I'm back. On my phone. Got caught up in a conversation and missed the opening. Christie starts game up in the effective best of three, after he beat Harry Fisher first up and Jose had the bye

Christie has blue and black, and it was a corner 2 opening.

We join the action with Christie playing blue, with a corner 2 cannon.

Cannon...yellow goes 5 yards north and slightly east of hoop 2, red into corner 1. Approached and runs the hoop well, rushes to between peg and hoop 3...and looks like he took off off the lawn! Jose in play now. Mac back in action, so useful commentary coming

ok... turns out yellow is also on hoop2. Jose croquets blue to 3 getting a rush to hoop 2. Snicks it!! At least it's partner, so he can roll them across.

Big roll... almost inch perfect! - has a 45 degree hoop which he's stalking.. about 18 inches back... runs it really well to get a rush to corner 4 - if he fancies it. Looks like it's a cut actually, but a good opportunity to pull everything out. I actually fancy the tap and big croquet stroke, as if that rush goes badly it can be awkward.

Jose is up for it though, and rushes red off the lawn about 3 yards north of black, which is about 3 yard north of corner 4. Opts to croquet red accurately to hoop 4 and tap black. Gives him a long takeoff rather than a large croquet stroke from 2.

This match/game is on lawn 7 - which is on the left half of the venue. Interestingly, this is a place where the people sitting lunching are almost all non-players (in the tournament). Might have to relocate to be worse view but better quotes :)

Jose has rushed blue to south of three, played a reasonably poor takeoff to get a longish angled hoop 3 - and run it really nicely. Rushes blue towards corner 4 to just south of black.

Damon wrote (apologies for typos - I can't cut and paste on a Mac!): "Typically sanding in areas is frequently done to try and break up areas of mossy algae growth (that develops on the very top layer of the growing medium, in this case mostly sand, remaining too moist). Typical soil cannot be used as it makes the top layer less porous for drainage which causes havoc long term as the drainage profile really needs to let the moisture fall lower in the profile so the roots search lower and become more hardy, and in turn more drought tolerant. If you add soil on top you stop the moisture level falling and it is trapped at the top which does not promote deep root growth and continues the viscous cycle of a weak turf that needs to be coddled, and often more frequently watered, and therefore maintains too much moisture at the top, and on it goes.
The problem is exacerbated if the thatch is allowed to build up in the playing surface, as this allows a nice breeding ground for the algae to prosper.
Typically greenskeepers are unwilling of unknowingly watering too frequently or not being as aggressive on their renovation practices. "

Thanks for that Damon - an interesting and really useful read.

Meanwhile, Jose is tootling around on a relaxed 4 ball break. He's up to hoop 6.

Another option for repairing low bits of ground, which ref Colin Irwin used in front of hoop 3 on lawn 5 during Reg's sextuple last night is to use the pitch mark repair technique of bringing the surface up a bit and tapping that smooth - removes the wee sand pockets which can wear away, though not really practicable on too large an uneveen area.

Has a couple of pioneers at 1back - probably as the first one was a bit short. Runs 6 without a northwards rush and opts to stop blue to 2back going to the two balls nearish 1b - not a great option as he didn't have enough room. Might have really wanted to make 2b off blue for the leave though - blue is on hoop 2.

Rushes black north, then stops that down to next to blue. Makes 1b, sends partner (red) to the peg going to black and blue. Black to nearish 3b and he has just crunched through 2b. Rushes blue to level with the peg, but well west

Hmm, feels like home - I have a labrador staring accusingly at me - a very old chocolate lab, and she's out of luck, as I finished my cookies and think I'd get shot for feeding her bread.

Blue sent to the peg, red rushed down to black to tidy up, croqueted back up, but to south of the peg as i think he didn't have room to put it somewhere better. But gets a good rush to 3b which he runs with a rush back towards the peg.

Horizontal spread - black (for 1) between 1 and 2, blue (for 2) a yard east of the peg, looks like he can do a really thin takeoff and have this cross pegging. Rushes partner off the boundary south of hoop 4. He'll be rolling these off into corner 4.... red to corner 4, yellow about 6 yards north of it. Red is on hoop 1 still, yellow now on 4back.

John Christie is on the lawn, and it looks like blue is open on black. Stalking... stalking backwards...forwards.. swinging... he shot well in the last game...

Starts again. He has a Fenwick-Elliot mallet. Those haven't really taken off despite a bright start a few years ago, but John has had good success with his one. It makes a clacking sound as it strikes blue... misses narrowly.

Jose now has a 6-7 yarder on partner for everything

Hits it on the left, so will be hard to get yellow in play too quickly, but he won't be complaining. Might have been as much as 8 yards!

The elderly pooch has given up and is now doing the other thing labradors do well... snoozing!

Nope - yellow is immediately in play! Croquets yellow towards 4back going to blue in the middle of the west boundary - hits his three yarder. Reasonable croquet stroke and it will be a very straightforward standard TP for Jose

Plays the croquet stroke well, has a straight rush to 1.

Rushes south of 1 and has a 2ish yard approach - nice pick up this.

Hi Chris C - yes, it is Twix. She was keeping me company as Debbie went around to peg me out last night. Seems to tolerate being patted, but was getting a bit bored and whingy last night as things went on. She's currently staring down the ladies at the table next to me - they have left a pile of salady stuff. Am resisting temptation to snaffle some meat from the lunch room for her, as it drive me nuts when people feed my dogs

Meanwhile, Jose didn't get a rush to 2, so approached it from a wee way away. Had a longish hoop which he has again run very solidly, to just inside the boundary line, but no problems there.

So the pooch is indeed Simon Jenkins' dog. There was some teeny pooch (fluffy daschund I think?) with someone last night watching Reg's sextuple. It went absolutely nuts when Reg smashed through 2back and woke it up. Fortunately for Reg the owner restrained her riled beast.

Jose runs 3 with yellow in good position. Bit hampered, but nothing to worry about. Courtesy call of a referee...

Hits the hampered shot.

Peels yellow, and rushes black down the lawn. Let's assume it's a standard triple which is well under control unless advised otherwise :)

Runs 4 with a rush back up the lawn which he cuts to about 6 yards south of corner 3. Black's a poor pioneer for 5, so he'll probably be looking to rush yellow to well east of it and croquet it up to hoop 6.

Croquets blue to the right of hoop 6, and rushes yellow down to north of hoop 5. That'll give him room to put it up to 6 while squirting out to the side to get to black. Slightly uncomfy croquet stroke, but easy. Black is 3 yards east and a bit north of hoop 5

Plays an average shot and now needs a decent cut... which he plays well. Yellow is well short of 6, and he won't get a rush out of 5.
Hoop and roquet. puts black to 1back going to yellow first - he'll croquet this into position going to blue.

Excitement in the spectator area - Danny Huneycutt has arrived with his lunch, and Twix knows she's getting nibbles here!

Approaches 6 well and runs it with yellow in position, blue is north-west of 6 as escape ball, and black is a good 1back pioneer.

Gentle stopshot has yellow through by a foot and room to cut blue north. Nice sharp cut, but Twix only has eyes for Danny.

Thanks again to Ted Salter (and Mrs Salter, whose computer I'm apparently using) for the Mac - so much easier than a phone!

Blue is short of 2back, but manageable. Black rushed to 6 inches in front of 1back.

Makes 2back, yellow is near rover, but black is well north of 3b, so it might have to wait. I think he'll have a crack if he can get the angle.

I have now met Twix's boss, I'm allowed to feed her!! - just need to hunt down some food (any food apparently!) for the pooch

Jose has a go at the peel going to black - yellow bounces off, but keeps control of red and I think we'll be having another game soon.

Makes penult with yellow a yard north of rover. Internet goes down...

Irish peel... yellow through 7 yards, has good deepish and side ball. Red into jaws. Taps it through, hits side ball, takes off to black.

poor takeoff to yellow gives a big cut to the peg - and he now has a 5.5 yard peg out. Maybe 6.5 yards.

JOSE RIVA beats JOHN CHRISTIE 26TP-0.

Now we're at sudden death - one more game and the winner is the 32nd person to qualify for the knockout. If Jose wins, he gets quite a high seeding position. If John wins he'll be in the 25-32 group.

They've gone off for a quick break. I'm getting sending errors and my phone needs a boost, so we'll be back in 10 mins for the last qualification match.

Game 2 - winner qualifies

Well that was a short break!

1. Jose deep supershot ball with black
2. John yellow to east boundary maximum distance spot
3. Jose misses the short shot at yellow. Looks like he left a massive double
4. John hits yellow with red. Takes off getting a rush to the middle of the lawn. Good chance to get back into things here.

good croquet stroke puts out a perfect hoop 2 pioneer and he rushes black to hoop 1

Nice description of the 3way draw. ... Jose lost in the block to both Christie and Harry, so got the bye. So the odds on each of them going through, assuming everyone is equally matched, are 37.5% for Harry and John Christie, and 25% for Jose.

John's hoop 3 pioneer is a bit ugly, well south-east of 3, but he has control of the other balls so should be ok

Through three safely

John is now approaching hoop 6 off partner, makes the hoop but without a southwards rush. Plays a nice stopshot to get partner to 2back (pivot is quite south too) and getting a rush to 1back. Wee bit loose as he's approaching 1b from a bit of distance too.

Longish 1back, but confidently through

I went for a bit of a wander. John Christie went to 4back, had a diagonal spread.
Jose lifted black from near the west boundary, took the long shot, which he missed into corner 4

John has now picked up his second break, black still snuggled in corner 4, but making 2 with a good hoop 3 pioneer.

While John's going around, ...

I've just had a wander around the clubhouse. It's a lovely two storey structure with offices and function rooms upstairs. Two of the function rooms have a fabulous view of the central 4 lawns, and will be great for viewing later this week. The venue has a lot of original art and other pieces and a huge collection of memorabilia. There's also a "pro" shop and a wide collection of croquet-related items including earr
ings and the like.

John's hoop 4 pioneer is well north, which isn't very handy when you need to rescue a ball from corner 4. Usually better to err on the side of long when putting that ball out.

There has also been a lot of talk about the absence of Croquet NZ's Sport Development Officer, current world #6 Greg Bryant, particularly with the next MacRobertson Shield event in the USA next year. With Greg a strong prospect for a world champs medal, it'd be great if CNZ can find funding to support his travel for future events like this.

CHRISTIE v RIVA: John opted to go to his northward hoop 4 pioneer after 3 and then pick off the ball in corner 4. Runs hoop 4, but misses the 8 yarder!
Christie now on 4b and 5. Riva still on 1 and 1

Riva croquets yellow to the peg, has a rush on red towards blue at 5. Checks the line to rush blue to hoop 1, and hits red.

Croquets red out a bit short and he looks like he has a difficult cut on blue. Rushes it into rover!! It is now sitting on the front wire of rover. Seems to have bounced off far enough to be able to roll down to corner 1.

Rolls... not in front of 1 - puts black off in corner 1.

John was cross pegged, so corners rather than shooting at Jose. Manager is shocked. Jose has a rush to 1 and a ball at the peg.

Riva makes 1, rushes blue to the exact spot in front of rover he'd taken croquet from earlier and is fighting to get the balls to touch to croquet blue to 3 going to yellow. John will be ruing that finesse if Jose plays a decent shot here.

John's decision is looking good now - Riva plays a thickish takeoff putting blue (partner!) 4 yards NW of hoop 4 and gets a rush on yellow which he hits to the middle of the north boundary. Takeoff went sailing past and the clip is on. Nowhere to run to here really.

Black to the west boundary level with 2.

John shoots with yellow (mid north boundary) at blue (4y NW of 4) - misses. Gives him a wide join, rather forcing Jose to shoot at yellow.

Jose shoots at yellow... misses to the right. That'll give John a rush into corner 4 where his partner ball is waiting.

Manager really liked Jose's technique, guest commentator preferred blue to corner 2 and making John hit his 8 yarder then takeoff to the west boundary. I've got some sympathy for that, but also like Jose's option.

John rushes into corner 4 - he has a cannon - for a middle hoop. What could possibly go wrong...

John's playing a wafer cannon... and it's very average. Blue heads towards 4back, about peg high, red is south of the line of 1 and 4, and short.
It's a long approach off partner.

Well, it's straight. But it's long. Hits it very straight... all the way up to hoop 6 - partner is south of the peg, so there's work to be done yet, but if he hits, blue is well in play

PLATE CONDITIONS: Flexible Swiss. There are 4 days for people to play a minimum of 7 games. Everyone has to be available to play a potential final game on Friday afternoon. Lawns at both venues are plentiful today, but will be limited for plate play tomorrow and the next day (whatever day of the week that is!)

John hits partner! Croquets it north of hoop 6, and has a rush on blue towards 4back. Looking at the angle needed - rushes it towards red - about 4 yards NE of hoop 6. On the bright side - plenty of room to put out a 1b pioneer!

Plays what initially looks like a perfect croquet stroke - blue to 1back, but yellow drifts by a bit. Probably 45 degrees. He checks the firmness of the superhoops. Yup - firm. Prods it horribly into the jaws and the clip is on.

Jose lines up from hoop 2 - and hits. It's with his hoop 2 ball, and he has rushed back to about 2 yards SE of the hoop. Plays a good approach, and he has an angled shortish hoop which he runs well. Blue still on 1, black in play, pioneer at 3 and yellow still in 6 - popping that to 1back has a lot of appeal for both the clips and the break. Red on 4back, yellow currently on 6

Damon - Twix was well rewarded by Danny. There was no hint to Chris - I am an utter coward and have not had holes punched in my ears. Am up for kiwi requests to bring them back for people to give others as gifts though. $15 is very reasonable.

Jose opted to leave yellow on 6 and copes with rushing it back out. Has made 3 off partner now.

Jose is now making 1back with all the balls well under control.

Chris fancies a defensive leave here with John on 4b and 6, however expects a spread from Jose.

Yellow left 4 yards short of 3back - appealing to put partner down there too now to stave off disaster

makes 3back, rushes partner into corner 4, and takes off to get a rush on yellow to the east boundary, takes off from yellow, rushes red to the middle of west boundary. Chris will be proud!

Stops red up to level with hoop 2, and will be shooting off from the middle of the west boundary. Lines it up carefully... black to about a yard north of blue. That seemed to thread between hoops 5 and 4!

John's got about 1.25 ball target with yellow from where they lie, due to Jose taking off from blue to put yellow to its spot. Stalking, swinging...

Pulls it well left into the corner area. Difficult pickup ahead of Jose

Rushes black to corner 2, croquets it well towards hoop 2, and rushes to 1. Through 1, rushes off the boundary south of hoop 4. Yellow was stopped in a bit and he should be able to push red towards 4 with a stopshot and get an easy rush on yellow to corner 2. Plays it well.

That'll be annoying! - yellow creams into red, promoting red into the peg with yellow stopping 4 yards north of 4. Needs a big roll ... yellow is great, blue is pretty good - 8.5/10 for that stroke - he has a 4 yarder which he hits well. Edmund has awarded him the game with a TP. John might not be too keen on that!

Through 2 off the boundary, so he has a rush back - let's see if he can croquet black into peeling position from south of the peg (which he needs as red is at the peg)

Red is well short of 4, and he's approaching 3 from a bit of distance. Black is also well well south of 3, so this is by no means over!

Very good hoop approach - if he can run this past black he might be able to cut it back to somewhere interesting.

Runs 3 short of black. Lining up an 8 yard peel attempt

Jawless black - very good shot! Doesn't get much of a rush on yellow, but cuts it near the middle of east boundary.

Yellow a rough pioneer for 5 and rushes to a yard west of 4

Through 4, rushes to mid east boundary. En route to rush peel black

Plays a good shot - has a 4 yarder still and makes a courtesy call to the referee bench

Bonks it through to the north boundary

Standard tp continues. Peels penult after six. Straight rover peel from very close

Pegs out to generous applause, and Jose Riva is through to the worlds knockoit

About time - get distracted, computer locks, internet fails. gah.
Bad luck to John Christie who has put in a day of play and hasn't quite made the knockout. Really good effort from a lowly seeded player though - Riva was number three seed in John's block, and John has played really well in this match, and the block play.

The Draw will be in about 40 minutes. The top eight seeds are (I believe, but this isn't official as I am just going off the rankings and am imperfect...)

Draw is 4.30 in the bar - about 25 mins time. I'll be doing some computing, so no live commentary on the draw unless anyone else is keen.