ted has just done something awful and we join the action with Ted having put his black clip on 2back, other clip is on 4back. Blue and red between 1 and 2 and black and yellow in corner 4 about a yard apart. Ian hits his 1 yarder, plays the big roll out of corner 4 putting black to hoop 6 and getting 3 yards from blue and red...

Aha... I've joined a small flock of Aussies... Dwayne, Ian Dumergue, Stephen Forster... and they've asked Ted, and... there was a ball left near corner 4, he played a big croquet stroke sending a 3b pioneer out and getting a rush to 2b... and his 3b pioneer went screaming off the lawn into corner 4 - hence the position we started with.

So actually it's blue on 2b, black on 4b and red and yellow on hoop 1.

IAN has a 3 yarder for a break... misses! He has been sitting down most of the morning, but will be disappointed by that. Yellow is now on the west boundary about 10 yards up.

TED takes the 2 yard rush he'd left himself on red to 2back, approaches well but has a lot of wire running the hoop and doesn't get any sort of rush. roquets red, croquets it to 4b going to yellow. Remember black is up near hoop 6

Now I have a minute to comment on the spectators... if you're a friend of Claire Bassett's on Facebook you'll have seen a picture of the horrible reaction the clothes washing powder (liquid?) had with the sunscreen she used on day 1 - it turned half her polo shirt a nasty yellow. Apparently she told Dwayne not to use that sunscreen, but to use the standard slimey stuff. He didn't listen. He sprayed a lot on his legs, and consequently his shorts... then washed his shorts. They are a very very horrible pale yellow now. Think he should visit the pro shop...

TED has taken off to black, bit of a cut and he has rushed it to 2 feet north and slightly to the side of 3b - really good shot.

Takes off to position... and sticks in the hoop. Seems to have taken the clip as a hostage as it hasn't appeared on the hoop. (he too is not reading the commentary, and I hope courtside readers remember not to say anything!!)

Ian has spotted it and calls him back.

IAN will play red from 4back. Black is north of 3b and it is completely hiding blue in the hoop behind it, so no target there. Ian shoots... misses left. No break ahead of Ted now though, and he doesn't seem to have enough room to run the hoop and have a swing for an easy rush to 4back.

Ian is now checking his swing on the south boundary while TED runs 3back and has a rush south. Needs to cut it past the hoop, so he still has a lot of work to do. Not risking the boundary and he's putting black towards corner 4 looking for a rush on red to yellow on the west boundary - good idea!

Rushes red to a yard north of corner 1. Yellow looks to be in lawn a bit, so he has a good chance here.

not playing around on those boundaries! Ted has croqueted red to next to 4back going to yellow. Splits yellow in lawn a bit and between 1 and 2 going back to corner 4. Keeps the striker's ball on by the skin of his teeth and has left Ian a Bassett double (I have Dwayne's permission to write this!) with red (which wants to move) and a real double (small gap) for yellow (which Ian doesn't look at)

IAN shoots... misses the lefthand ball by a foot to the left.

Dave K: qualifiers are top 4 from each block. Those tied for fourth place on wins are in playoffs today. Might as well do a quick summary while Ted has misapproached 4back off his partner ball. He's having a go at a very angled hoop.. ends up in the jaws - not a bad result. I rather fancy yellow to corner 1 here. Although the shot at ball-in-hoop with yellow does go into corner 3 (although I think the wire is a bigger target than what Ian can see of the ball!

Qualifiers:
Block A: Mark Avery, Matthew Essick, Jenny Clarke, Ian Burridge

Block B: Reg Bamford, David Walters (block winner!), Simon Jenkins, and the winner of a three-way playoff of Harry Fisher/John Christie/Jose Riva - Harry v John at the moment - too far away to see what's happening but will try to update

(Ian shot at partner in corner 4 and missed. Ted has run 4b with a rush to penult. Rushes to a yard to SE of the hoop

Block C: David Maugham, Pete Trimmer, David Openshaw, Jeff Soo

Block D: Paddy Chapman, David Maloof, Greg Fletcher, Sam Murray

Block E: Stephen Mulliner, Gavin Carter, Danny Huneycutt, Kevin Beard (who won this morning's playoff for this block v jim bast)

TED has run penult off partner, tapped partner and played a huge scary croquet stroke putting black into the yardline area 11 yards north of corner 1 and got close to red and yellow. Will be rushing to rover, but first needs to take off about 18 inches into the corner - very ugly on these boundaries!

Block F: Samir Patel, James Death, Dwayne McCormick, and the winner of Ted Salter v Ian Lines (oops - Ted hadn't made penult... he'd decided against that horrible takeoff (Dwayne reckons 2 yards SE of penult, not 1 yard), so has rushed yellow to penult - plays a lovely approach from a few feet NE and will make an easy penult with a longish rush to rover)

Block G: Jeff Dawson, James Hopgood, Stephen Forster and Chris Williams - the only block with the top 4 seeds through I believe

Block H: Ian Dumergue (after finishing his pegged down game this morning), Ben Rothmans, Stephen Morgan (7th seed), Christian Carter (8th seed).

Meanwhile Ted rushed yellow to near hoop 1, croquets it towards rover (hitting the wire and stopping - I suspect it was supposed to go well past for his leave) and now has a three harder on red near corner 4. Still plenty of life in this game, but Ian needs to hit something soon.

Decides against doing anything with red, and he shoots at partner. Which is still 10 yards north of corner 1. Misses, and he has replaced the balls into contact - not much bigger target - unless yellow has a clean shot. Maybe a ball and a half from the middle of A Baulk.

IAN LINES v TED SALTER - block F playoff: clip update: red and yellow stubbornly on hoop 1. blue on rover, black on 4back. Red's near corner 4, yellow's on left wire of hoop 5, blue and black are in contact 10 yards north of corner 1.

Ian is pondering. Has lifted yellow - and is shooting at partner in corner 4. Pretty aggressive I thought, but probably felt more comfortable shooting at partner. Anyway... IAN LINES HITS!! ...and he's going to play another big croquet stroke.

Interestingly Ted has advised that going over the sand the ball goes quite quickly. The first playoff (Beard v Bast) was moved from 6 to 2 after the players were offered a change due to the vast amounts of sand that had been dropped on this lawn to smooth it out. I don't think the sanding pleased the manager as I only got a grunt out of him when I mentioned it in passing.

Very good croquet stroke! Red about 4 yards ESE of hoop 2, and has a three yarder at two balls - makes no mistake there, but black squirts south a few yards. Takes off.. rushes black 3 feet north of hoop 1 - looks a bit straight for the takeoff, and it's conceivable he had a choice of sides to take off from. Picked the one where there isn't an old hoop hole to go over. Or maybe it was just on that side. Angled hoop 1 which he runs with a really nice hoop stroke. This is a very good opportunity for Ian.

Taps black, takes off to blue getting a rush north, looks a bit tentative and tight. Rushes blue up to 10 yards south of hoop 2- croquet stroke is fairly straightforward.. plays it well, getting a good hoop 3 pioneer and a two.5 yard rush to hoop 2.

Thanks for the emails Damon and Jamie :) I believe the Draw will be made 40 minutes after the 32 KO players are known. Could be quite a while as the winner of Harry Fisher v John Christie (both been on the lawn a bit, Christie in play atm) has to play Jose Riva, entering a best of three 1-0 up, so plenty of play left there.

Harry Fisher had popped back for a quick refreshment and a stopping bisque... he is peg and 4-back (red) and John is 4-back and has just stuck in rover with red very close to the south boundary. Harry mentioned that John Christie has hit every single shot he has taken- that makes it rather hard.

Meanwhile IAN LINES is on a nice tidy break. The sand... ok.. I thought it would make things go slowly - Ted says no - it makes it go "swish" :)

The DRAW: Approximately 40 mins after the competitors are known. It will be an event- done well, the draw can be a lot of fun (I think), and that's the plan for this one. First the players are ranked in world ranking order as of the end of play of blocks and playoffs. Then the top 8 will be announced one by one and put into the usual slots for 1 through 8.
Next the 9-12-ranked players will be DRAWN into the slots for 9-12. Next the 13-16 will be DRAWN into the slots for 13-16.

Following this the players ranked 25-32 will be drawn against those top 8. And finally those of us in 17-24 will be drawn to find out our oppose from the second set of eight qualifiers.
(I apologise to Notts list subscribers if this description revives the block-placing v world-ranking debate!)

IAN LINES has just made 6 in his 4ball break, and has put out a good hoop 2 pioneer. I reckon he'll be stopping at 4back with a spread, but let's see if he can find a more polarised leave or if he fancies making a day of this playoff game...

Back on distance lawn 5, FISHER has left blue in rover, seems to have tried to approach 4back ( I think he rushed really badly to it), and now has a wide in lawn join with partner. CHRISTIE shoots from near 4back at partner in rover... misses!

Harry has about a 5-6 yarder with red at yellow. remember Red is the 4back ball, yellow on the peg.

Harry has rushed to 4back (it didn't look like he had the angle from here, but he has done well). Makes 4b, rolls off penult, and plays a gentle hoop stroke that stops in the jaws. Not pleased with that at all. I think Christie will look to peg something out here has he can run rover down to partner, clear red out of there, and have yellow off not conceding a lift. (he's currently on the lawn taking a good look around)

John's run rover while the commentary team are all trying to photograph a wee lizard with a curly tail that has popped by. John hits partner, has played a huge croquet stroke putting partner deep into corner 3, and appears to have opted to hit yellow first...aaarrrghhhh - I can't see if yellow is still on the lawn!! - slightly critical piece of information. red croqueted between 2 and the west boundary. Stephen Forster off to check - watch this space.

Ian has gone to 4back with a NSL, the 4back ball (black) on hoop4. Ted lifts this, takes the long lift.. hits! Very good croquet stroke sends red south-east of penult getting a rush to blue. Hits a very wibbly rush to south of the peg and has a takeoff to rush blue to the peg. Blue is basically equidistant from the peg, hoop 6 and hoop 2.

Don't like this option... rather than play the easier takeoff, Ted croquets yellow towards corner 2 and has a bit of a cut towards 4back. Sends it 3 yards south-west of 4back. Pokey croquet stroke gives him a 4 footer SSE of 4back - prods black through to the boundary - quite a good hoop shot really.

FISHER v CHRISTIE: John didn't peg Harry out, so we have 4back and peg v penult and peg. John hadn't left himself a rush (probably wise as the lag back to try to leave a rush could easily have left a double), and is taking off to the middle of the south boundary where I am guessing red shot at yellow. He is playing his 4back ball. Takeoff is really good.

SALTER v LINES: Ted put his pioneer for rover too long - SW of the hoop, and has a good position to approach penult. Rush of blood and black goes sailing across the face of the hoop. That's not runnable, and he takes Dwayne's advice, shooting off to near corner 4. (well, takes the advice if he has superman hearing!)

I'll be lunching at the conclusion of Salter v Lines, but suspect John and Harry will be lunching by then also.

Good grief, even the thought of cutting and pasting something has caused the Mac to rebel on me. Got a really good explanation of the sanding from Damon...will get it there eventually

Ian has hit his 13 yarder from bearish six towards hoop 2 ish. Takes off to blue near rover...gets a rush to nowhere. Takes off to corner four, croquet is towards corner three, goes back to partner in corner two

Mac was teasing me...still misbehaving.

Ted shoots from near rover...nails partner..this is his rover ball his other clip is still on penult

takes off to Ian, rushes well to rover, makes rover, hope he tidies up his clip soon. Leaves yellow at rover, takes off to corner 2, leaving that there and is taking off to partner in corner 3.

With all this connection problem.. missed JOHN CHRISTIE beat HARRY FISHER 26-22. John now goes into a best of three with JOSE RIVA with a 1-0 lead. After lunch.

TED SALTER meanwhile has croqueted red (Ian's hoop 1 ball) to between 1 and 2, and yellow is south south west of rover. I quite fancied leaving red in corner 2 to discourage him from playing it. He has left himself a rush from up near corner 3 at penult. Looks a bit long. Ian is stalking this - must have a target...

IAN LINES shoots... this is all or nothing... didn't look happy, but was hopeful... misses.

Ted now has a chance to claim another Aussie spot in the knockout.

Too timid still - he's taking off from Red - better to play a wee stop shot, as that ball can end up handy, and it didn't put anything at risk.

Rushes partner to 4 feet to the side of penult. I hate these takeoffs! He has been talking about the "glassy sand", and this is where it is. Well, it looked initially like he was going to take off - but he played a really good croquet stroke putting partner well south of the hoop. Runs the hoop well, tries to cut blue down to yellow (which is about 6 yards SSE of rover) - nails the peg. Unlucky there, but at least it's in place for the peg out. Needs to take off past yellow...

Plays a nice shot and has a 2 yard rush to rover, just needs to hit the middle of this... very nice shot. From crossing his fingers about Ian's pegged down game, Ted has got a playoff, and played really well. Approaches rover to under a foot and wibbles through. Black flopped to the side helpfully after running the hoop and he now has a 18 inch rush to the peg. He won't be hitting that far! Now has a 2 foot peg out.

TED SALTER beat IAN LINES 26-9 to huge Australian applause and is the 31st person to qualify for the world championship knockout. Well done Ted.

I'll follow Christie v Riva after lunch on a new thread.