Good morning everyone. Really nice day here, perfect conditions. Not too hot and not too windy. (Not sure it ever gets cool here).

J. Hello world from West Palm Beach Florida. The final is on lawn 6. Dual commentary on this thread if croquetscores.com will allow it. A croquet first?

The internet here has been pretty unreliable, so I'll be racking up the phonebill to keep everyone updated.

J. Mike Maloof joins us in the front row. Michael Wright is doing a drinks run, and talented kiwi youngster Felix Webby is next to me. Other kiwi future chap, Edmund Fordyce has returned. Edmnud - what do you think the score will be today??

aargh - typo in teh bright sun - sorry!! where is the delete button - Mika Maloof. Lovely couple. Great to be able to get in on the Maloof team for some comments during the day.

E. I think it will be won in 4 games but by who I'm a bit uncertain.

J. They're gardening - David and Stephen taking a good look at the area around hoop 2. Tony Hall with his wee cup of sand. Now giving the chaps their last instructions .Fair fight, nothing below the belt...

E. Jenny do you think this extreme heat will get to Mulliner? He's used to the coldness of England after all.

J. Well, Edmund, that's a good observation - Stephen is known to react interestingly when he overheats, and he did have that wrong ball at the end of his 5-game marathon with Stephen Forster. Very impressive concentration from Forster to spot that. STepen was doing a TP, ran penult hampered, did the referee's job and marked his striker ball, played the hampered stroke hitting partner, stopped to pick up his markers, and then played the wrong ball (making a very imressive long rover peel)! -wouldn't have happened if he had left the referee to do his job...

J. 9 and teh players are warming up. Sherif the sextuple champ is setting up his drone copter in front of the clubhouse. UC won't buy me one, but I look toward to seeing it in action. Although I think the manager might have just grounded it!

sorry - it was seven mins to nine. I've been told to sharpen up my act

E. I think the drone would add something extra to the final. It could make it interesting as to who would snap first and just chase the drone.

J. Edmund - have you read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? - your towel will save my computer - thank you! It's REALLY hot today. That will count against Mulliner. The bronzed American looks well acclimitised to this heat.

E. I can already feel the sunburn

J. Whoa - the drone is up. And very buzzy - it won't be allowed near the match!

E. It's off putting for me as well. I just want to watch it.

J. Stephen practising the roll out of corner 2. Stephen has more flair, better croquet strokes, and more experience than Maloof. Maloof is calm, steady, he's a tennis pro, and he can certainly take this championship. Sam will be offering quite short odds on Stephen though - remember he hit a tea lady and I believe he hit third turn twice yesterday - but the sun is out.... My phone says 23 degrees. I think it's already closer to 30

J. Lawn 6 is faster than 12, so that could alos be interesting

E. It feels like 35

E. Players look ready to start

E. Looks like Maloof won the toss but Mulliner is starting so we're already off to a bad start

E. Super shot

from mulliner

J. Not convinced by this. Mulliner first puts out a supershot with blue near the peg .

2. Maloof with red to just south of corner 2. Michael Wright is explaining to Daniel Pailas why he'd like this in corner 4. I wouldn't. Peg well in play of that supershot ball though

E. Drone has been landed. Hope my flight back to NZ is as fast as that!

J. Surely the croquet stroke here is harder from corner 2.

E. Mulliner hits third turn

3. Stephen shooting with black... he could make a strong start here - nails it.

E. Odds on this going to 4b??

J. play on lawn 6, players holed up under the marquee in the middle of the lawns. Tony Hall and Stewart Jackson in attendance as referees.

J. Well, it had better - he has rolled red down without any pass. Red is 4 yards SSE of hoop 1. Don't like that - but he has made sure of his rush, and has a lovely rush to hopo 1.

E. Bad rush imo

J. From a lovely position, rushes to about 3 yars SE of hoop 3. But approaches with a good black (striker's ball), and blue well west. He'll need some work here Edmund

E. Recovered well but it looks very scrappy. I guess the heats already getting to the young chap

E. Press up count at 2 now

J. Hasn't got a rush out of 1, shooting at red - looks happy to hit the middle of that.

E. I have now been properly coated in sunscreen thanks jenny

E. Bad rush to 2 and plays it poorly I say he's breaking down here

J. Stephen has played an ok croquet stroke - but has a cut... will be approaching 2 from north of hoop 6!! Red is in the middle of the lawn

J. So Edmund - how have you enjoyed your first World Championships experience? - What are you going to take away from this tournament?

E. Meanwhile plate final going on beside us. Thank you Chris for the great service last night 5 stars from me

E. Yea I've enjoyed it. But disapointed in how I played but I guess you have to play badly at some point. Very happy with my win vs trimmer and how I played against Maugham but the plate isn't my thing as you can probably tell.

J. Makes 2, rushes partner towards corner 2, doesn't have a rush on red from the peg to three - rushes it to the boundary 9 yards south of corner 3. Blue is a couple of yards east of 4. That first croquet stroke out of corner 3 did set up the break by getting a good rush, but it makes for a few challenging strokes to get things under control.

J. No problem Edmund - it's clear that your future is playing in main events.

E. Good shot from Mulliner. Maybe I was wrong he will take this round

E. Was that a cheeky fist pump

J. Meanwhile Stephen has played a majestic hoop approach to get probably a one foot hoop which he runs with a wee fist. Red was deep, but he goes past it and needs another decent croquet stroke

J. Yes, we'll have fist pumps, press ups and other antics today. Probably quite a bit of pointing also.

E. Yea if only we had the wee leg flick

J. Questions for Edmund and me to physjcw@gmail.com. I'll pass them on. Rookie commentator has just admitted to some nerves - or at least that he's sweating a lot already...

J. Stephen has a good hoop 5 pioneer, and has had another takeoff to get in front of 4. He's on the ground for his 3 foot hoop.

E. Another push up

E. I make that 3 already?

J. Blue is nearly level wtih hoop 4, so he can't afford to smash through this one. Really important shot...

J. Runs it very well - this is now a break to 4back (or three-back - wherever he fancies - I reckon 4back though, as we've seen that TPOing isn't that strong in these conditions

E. He's under pretty good control now. I think it's game one Mulliner if Maloof misses the leave

J. Looking at that best-of-5 count from yesterday, we had another match go from 2-0 to 2-3 - best of fives are great to play - a really good test and a lot of fun to get into. Big points to the manager for avoiding time limits throughout this tournament apart from the plate swiss. Actually, this tournament has run remarkably smoothly - he has done a pretty good job there.

E. I would have to agree with that. The manager has been awesome

E. Just noticed the flags have been moved closer. Looking very classy here

J. Stephen runs 6, rushes out east to give room for the croquet stroke whic hhe plays pretty well - has a 4-5 yard dribble at 1-back pioneer which he hits nicely. Very good spot on the flags - they are surrounding us!

J. No sign of a 3rd/4th final - absolutely no surprises there. The Manager has banished the flambouyant James Death and the Bowl final to a lawn where he won't distract the crowd

J. Jusr spotted him on lawn 11!

E. Maloof pacing back and fourth with his head down. Not sure he's out of it just yet

J. Good morning Richard Hilditch. I look forward to seeing you in person soon, but not sure about 10 deg English weather!! No sign of Christian Carter yet sorry, so not sure if/when we'll get any streaming. There is somenoe recording the final

E. Maloof standing by the Spanish flag.. Thought he was American?

J. Stephen has completed his break. His hoop 1 ball is on the east boundary. He has a 5 foot rush on red (that's quite long???) to the west boundary, and he has chosen to leave black infield near the max distance spot near the west boundary.

4. Maloof taking the shot from corner 3...

E. Maloof will hit

E. Misses

J. Commentator's curse - misses narrowly.

E. Misses

J. Tim Murphy - what is a "DM"???

E. Somethings happening not sure

5. Stephen has rushed red across to the west boundary.. but now Maloof is on the lawn!! Edmund off to check with Mulliner...

J: ok, he has rushed across with blue, but then having lined red on he picked up black... but spotted his error... and wanted to check with oppo and the referee that it has been replaced correctly. Back on the lawn now and has played an adequate croquet stroke to get red towards two and a bit of a cut to hoop 1 which he plays well to get a 2 yard straight hoop approach.

J. (very impressed with my co-commentator's courage to ask that question of the finalist!)

J. through 1, no rush, Big croquet stroke to put a ball to three - black is good, and has last left himself a 3 yard straight rush which he looks comfortable with.

E. Nah Mulliner is about 5ft he's not scary at all

E. Lots of people here today. Not sure if many know what's happening

J. Plays the hoop approach and the referees are on the lawn - more gardening. The hoops have been moving a lot during this week, and with the big fins, they are bound to cause some damage. All sorted now - and he has a rather angled hop 2 - these hoops are not at all scary

J. Through safely. MGW off to do a headcount

E. Big ups to Michael going to count every last one of us

J. Hits red, plays the croquet stroke - he will not leave this short of 4... and he doesn't! - is speeds by - to a yard in from yellow at corner 4!

J. Approaches 3 sending black to peg high. Casting... doesn't look very comfortable there, but runs the hoop well, no rush again though. Maloof needs to extend this match as far as he can!

J. Rushes black back (partner) closer to 4back, takes off well to the corner, chips yellow out as a reception ball and rushes red to a yard beside 4 and stops it towards 5. The ground doesn't look great in front of 4 either. Runs hoop 4 well

J. Yellow will go up as escape ball for the peel while Stephen goes to his hoop 5 pioneer. Black's ok where it is - about 7 yards south of 4back.

J. Sends up a good yellow, but his rush to 5 is pretty far south. Approaches it well. Through without a rush - but doesn't really need one with black so far south.

J. Not sure of any tricks to avoid the commentary auto-refreshing - that got me the other day when I was trying to catch up

E. That pond is looking pretty tasty right now alligator or not

E. The foods pretty tasty as well

J. Plays a poor croquet stroke leaving the 1back pioneer short and he has got himself a very long very angled peel - bounces out and it's hands on hips time. Kept control o blue though, and rushes tidily to 6

J. Stephen about to take croquet to approach 6 - doesn't look like he can get his balls to touch... more gardening... This is still 5th turn. We haven't had any peels yet.

*In the plate final next door, McBride has had some lawn time, but I can't see any clips off 1 apart from the one on Lines's pocket as he takes his break around - he's on hoop 5 and has all the balls. Lawn 11 is all Death - bowl final v Soo. There's also a Shield final (Forster v Fletcher), and a bowl consolation final (Rothman v McCormick)

J. We blinked, we missed it, Edmund's internet is struggling... Stephen has stuck in 1back!! - from 2 feet and about 10 degrees - he has looked uncomfortable at those - Michael reckons 2 feet is close. I don't

E. Not sure how he stuck in that!!

E. Mulliner will be kicking himself. That could cost him game 1

6. Maloof hits - the crowd is pleased. Takes off leaving blue north west of 2, takes off to black. Referee coming on - is he cross wired??? - no... just getting some flatness checked for the big rush. Controlled rush of black to the south boundary. Stephen sitting down with his hat off trying to cool down.

Stephen had put out a good 2back pioneer, which Maloof is now taking full advantage of. Black is croqueted up well short of hoop 2 - he'll be rushing that off the north boundary. But first needs to make hoop 5. Approaching from 4 feet...No problems there.

J. He hit that very firmly, and runs it beautifully to have a rush into corner 2

Death is on a delayed TP with a Wylie peel

E. I'm not used to this commentating stuff I'm usually just the scout

J. You're doing a great job here Edmund. Adding a lot of colour - and not least your super-bright greeny-yellow polo shirt!

E. Maloof is in a long sleeve shirt. I hope the medics are ready

J. Yellow to a few yards west of three, blue to the middle of lawn and making 2 off black. Makes the hoop, puts out a good hoop 4 pioneer and has a rush to yellow - this is a ball to 4 back

!! Runs 3 without any wire - and he has a 4 yarder on the pivot! No problem

J. Blue to 6, croquets yellow well to 5, and has a longish rush on black to 4 which he copes with

E. This break isn't as good as mulliners but he hasn't broken down yet so I don't really know what to think.

J. Reminder: Mulilner is on 1back (blue) and 4back (black), and Maloof is on his first turn of croquet in turn 6 with red.

E. Ooooo

Apparently Maloof always wears a long-sleeved shirt. I hope he keeps hydrated.

E. Copes well

J. Approach to 5 sails across but stops fairly safely - gives the hoop a bit more, and he'll be roqueting his pivot near the peg first

J. Leaves black next to 5 and takes off to get a rush on partner. Partner going to 1back.

Lines looks to have to to 4b with a spread. That was a good pick jenny.

James Death has won the first. Can Jeff Soo beat Death today?

J. Yes Edmund, Chris lost the house picking competition and duly delivered specified colours of M&Ms, drinks with crushed and cubed ice, and treated the house to a trip to the Cheesecake Factory

E. I would recommend the Cheesecake Factory

J. Actually, I am pretty sure Ian Lines has won a world's plate event before. He is playing in long trousers.

J. Edmund had the bacon-bacon cheeseburger and monstered that - it was nearly as big as him!

E. Yea I'd recommend the cheesecake there it was amazing

J. Blue to 2back, rushes black to partner. I like having partner ball at 1back for an NSL, but Maloof is a spread man. Partner is also good at 1back for this - run hoop, croquet partner to peg, then put the other ball to 3back. All good

J. Any specific flavour Edmund?

E. Yea the one that we got that had chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate

J. This is a bit ugly - blue looked fine at 2back, but Maloof has sent black there too, and lost his rush to 1back. He has a backward takeoff, and now a 3foot hoop - Murray control through and he's fine

J. The Godiva cheesecake is excellent. So is the original one.

J. Murray control... named for Martin Murray - you hit the ball hard (full power, in the case of the named-person), and it hits heaps of wire and just plops on through)

J. Sends partner nearish 3back with a big croquet stroke, then blue to keep it company in the vicinity. Bit ugly - but he was probably looking for a specific parity.

E. NZ and Aussie flag side by side but I can't tell which one is which

J. I am appalled. The Australian flag has far too many stars, but with a blue and a red marker pen... it becomes a NZ flag (tested at a Trans Tasman event one year..)

J: "man this break is messy" - well, that does rather sum it up. But it has also got around, so some points for that in a worlds final

J: "man this break is messy" - well, that does rather sum it up. But it has also got around, so some points for that in a worlds final

E. Sorry just thought I'd spark some difference in opinions because the action is a bit slow at the moment

E. Seen a better spread at breakfast time (sorry I couldn't not say it).

J. This is much better - … well it was temporarily… makes 3back, no rush, croquets blue deep and west getting a rush on black towards thepeg – horrible next stroke puts black a yard north of the peg – lucky blue is deep as there’s a goodchance it’s still open. Might have got the cross pegging though. Rushes to the east boundary level with hoop 4.

J. Yup that grape jam on the breakfast table was a bit tidier, but he is around, the crowd applaud a little uncertainly. Clip on 4back.

7. Stephen checking out the lawn - black has the peg in the backswing. Jim Nicholls wanders past in the brightest clothing I have probably ever seen... blue has two balls to shoot at, but lifts to not offer a standard TP

E. Jimbo is wearing the most outrages clothes I've seen at croquet ever. Bob Marley pants with a Hawaiian shirt.

E. Missed by a lick of paint

There's your shout out coutts or mr coutts

J. Blue is on 1-back, it was the western ball. Stephen has walked down to yellow - and yarded it in correctly! - interesting what the target might have been if he had spotted it before lifting anything. Shoots... looking at it hard... turns away in disgust. Check out facebook to see the target blue had from where it lay - should come up from Jim Nicholls any time soon

J. That's Mr Coutts to you Edmund - congratulations to Couttsie for securing a PE job at Mt Hutt College for the coming term - it'll be great having you back promoting croquet and inspiring students in NZ!

E. Can't see him finishing after his first break

J. Rushes red up, croquets it short towards 2, but has a good rush to 1 which he plays well. Runs the hoop, doesn't fancy cutting it into corner 4, and probably not much benefit in doing that, and he has a croquet stroke from 6 yards west of hoop 5 to load 3 and hopefully get a decent rush to 2.

J. Plays it pretty well and has a rush to 2 and a short 3 pioneer.

J. Spelling update. .. Mieke - sorry about all that.

J. Makes 2, puts out a very good red next to hoop 4, but has a bit of a cut on black to the hoop - hits it in the middle - should cope with approaching hoop 3 from 5 feet NW...and does. ends black deep

J. Smoothly runs 3 just past black and now has "the most difficult shot in the game". Great when you coach names it that really- thanks Chris. No pressure. Maloof is playing slightly faster than yesterday, but hits it perfectly to get a 1 yarder on the corner 4 ball.

J. Nice croquet stroke out of corner 4 - blue goes well to 5, though a little west of the line - just needs to make sure the takeoff back to it stays away from hoop 5. Rushes in front of 4.

E. He's playing a lot better this break

J. Rushing partner up after 4 - can he get this peel early?... rushes it well short - he has a long and angled peel attempt which he doesnt try - putting out a tidy peelee and rushing black into position

J. Apparently the video streaming is about 30 seconds behind text - so for people watching live pictures, this commentary is full of spoilers!

J. taking off from black... plays it perfectly. Black is very tight to 4back, but he should cope. It's the escape ball for the first peel

E. Just about runs 5

J. Runs 5 gently to get the rush... only just through!!! - and it flops to the side - this is a very nontrivial roquet, even with a thin mallet head like David's. Sweeping...

E. Sweep coming up maybe? There's only one man for this shot

His body is the wrong way around for the sweep - he is facing the direction he is hitting the ball, should be side on there.

E. I'm picking a miss. Only burridge would hit that

J. It looks pretty straightforward, but it's about 4 feet, and he looks very awkward. Two referees watching. From this body position he can't pivot well

E. Hits it

J. Plays a fairly ugly looking shot, but clean and makes the roquet - the crowd erupts

J. Forget drones - i'd love to have a heart rate monitor on this guy. No rush, blue is well short of 1back, but the immediate problem is getting a rush to six. Plays the peel very well, red through a couple of yards, rushes a foot west of six

J. runs 6 well with a rush to the north boundary behind peelee. Peelee should go to 2back now for a delayed double.

E. What about hoop cams?

J. Black between 6 and the peg, rushes red north of penult and a good croquet stroke sends red to 2back getting a rush to 1back

E. Yay action jaws 1b

J. Bit of grief if you try that Edmund - have you spotted how Dave Maugham often follows through into the hoop as he runs it? - Rutger Beijderwellen took a hoop out a couple of years ago with an excessive swing!

J. Maloof sticks in 1back - off Stephen's 1back ball!

9. Stephen peels yellow and places the clip on 2back. Disaster

E. So don't excessively swing??

J. You put a camera in my way Edmund, I shall excessively swing. And maybe try a jumpstroke...

E. Oooooo

J. Not sure if he'll try to peel anything, or just get this break to the peg. It looks like a break to the peg.....
Now it looks like a potential disaster!!! - stephen has grovelled through 2back. Mallet in air, This looks difficult. He's marking the balls for the referee again.

J. Hits

E. Hits it

J. croquets red up to tight on 4back, rushes black to corner 4 - croquets it up short - he won't be trying a straight TP here. Has a 3 yarder to dribble off at 3back... copes.

J. Edmund's new camera design is an inbuilt hoop cam - sounds fun!

E. Straight triple???

First peel done

E. I can't believe he's trying this

E. Hits partner as he runs the hoop

E. Maloof will get one shot to save the first game

J. Power assured for the finals, Stephen has made penult, rushed across, might have a go at a posthumous peel? - no - it's going to be a spread. Black clip going on penult.

J. Gutted to report that the commentary team is about to be broken up - Edmund is heading to Orlando for the next step on his holiday. Hopefully he can hang around for another 20 mins, as there is a brunch to be served from 11am which Chris says was magnificent in 2009

Ian Lines is 4back and peg, wtih quite a horizontal spread. Leo lifts the ball from the peg (red is quite deep) and is shooting with yellow - still on 1 and 1 himselt by the looks....Carefully preparing.. Looking...Shoots - misses into corner 4. Easy opportunity for lines to finish

J. Edmund having major problems with the local internet.

J. Stephen has made a spread, Maloof's 2back ball to the peg, red (which is for penult) towards the west boundary, and Stephen is having a 5 yard join in corner 4 and above. He hasn't finished his turn yet, but Maloof is stalking on the lawn around red. Mulliner for penult and peg.

J. Getting some very good feedback about the video streaming. Check it out on: http://livestream.com/accounts/18489438/events/5205737 Great work Sherif. Unlucky the drone hasn't taken off - I'd love one of those for coaching. Can't quite convince work to cough up the 3K for the one I like the look of. Maybe when I get back...

J. 10. It's open! - Maloof shooting with red at yellow from where it lies... hits!! Huge applause, big fist from Maloof. He's playing his penult ball - this means he can go to the peg not conceding a lift. 50-50 if he wants to peg blue out, but before he makes that decision he needs to take off up to blue and rush it to penult. Partner is still at the peg.

J. Good takeoff, rushes blue to north-west of 4back. Needs a good approach. Partner is stranded by the peg. Might put blue to the west boundary? Might take off? ...

J. Taking off... Gives it some, but has a 4 foot hoop with a 20 degree angle which he runs nicely - to no-man's land. Edmund fancied approaching the hoop with a croquet stroke as blue is fo rthe peg, so he'd at least get another shot if he missed.

Didn't run the hoop by that much and has a choice of shots - goes gently at partner - hits! Rolls up to get a short and slightly angled rover which he runs well to get a rush back up towards blue. Will he have it off?

Not sure about the Riggall (oppo ball off) - conditions very easy - he doesn't have a rush to the peg. Must be 50-50 if oppo is on penult. No really expert commentators available for a professional opinion - I've had to explain to the crowd why he played the penult ball.

Turns out he wants this pegout - will be having a go at a 12 yard pegout sending blue towards 2back. Black still in corner 4, yellow is in corner 3. Referee on...

Misses. Blue is now at 2back.

Just to clarify my earlier description - when I said Stephen had made a spread, I should have clarified that Stephen made something very much like a B spread, and then modified it into something of a B Old Standard Leave.

Scout Edmund has just scurried over to report that black has a right two-ball double from corner 3. But Stephen is taking the tea lady...

11. Stephen shooting... looking... plants it into the jaws of hoop 3! This does make it rather hard for Maloof to pick up his finish.

12. Maloof rushes red to hoop 4, carefully rolls it towards corner 4 going to black. Tries to roll into 2back.. black is good, but yellow is well short... he'll be heading to corner 4. Stephen has a completely free shot at partner which is another tea lady length

Lines seems to have failed to finish from 4back and peg and the missed lift, but is now approaching rover from the peg off partner. Red and yellow in corners 2 and 4.
For those interested in a front row seat and guest commentator spot, Edmund appears to have left, and there's a seat going free - Jimbo??

Maloof shoots yellow off leaving a rush to near 2back.

13. Mulliner back on the lawn and having a rueful look at blue which is still parked in hoop 3.
What's the streaming view like folks? - comments to physjcw@gmail.com. Chris would go nuts if I streamed it on my phonebill and the local internet isn't really up to it.

Ian Lines wins the Plate - +26

13. Mulliner taking his shot black at blue. Stewart Jackson officiating up at hoop 3.

Very very close.. but hits the wire, is very hopeful, but Stewart is indicating no roquet. Black has bounced off 4 feet to the side. The manager was standing on the line (a long way back), and like Stephen he thinks it hit!

14. Maloof rushes red to 3back, taking off to blue - well short - I'd be thinking about hitting black at this stage! Referee on... Shoots at blue - 4-5 yarder ... hits it in the middle.

Yay - Edmund is back until the start of game 2

"it looks to me that there was no way it could not have hit" - a comment from another spectator - who was also watching from quite a distance. Where's Bob K's camera at such a critical point (where's UC's - I left the high speed camera at home to fit two sets of colours of croquet gear in for an 8 week trip. Slightly regret it now.

Lots of applause for a 5 yard takeoff getting a rush pointing at 5back. Rushes it 2 yards past and will be playing a croquet stroke to get in front. Must admit, since it's also a tad south, I fancy a takeoff

Plays the croquet stroke - gets a 4 foot hoop with about a 30 degree angle. He is good at these, but this is the World Championship final... Massive applause an he wrenches the clip victoriously off the side of 2back. The crowd are loving this. Mieke is looking very nervous :)

Croquet stroke puts black a bit short, but has a good rush on red to 3back which he hits well. Should finish easily from here. Needs to tidy up that short 4back pioneer, but he can then smash through to blue. 3back first...

Approaches it very well, makes sure his 15 inch hoop stroke doesn't stick - that's the problem with sticking in a hoop - it's so much harder to hold your nerve to trust for a forward rush.

Not too long a roquet and another croquet stroke - good red, but yellow is short - might rush to blue... this is long and very scary..

Hits it fairly centrally, but cuts it slightly away from the hoop. It'll be a 2 yard takeoff to 4back.. he has stayed well back. Maloof has good stable body position for all his stokes and is particularly strong at one-ball strokes - runs the hoop well. Now has all the balls.

I'm glad we got here early - the crowd here is getting huge. The seats here are great, the shade has come in, and there's a lovely breeze. Don't underestimate the effect of around 9 days of croquet, some very long matches and the heat on these players. Stephen is notorious for doing exciting things when he overheats, and Maloof is well out of his comfort zone in this championship final. Both players are 62 years old - fantastic - it just highlights that there is a lot of time left for the rest of us to keep improving! Stephen is still chasing his first championship title after two previous finals appearances (1997 and 2008)

Applause for a short angled rover - no real worries there. Rushes blue to red. Pegging out from two feet. This will be loud...

Applause for a short angled rover - no real worries there. Rushes blue to red. Pegging out from two feet. This will be loud... pegs both out in the croquet stroke, big applause, modest wave to the crowd.

David Maloof wins game 1 of the final 26-22

Farewells to Edmund Fordyce and Felix Webby - part of a very bright future of NZ croquet - congratulations to Greg Bryant for all his work at Croquet NZ's development officer, providing coaching and support for the upcoming players. Edmund is also an infrequent visitor to Christchurch where he enjoys coaching sessions with Chris Clarke. The next step for these guys is starting to triple in tournaments, and they'll be very difficult to stop from there. They have been fantastic company on this part of the trip.

Meanwhile Mieke Maloof is ferrying bananas up the lawn, and hopefully a lot of liquids. The referees have hoop 2 surrounded after those two balls stuck - and it's out of the ground. Interestingly they're only testing it with the two balls that stuck -hopefully it won't turn out that blue or red have expanded more in the heat adn just got through by virtue of an extra bit of oopmph. I guess they've sorted out which ball is biggest in this set though.

Speaking of Edmund and Felix, I should also mention that they have had wonderful support from their local clubs and organisations to help fun this trip. Coming to the US is not cheap, and it's a brilliant development opportunity. It's really good to hear about that support - and also the coaching and other things Edmund and Felix have done to help the sport.

In the past CNZ and the ACA have funded players to come to each other's Open championships. I hope this continues this year for both countries. Felix and Edmund would be high on the list of hopefuls from NZ to go to the 12-lawn facility at Cairnlea near Melbourne, and people like Dwayne McCormick would benefit from a visit to NZ and would be very welcome.

As I write the party at hoop 2 continues. Blue and red were invited to join in, and the hoop is back in the ground after a 10 minute operation. And we're off...

Game 1: Mulliner v Maloof, Maloof leads 1-0

1. Mulliner starting again - bit more conservative this time as Stephen puts a standard East boundary ball out (blue)

2. Maloof to south of corner 2 with red.

3. Maloof still lining his ball in as Mulliner shoots at partner from A baulk... hits. Probably wishes he'd put a supershot out again...

Crowd check - still around 100, almost exclusively under the veranda in the main hut. There is a line of chairs out the front, but they are being snaffled for brunch. Brunch smells great. About 10 players under the lawn 7/8 marquee - two of them involved in the Bowl consolation final (??). About 10 under the lawn 5/6 marquee - including the players and officials.

Mulliner takes off to corner 2, hits red, rolls it out to a couple of yards in from the west boundary to max distance spot and shoots off behind blue from near the peg to leave a rush to red. Tidy leave.

4. Maloof makes a target at Stephen from B baulk - misses. Stephen is off.

5. Stephen played his infield ball, got a cannon. This got partner a few yards in, and rushed yellow over to the west boundary ball - all tidy from there. Well, the hoop 3 pioneer is very well short, but otherwise it's standard. Through two and made the return.

still going. brunch time!

no dramas at 1back

partner to 3back?? and he has rushed back to hoop 2 after 2back...needed a decent croquet stroke to get a rush to partner...rushes off east boundary...defensive leave coming??

hasnt rushed well..this leave is looking rough

rushes partner off east boundary, takes off to yellow, And he has fashoined a New Standard Leave after all!

"It's horrific" (despite some crowd applause)...

Yellow, at hoop 4, is completely open on black on the boundary. Alternatively, should you wish to lift red, yellow is complete open from A baulk. There is a small chance of also fashioning some sort of double.

Blue plays into corner 4

6. Maloof shots with yellow from hoop 4 at the 4back ball in corner 4... misses. Hand on hip as he can't believe it.

Replaces yellow up the yardline to not tempt Stephen.

7. Mulliner takes croquet with his 4back ball. Croquets yellow up to hoop 3 and hits partner.

lays up tight in corner 4

Stephen has a rush to 1 and I expect he is hidden from red near hoop 2.

8. Maloof shooting with yellow at the balls in the corner. Very gentle shot from hoop 3 which he watches all the way - hits the middle of it!!!

Chips black out, and rushes very weakly to hoop 1. I fancied rushing to partner and getting a hoop 2 pioneer then making 1 off partner, but he has a 5 yard approach to 1 from SE of the hoop - this is a bit ugly.

Chips black out, and rushes very weakly to hoop 1. I fancied rushing to partner and getting a hoop 2 pioneer then making 1 off partner, but he has a 5 yard approach to 1 from SE of the hoop - this is a bit ugly.

Overhits the hoop approach - my neighbours can't believe a 9 yarder could ever be missed - ho hum. Very angled difficult hoop - runs it beautifully!

Croquets blue well short of 3back, no rush on black, so takes off to red - ends up north-east of it. It's partner though, so a safe approach to hoop 2 - from around 10 yards away. Stephen's croquet strokes are much better - but Maloof is making this work.

Very good approach to 2. Might be a few feet back, but dead straight. Runs it firmly - he has a firm followthrough for those strokes rather than much of a bigger backswing - nice stroke. and he has a rush south.

Takeoff and a wee rush will have him under way.

four ball break going now. We won't see peels or pops or anything adventurous. probably a spread, but hopefuly something a little more polarised.

Approaching 5, nothing near 6. Looks calm, and he'll need to keep his nerves well under control if he is to keep this together today. The lawns are faster, it's 28 degrees under the sun, and he has long sleeves on.
Just played a lovely croquet stroke getting a good 1b pioneer (at last), and a rush to sort out red and make 6.

Just said goodbye to Jim Nicholls - I guess that's a few of the Aussies leaving now - they're a great bunch - I'm hoping to get back to the Aussie open at the end of this year - I highly recommend it to anyone looking to visit downunder - it's a very well run tournament at a huge venue.

Maloof approaches 6 from some distance, runs a longish hoop well, and it looks like he'll have a 2back pioneer (partner) as well

That was a delicious brunch - thank you NCC and all the organisations and groups associated with them. There have been some great functions, many opportunities for people to socialise and a beautiful place to visit and play croquet. After turkey, stuffing, gravy and some pasta I'm ready for a snooze in the shade. If Maloof continues like this, he might get a chance to also - in about 4 hours! I suspect Stephen will have something to say before this all finishes though.

This is much tidier stuff - makes 1back, blue to the peg, rushes black off the boundary 5 yards north of corner 1, croquets that very well to 3back and gets to his pioneer which was a foot west of hoop 1. It will be a spread. We haven't seen many good leaves in this final yet. It looks like Blue (the 4back ball) will be at the peg. Maloof played poor croquet strokes after 3back twice yesterday to set up spreads. Today he had a good croquet stroke then a very poor rush - my bet is this will be pretty good.

Makes 3back, Taking croquet from nearly peg high and... he has gone past blue again - but not so badly this time. Black is good - well SW of hoop 2 in a nice position, but he's croqueting blue into place from distance - really need to get a rush to the peg there - he just overdid the ratio on the croquet stroke again. Impossible to tell from here if the cross-pegging is good, but he's rushing to a standard spread position on the east boundary.

Interesting stat from James Death: This is the worst ever performance by a "Rob" in a world championship. No Robs even made the knockout (Wilkinson and Hurst...)

(fulford and jackson got to the quarters in 1989, more dominance since then)

Meanwhile Stephen has lifted black from near hoop 2 (it is the hoop 1 ball after all - spreads are average in this position). Takes it up to corner 3. Shoots - looks - really disappointed as it slides past and into corner 4.

10. Maloof rushes towards teh peg, croquets yellow well to hoop 2 and gets a rush pointing at the middle of the south boundary. Cuts it nicely and has a longish hoop approach which he approaches to a little longer than comfortable but very straight - through without a rush.

Plays a great croquet stroke. let's see if he can get partner down to 4 after hoop 2 (and keep it on the lawn - Stephen's shot there was within a yard of the corner ball!, yesterday Maloof was well short)

Very good shot after 2 - yellow is 3 yards south-east of hoop 4 - plenty of room to get black to 5 and get a rush - so much better than short.

Rushes to 3, approaches sending blue deep. Runs the hoop firmly - probably doesn't want a forward rush anyway. Taps blue. big takeoff coming...

There is a very comfy and very free front-row seat going if anyone wants it...

Maloof takes off into corner 4, no problem there. Hits black. Needs a sharpish stop shot, and black is a few yards short, but has a rush to 4.

He has hit this well, and should have an opportunity to rush partner up and try for the peel after hoop 4

Rushes yellow just north of peg high, will be croqueting it to peeling position and tapping blue. Black is very far south of hoop 5.

Maloof approaching 5 from distance - really good shot. Delayed TP available for a 2-0 lead...

He has rushed black on top of yellow - that's not going to get to 1back. Sends it north-east of 6. This could be risky

As a reminder, live streaming from Sherif Abdelwahab here: http://livestream.com/accounts/18489438/events/5205737
Feedback is very positive, and this is a great addition to croquet coverage, boding well for the MacRobertson Shield back here in the US next year. Maybe we'll get something for the GC world teams champs

Meanwhile David has peeled 4back very cleanly and rushed well south of 6 - this gives him room to send blue south east of 1b as his pioneer and he can hit black after the hoop. It is a very long hoop - 5 feet? - runs it very nicely to quite a lot of applause.

Rushes black to the corner (almost through peelee), croquets it back, yellow well short of 2back, makes 1back with everything looking very rough. blue to 3back, gets a rush on black - overhits it past that distant yellow - might as well make the hoop from there. Runs the hoop from angle with no wire - that hoop isn't needing to be widened! Has hoop and roquet.

Croquets black towards 4back -it needs to be an escape ball for this peel - deep - but playable. Has a longish rush on yellow - which he snicks - can't get that up to peeling position, as it's between rover and the peg and blue is about 7 yards north of hoop 4 (ie. nearly level with yellow). Bit of wind out there too, but nothing to cause too many problems

Croquets yellow 5 yards east of the peg making sure of a rush on blue which he clubs to 5 yards in front of 3b. He needs to pull this back together now

Plays another excellent hoop approach sending blue well north and runs the hoop by 4 feet - he's got a 5 yarder now. Twists the mallet in the followthrough which is usually a bad sign, but hits enough of blue.

Blue 3 yards north of the peg (that's a bit short) and he has rushed yellow to 2 yards ENE of penult - will need a miraculous stroke to get this into the jaws. Lining it up though. Needs to make sure of the rush to 4 back

puts yellow a foot in front of the hoop and slightly east and he has a rush to 4back which he cuts to have another long hoop approach - can he cope with these all day?

Reminder: Stephen is 4back with blue, and 1 with black, Maloof is on a delayed TP which now has a straight double peel required

Approaches 4b well and is through

Had to go and deliver a message to the other end of the lawn as the brits weren't moving so missed a bit...

Had to go and deliver a message to the other end of the lawn as the brits weren't moving so missed a bit...

Peels penult straight, but only to 4 feet north of the peg, doesn't get a great cut. Trying to peel rover from distance... misses the hoop entirely... but keeps yellow on the lawn

Good hoop approach. Runs the hoop to the south boundary and misses partner - rushes it back to next to hoop 5, can croquet this towards east boundary .. 5 yards short. this will be an awful leave now

Rushes black to the peg. That's the hoop 1 ball - it'll be playing the next shot. Now looks like he wants to play a horrible split sending black towards the west boundary. Chris wants it left where it is.

Maloof has croqueted it to no man's land in the west half of the lawn and hits his long roquet on blue. I fancy putting this up the lawn and playing a huge scatter on yellow. Those often end badly though. What does Chris fancy?

Yup, it's the scatter - but Chris points out we need a referee to watch one of the balls.

He has played this nicely to get red 6 yards north of corner 4, and yellow 5 yards north of that.

Chris "Mulliner will just play black at the double" (that's from just outside corner 3)

Maloof rover (yellow) and peg, Mulliner 4back (blue) and 1

11. Stephen has been up to corner 3 for a look, but seems to feel he has hilled off a couple of times, so he has lifted black and is taking the short short...

Misses badly on the left of red. Yellow has a 4.5 yarder for the game. No hesitation...

. Trivial finish from here, with blue up by the peg to rush partner to.

Rushes really nicely to rover - blue just dribbles past, but it's a 6 inch takeoff.

We haven't had a gardener on for a while. He's probably taking off new an indentation caused by the big fins on hoop 5

This game has been lost on a really bad leave, and there was some roughness in game 1 also. This has been a long, and very hot, tournament and is a good test of the players.

Maloof approaches rover, gets hoop and roquet - very handy - and is pegging out from 18 inches.

David Maloof wins game 2 26-9 to take a 2-0 lead in the final

Much clapping, cheering, hooting and whistling follows.

Lunchtime? Mieke topping up David's bananas. Stephen plays the lunch card - compulsory at 2-0 down to have a break

Game 3: Maloof v Mulliner. Maloof leads 2-0

We're back. It's a groundhog day start...

1. Stephen blue to east boundary. Surprising really after his game 1 turn 3 break.

2. Maloof red just south of corner 2.

3. Stephen misses partner on the left

4. Maloof taking the very long double from the north boundary. Misses. He has been playing quite a lot faster than yesterday

Yards it in 3 yards north of corner 4

5. Stephen rushes blue down - it goes off north of yellow - not very well done. Can chip blue out a couple of feet - and has a rush on yellow pointing at 1. Short, but should be ok - not guaranteed to get a rush anywhere useful after hoop 1 though.

Plays a very good approach getting a longish hoop, but yellow still east of the line. Couple of pressups...

Hits black into quite a bit of the right hand wire, but he has hit it at the right pace, and only fails to get a useful rush due to the amount of upright he hit. Willocks yellow to hoop 3. What's happening?? - pass rolls it back towards corner 2 going to red. "I supposed it gives [Maloof] a longer shot when [Mulliner] misapproaches". Handy having Chris here

Plays a really bad shot getting red near east boundary and black nowhere near hoop 2 - clip is on and he's looking at a spot near corner 4 to join up to.

If anyone is actually here at the venue, reading this commentary, please can they pop across to Sherif or Simon (chap attached to the gorgeous chocolate lab) and advise them that the streaming still appears to be blurry to some users. I've been over a couple of times, but rather fancy someone else doing the trek while this text commentary proceeds.

Mulliner shoots to a yard out of corner 4. Red too good a shot for this to be a target - probably 2 feet between blue and black.

6. we've seen a similar position in game 2. Maloof leaves yellow at 2, shooting with red .Watching.. watching (it's moving quite slowly)... hits blue (the front ball). Fist from Maloof. Lots of applause from an impressed audience

Takes off to the ball on the south boundary... rushes along the south boundary to a couple of yards east of corner 1 - he has a very long hoop approach.

Chris "one of the big differences in this match is that they're playing with a new set of balls - they've still got silicone on them - so that can effect croquet strokes and peels". They are very shiny

Chris leads the crowd's applause as Maloof plays an excellent hoop approach - the spectators are pretty alert, but the manager has spotted how good the shot is straight off the mallet.

No rush out of 1, and a bit croquet stroke - nearly very good - great lines, but short. Will have a difficult hoop approach off yellow - taking off...5 yards NW of 2...Black is short of 3, but should be manageable if he gets through 2.

Good hoop approach, runs it solidly and he has a great chance of the first break now.

Very poor shot after 2 - yellow is within a couple of yards of 5, red has a rush on black back to the middle of the north boundary - poor ratio there.

Cuts black to a couple of yards to the side of three - it'd be nice to pull this break together and have some easy shots.

Maloof has played another good hoop approach, and run the hoop well, but just past the reception ball again. Blue is still near corner 4 and yellow is very short and very wide - he should be rolling to 5 and picking up blue later.

The roll is very good. He has the option now to rush into corner 4 and chip a ball out a bit further. or just make the hoop and take off to blue.

Takes the rush

Requests shout-outs, etc (though note the live-feed camera is a long way away), to physjcw@gmail.com

Croquets yellow forward, but has to cut blue to 4. Chris would have preferred just rushing yellow to hoop 4. I like this line. I'm usually wrong when we disagree.

Another good approach sending blue deep, and runs the hoop to blue.

Maloof's recent encounters with Brits include losing to David Maugham in the Solomon Trophy, but beating Stephen Mulliner in the last MacRobertson Shield - that'll have served him well in mentally preparing for this match

Rushes blue forward a few yards and plays a safe takeoff to get a rush on yellow. Will be sending yellow to 6 going to a deepish but comfortable hoop 5 pioneer - can he get the hoop 6 ball up this time?

Recap: Mulliner on hoop 2 after misapproaching it in turn 5, Maloof in the first break about to approach hoop 5

No, yellow is short of six. He's keeping Stephen interested. Stephen will be wishing we were playing super-advanced. Or that we were playing at United in Chch mid summer. Either would punish loose play - although I must say that Maloof's single ball strokes and today in particular his hoop approaches have been excellent

Black left very close to 4 - he rushed it there after 5 and took off to blue. Croqueting blue... he has a pioneer - a good one - at 1back. Good control at 6 - it'll be a spread again, and he'll be putting partner comfortably to 2back getting black back into the break

Doesn't get yellow to 2back, but rushes black up to hoop 3 and croquets that down - he has a long roquet on blue, and a very good black. Hits it well, but it still goes past the hoop. He has a takeoff to 1back along a dodgy piece of ground - it's where the main focus of teh morning gardening was - and Colin Irwin is now on with his cup of sand to tidy things up

Good news for video streaming viewers - I've heard from James Death's mum who has advised of an audio problem and James has been dispatched to ask the video guys to check into auto focus for Greg Bryant (its 6am in NZ!!) and the audio. Fingers crossed it gets sorted. No matter what the problems, the appearance of the drone, and the first properly successful video streaming herald a big step forward in croquet coverage. Much credit and thanks to Sherif for this.

Landscaping completed at last, good takeoff, runs the hoop past blue, and we'll be having another big croquet stroke

Rolls blue down between 4 and 5 and has a rush north on yellow - kept good control of the striker's ball in that stroke, but I fancy him putting out another 3back pioneer. Doesn't really give himself the angle to do this easily - not sending yellow wide enough. Head down, prods it - adequate - rush on black to nearish 2back, yellow is a couple of yards west of 3back.

In front of 2back... through

Black to the peg, takes off past yellow. Checked in with Chris - Maloof was really good at the MacRob in very difficult conditions - and he really enjoyed those conditions. David's just a really nice chap who is having a lot of fun (and very considerable success!) with his croquet. He's in the US team for the golf croquet worlds and will be a tough opponent. Fortunately he'll probably be their number 1, so I'm safe!

Yellow to SW of the peg, not great, but not the end of the world. Rushes to 3back well, and runs the hoop. well, they're sitting behind me, so a quote from the Maloof camp: David is claiming he only has his B game with him today. But he is two games up and a break up in the final of the world champs. Stephen has a LOT of work to do here. And to make things interesting, the wind it getting up a bit (lovely cooling breeze)

What is this?? - he has rolled blue up to SW of the peg - doesn't like the parity - this will be an ugly OSL. Not great against Stephen - he hits a LOT of short shots.

Rushes black off the west boundary level with hoop 6, and is taking off to partner. Checks the line for the takeoff carefully. Moved black back inlawn about 8 inches and has a 5 foot rush on yellow towards the east boundary.

Hits the middle of that, lines it in 9 yards north of corner 4

I'll try to get some info on David's background - he started about 12 years ago, been competing for 7-8 years, starting in Denver, took to the game with a passion. Mieke is reportedly somewhere very very nervous, so I won't disturb her now.

I'll try to get some info on David's background - he started about 12 years ago, been competing for 7-8 years, starting in Denver, took to the game with a passion. Mieke is reportedly somewhere very very nervous, so I won't disturb her now.

David finishes his break laying up 5 yards north of corner 4 with a rush to blue... clip on 4back, applause... but is it a good leave??

7. Stephen walks on, doesn't hesitate - Blue clearly has a target.. shoots - hits half the front ball.
Takes off to yellow, rushes to black, yellow to hoop 2, has to play a good cut to get to hoop 1. approaching from 4-5 yards.

Summed up well "It's a rare combination - someone who looks more skilful than his opponent... but more likely to break down"

Approaches 1 sending black north-west of the hoop - no attempt to pick up red early. ... hits blue straight into the middle of the left-hand wire. That is parked.

8. Black has a decent chunk of blue to shoot at - yellow at black from hoop 2 looks the best option - it makes a harder pickup for stephen when he hits blue and is a LOT shorter than yellow at red. Yellow at red also has some potential peg in play.

Shoots yellow at red near corner 4 anyway - has a good hard look ... misses.

9. Stephen shooting at blue... about a 4 yarder, fair bit of blue to aim for. Referee watching.
More info on that long shot in game 1 - it hilled on, and the ball in the hoop moved a LOT

expert commentary team unhappy to not have yellow at black - for the world championship.

Anyway, stephen shoots - hits. Croquets blue south of three going to yellow. Chips it out, has to cut it a lot to get it to hoop 2

Marcus was told Maloof started the game a very long time ago and was very good from the start, but stopped to have a family. I'm hoping Bob Alman or Dylan Goodwin will interview Maloof and get some details after the event.

Rushes to 2, has an angled hoop - no problem

Chris think's he'll stop at 1back - if he hits his 4 yarder after 2 ... hits. TPO maybe? Yellow is between 4 and corner 4, blue is quite a few yards short of hoop 3. Let's see.

Takes off from red to yellow - won't be improving it that much

Chris wants two POPs and a reverse MSL with the 4back ball in the jaws of hoop 2. Creative, and not really in keeping with what has happened in this match so far (spreads and B spreads), but the favourite guess is a 1-back leave

The two POPs are peels on opponent - basically peeling yellow to hoop 3 to make the TP much harder.

Approaches 3 well, hoop and roquet, blue going to hoop 5 and looking for a rush to yellow

Approaches 3 well, hoop and roquet, blue going to hoop 5 and looking for a rush to yellow

We think Maloof's mallet is an Oakley Woods mallet. It's quite long, has rectangular ends, wider than high. really nice looking mallet and a great advertisement for the Canadian maker. Shame we have let Don get away, as Don Oakley was part of our house for most of the championship.

Stephen has rushed to 4, runs the hoop (and runs through the ball as he hits it). Poor yellow towards hoop 6 - improves it slightly by putting red closer and is making 5 off partner.

This looks like a ball to 4back

Blue hasn't really gone to 1back, and yellow also isn't really going to 1back, this is a rough old break too

Making 6, yellow is 5 yards NNW of hoop 6, blue is 6 yards SSE of 2

Overapproaches the hoop, it's angled but runnable. Probably challenges multiple laws of croquet by marking his ball and picking it up as he summons the referee with some sand. Quick repair, rushes red almost into corner 3 after 6 - nothing like sending out your 2back pioneer from as far away as humanly possible. To be fair, he has subsequently played a very nice croquet stroke to put red within a foot of hoop1 and get to yellow.

Making 1b off partner, peeling nothing, Looks like it'll just be a spread.

Balls entirely the wrong way around for an NSL. Maybe it'll be a spread, who knows. Yellow has sailed to 4 yards south of hoop 4. Rushes blue to the middle of west boundary. He'll make 2back off Maloof's 4back ball.

Through 2back - has a great rush - can rush it tightly to 3b and get his NSL with the right parity after all (i.e. red on the wire of hoop 4). Rushes it into corner 4 instead - then tries to croquet it into position!! Hits yellow - stops that even closer to the right position, making 3b off blue. Seems to be undecided which ball to put where!

Blue has gone east of the hoop also - that's very surprising.

Hoop and roquet - and the ball roqueted is yellow - the hoop 1 ball - which wants to play - this is ugly

Taps yellow to directly in front of 4 - probably just out of the jaws. With blue very close and east he needs to rush red off the east boundary to get room to sent it over towards hoop 2. Now yellow is on the blade of grass (well, so is hoop 4!) that Stephen wants to be at to rush blue off the lawn to NSL position.

Croquets red (Maloof's 4back ball) to between 1 and 2 and rushes blue off about 5 yards south of where he wants to lay up.

Needs to be careful to not leave a target here, though Maloof will probably take the long shot with yellow

Completes the leave, equalising break..

Maloof 1(yellow) and 4b plays Stephen 1 (black) and 4b

Maloof duly lifts yellow, shoots from corner 3. Misses blue just on the left down into corner 4. Good chance for Stephen to get back into the match here with a delayed TP

Decent rush, takes off to get a rush which he hits well to hoop 1. Wee backward takeoff

Still a huge crowd of competitors and local players and spectators here. WCF President Amir Ramsis is here and looking splended as usual as he watches the final and will present the Wimbledon Cup at the end.

Many thanks to Jane Morrison for the drinks for me and Chris - hugely appreciated and great timing.

James Hopgood was lucky to leave the commentary area intact for suggesting the Australian Open at Cairnlea hasn't always been immaculately managed. To be fair, everyone has a learning curve at a new activity, and the involvement of people like Trevor Bassett and Tim Murphy, and the development of Brian Reither's skills in the management role have made the tournament a fun place to visit. The Aussie players are hugely welcoming and friendly.

Meanwhile Stephen has run 1, nearly peeled red (Maloof's ball) sending it to 3, makes hoop 2, has a 4 yard return which looks very wristy but manages.

Decent croquet stroke but unlucky to run into red. Approaches the hoop to angled position but manages well.

Chris "most difficult shot of the game... played it well" as Stephen takes off into corner 4 and roquets yellow. Black is 3 yards north of 4 but also slightly east, so easy to approach

No useful rush out of 4, so no chance to peel early- croquets black to a couple of yards south of 4back and rushes red down to keep control going to yellow which is a couple of yards south of 5. Croqueting red back up as an escape ball for the first peel...

Red is well short. That'll make the TP interesting

Approaches 5 nicely - fails it - crowd goes "wooo---oooah" in an interestingly high pitch. Calls the ref immediately to have the hoop checked. It's blue. The one that came last when hoop 2 was being checked and operated on after game 1

I don't really like his chances here. It's Stewart Jackson officiating. I fancied having Tony Hall as the general ref-on-call as a country-neutral chap -not that there is anything at all wrong with Stewart.

Eugene Chang has popped over for a visit, while Stephen respectfully waits in corner 1 for Stewart's deliberations. Stewart is taking a lot of care to check every axis... both players now at the hoop. Mulliner still not handing over the clip. Looks like he'd just dropped it somewhere.

10 Maloof taps blue back out of hoop 5, rolls it not that close to 2, but not dreadful. goes to black, will rush partner to 1 - always nice to make hoop 1 off a friendly ball.

Rushes well to hoop 1.

Good story from Eugene.... David Maugham, Reg Bamford, Teddy Prentice, and Andrejs the Latvian off fishing today. Dave's first go at fishing - apparently something big escaped as it was being reeled in. Reg: "that was a Maugham error"!

Last night at a private croquet venue at a local American's house (Ian Harshman) 20 players, mostly brits were playing Irish Speed croquet, and other variants. Top Gun winners, Eugene Chang and Richard Smith. Ben Rothman the manager.

Back to the croquet... a very poor croquet stroke sends red well well short of three, no rush to 2. Very weak approach to 2 - this is long and it's angled... and it's a brilliant hoop stroke. Maloof is through hoop 2. Can he complete this standard TP?

Another poor croquet stroke after 2 - blue is 4 yards north of 4 (not so bad), no rush on red (rather bad). Needs to be peelee into position and get to black - things could get awkward. Chris called this...

Referee on, Chris has the binoculars - red is very close behind yellow. There is a chance to hit black, but it's challenging - "it's fine" says Chris... but he mis-hits it - It's a bevel. Monster stopping bisque for Stephen Mulliner

Maloof 3 and 4back, Mulliner 5 and 4back. It's Stephen's 4back ball up with red and yellow. He's wandering around thinking - but you do need to have that put back - yellow is presently near the north boundary - but he is not having the balls replaced - this is weird.

This will just be a leave - yellow near the north boundary, north of hoop 3. Chris would have been going to rover here, Stephen is leaving yellow up there, red near hoop 4, and will be heading to corner 1. Yellow's the backward ball

Red going towards corner 4

At lunch Maloof was saying that he was focussing on 'swing, rhythm and tempo' That's just excellent, and really sums up a lot of the great things about his swing.

Red a few yards out of corner 4, blue and black hiding behind hoop 1 on the west boundary with a rush pointing at red. Blue has the rush, and it's for hoop 5. No points made in this turn.

12. Maloof checking the lawn out - looks keen to play yellow. He has hit two shots from 3ish to 4ish already... Goes for a 5 yard hoop 5... bounces off the wire towards the east boundary - I don't like that - even if you run the hoop you might have a 25 yarder!

13. Rushes black to corner 4. yellow still well in lawn

Stops black out, rushes red north of hoop 5- wee backward take off - plays it well.

I don't like this... Marks his ball. looks at the ref for permission - gets it (!!!), cleans it - puts it back down - is now running the hoop with it.

Tony Hall is enjoying having the afternoon off. He doesn't reckon it was a bevel near hoop 3 - the referee did hang around for a loong long time looking like he was giving stephen the choice though... (it was a 5 yarder on hoop 3 earlier in turn 12 too - sorry!)

Still picking up a break. Now has black north of 4back, rushing to 6 - approaches it pretty well.Should be able to rush partner to 1back and have a go at rushing it back to peel after the hoop

Runs 6 well to get a rush south which he hits well and can put it to 2back rushing red from next to hoop 5 back up to partner - gives a free go at peeling after 1back.

Needs to cut red - hits it in the middle - now taking croquet from the middle of east boundary with partner (his 1back pioneer!) 2 yards north of hoop 3. Needs a pretty good shot now

Yellow is very close to 2back - can't see most of the lawn, so Stephen needs to be very careful about what he does here.

Rolls up - has a rush pointing dead at hoop 6. Checking if yellow is open on red (effectively on corner 3). Has tested yellow at red with his own mallet - but Maloof's mallet is much wider - he really needs to make 1back here....

Rushes black.... to within a couple of yards of the end of B baulk!

He has played a very good hoop approach - after a press up and some tidying, and a press up ... runs the hoop well. Crowd is appreciative. Maloof will have another shot here. Black needs to go to 3back.

PHOTOS FROM THE WORLD CHAMPS: https://goo.gl/photos/DJXrKcNW9t9tJZev9

Eugene Chang has set up a shared collaborative album, so anyone with a google account can also share their pictures -please contribute folks, and enjoy the great photos

The kiwis have woken up! - we have peaked at 97 readers, and there'll be some sleepy Aussies logging in soon too.

Yellow to 4back, taking croquet from red high on the east boundary. Blue has hilled a long way to not give Stephen a rush to 3back, but he can cut it a lot closer - 2 yards SW of 3back

Under approaches - it's longish, angled, and black is a long way through - if he runs this by 3 inches he's in trouble. ...

Walked after it a bit, but he is through safely. Wristily hits his 2 yarder on partner and should get to the peg now

James Death has been over to check in - no more parental instructions. Simon and Twix are still looking after the live stream at: http://livestream.com/accounts/18489438/events/5205737

Through 4back. Good rover pioneer, everything back in control, and it'll be 4back (black) and peg v 3 and 4back (red)

Chris wants red in penult here, but no effort being made there - it'll be left somewhere it can be rushed to hoop 3, so if Maloof hits he'll still have an opportunity to go for a standard TP.

It'll be a standard spread. Eugene enquiring after a reverse spread. Expert commentator reckons that's better, but still poor. "Red needs to be either on the wire, or in the jaws, of penult".

Runs rover - hits yellow on the wrong side - can't get it deep - it will be a reverse spread after all - but black is southeast of the peg. Rushes red to probably cross-pegged position (from where it'll easily rush to 3 for a standard TP). Takes off to black, rushes it to the west boundary.

Looking at a spot to roll to which is about 8 yards away - missing it could be messy - short of his spot, but he has good length

Blue clip on the peg. Polite muted applause. Reverse spread with the 4back ball at the peg. Maloof needs to hit, but if he does he has a very good opportunity to finish in this turn

I should mention that this 12 lawn facility has some good wind protection - hedges around most boundaries - and palm trees - you have to love a place that is surrounded by palm trees. And has dozens of cute wee lizards scurrying around. I'm still not sure that the "alligator in the lake" story is true - it's a wee pond, and I haven't seen it. Urban legend?? Show me the gator

14.

I should mention that this 12 lawn facility has some good wind protection - hedges around most boundaries - and palm trees - you have to love a place that is surrounded by palm trees. And has dozens of cute wee lizards scurrying around. I'm still not sure that the "alligator in the lake" story is true - it's a wee pond, and I haven't seen it. Urban legend?? Show me the gator

Maloof looking at the short shot from B baulk. Blue and black certainly look like they're at max distance here.

Nope - he has found something interesting - shooting from where yellow lies - looking at the ball gently drift past the peg - I'm not sure if that was part of the target as he's still looking pretty interested... hits blue!!!!

He had a great opportunity here to play a pseudo cannon sending blue to 4 and running into black, but doesn't take it. Keeping things simple, he rushes black to red, croquets it 4 getting a rush to 3 - one of his better croquet strokes today. Rushes well to 3. Chris wants a pegged out game...

Still has the balls for a delayed TP which you'd expect him to try for first

Disaster!! - Maloof has misapproached hoop 3. he's looking at guarding black at red (black is the 4back ball, both David's balls are at 4back).

No, he's still interseted... jumping - this needs to be good...

Plops down harmlessly and rolls north-east of three.

15. Stephen has sprung out of his seat, and is shooting at partner. Maloof can get going again if Stephen misses - Black at red is much shorter. Shoots.. misses. It's nice to see these guys shooting gently.

16. Normal services resumed - Maloof has hit his 7 yarder with yellow at red. Another chance to play a break.

Takes off - moves black in a bit - and rushes really well to hoop 3 - has the clip - and a rush!

Brief outage - makes 4 off partner - long return - hits it

Result - I've had two utterly cute wee dogs parked next to me - apparently they are long-haired Jack Russells. Tintin and Chief. Chief is tan, and slightly chubby. Tintin is gorgeous.

Right - blue is miles north west of 5, puts red about 7 yards from hoop 6, no rush, hits black takes off from near hoop 4 to blue. Not quite far enough, but cuts it well. approaching from NW with a croquet stroke. This has some length to it - but red's up there if needed.

Runs it by 5 yards and hits blue to hoop 4. Needs to stop this into the lawn a bit going to black. ooooo - hits hoop 4 dead on - lucky to be able to still hit black, but he needs another big croquet stroke.

Has a good rush to 6, which he hits well. We won't be having any peels here - just a 4ball break

Black is 7 yards from 1back.

Makes 6, very good stroke puts out a good red and has a good rush to 1back - hits it to a yard to the west of 1back. That's teh difficult hoop.

no problems - another big croquet stroke... blue is near 5.. yellow is tracking towards the jaws of hoop 5... drifts safely past.

Turns out both David and Stephen are staying with Stuart Jackson - must have been nervy in the house last night

Croquets blue to the peg, rushes red to 2back while blue is still moving - ok in AC. Red is going to 4back.

Bruce Rannie has pointed out that sunset is at 7.49pm, so Stephen could run out of time to win 3-2. Still, with Maloof in play, we're looking at a strong possibility of 3-0 here.

"Black's the one ball you can't have at penult" - it really needs to be at rover. But it's going to penult...

He's tempted... looking at a straight peel on red .... good decision... approaches the hoop, and runs 4back with yellow.

Chris Williams has just updated the world rankings to date:
http://butedock.demon.co.uk/cgs/rank.php
Maloof currently at number 6. Needs to win the championship to stay there

He'll be number 5 in the world if he wins this.He has picked up over 200 grading points here

Makes penult off black, will make rover off red. Blue is for the peg.

We've exceeded 106 readers, probably similar on streaming. James went away a while ago to report some audio challenges with the streaming

Makes penult. Black croqueted to just south of rover, blue being croqueted back to the peg and he's taking croquet a foot in front of rover.

Wants a very tight rush to corner 4. The plan recommended by Chris... run hoop, hit black, get very tight rush to corner 4, takeoff and have blue off. Then yellow to the west boundary with hoop to blocking the roll to 4back.

Runs rover. Hits black

Rushes red 5 yards north of the corner. "Guarantees oppo will shoot at yellow"

Takes off - pegs out blue, and goes off 6 yards south of corner 2 - good effort there.

Stephen Mulliner: Blue is pegged out, Black is for 4back. David Maloof Yellow is for the peg, red is for 4back

17. Stephen shoots at yellow from B baulk - misses.

18. Maloof rushes black down a few yards... that's the shot of a man who doesn't want to lay up in corner 3 giving the win/lose shot. He'll lay up on east boundary with the boundary ball wired. Near corner 4 we expect

Takes off getting a rush on red up to corner 3!! - would be a nice rush-peel to get - from 20 yards!

Taps red, keeping with plan A - rolling to a wired position near corner 4 - he'll leave yellow open if he managed to get the wire on red.

When these two met in the Mac:
England v USA (18-3)
5-9 January 2014
Te Mata Croquet Club, Havelock North
Stephen Mulliner lost to David Maloof -17tp, +6tpo, -16

Leaves a rush

19. Stephen shooting - won't get a safer shot than this. Smooth shot... shaking his fist in triumph well before black got past hoop 4 - lucky that ground is true!! Hits all of yellow.

Rushes to 4back. Approaches it sending red deep and pretty straight. Runs the hoop well. Rush is pointing at rover

Hits it in the middle sending it 7 yards from penult. This is challenging

Plays an excellent croquet stroke putting red north of the peg. Press up and a 1 yard straight hoop - he's through, and has a 4-5 yarder pointing at rover.We could be here for a bit longer...

Rushes red 2 yards south-west of the peg. ....

And plays a really dreadful hoop approach - ends up a foot adjacent to rover. "oooo-ooo-OOOhh" go the crowd.
Taps in front, leaving only a little of the target for red.

20. Maloof shooting at partner - doesn't get anywhere near it - the only consolation being that he missed on the correct side to not leave an easy double.

21. Stephen runs rover by 4 yards. Has a good hard look at the peg, and is now shooting at red and yellow.

Re stalks... casting - a silent 'oh, yes' and big fist - again long before contact. Hits yellow, so nothing can go wrong now.

Stephen Mulliner wins game 3 26-21 Maloof leads the world championship final 2-1

Local time is 4.30pm. They must be tired - I am!!

Game 4: Maloof v Mulliner, Maloof leads 2-1

No break for these chaps.

1. Mulliner plays blue to east boundary

2. Maloof has yellow slightly on the lawn but puts that back off and goes for red as usual - red to just south of corner 2

3. Mulliner takes the short shot at blue... hits. Takes off to red.

Hopgood "I reckon Stephen's going to crunch this up now"

If only we could put photos on croquetscores - Eugene has a cracker of Stephen's reaction just before he hit that last shot in game 3. He's sending it to me to put on facebook, so if you can access it, chck it out.

Mulliner hits red, rolls it to just north of peg high and 4 yards in from the boundary. Shoots off behind partner again.

4. Maloof shoots from the north boundary - goes through the middle and off into corner 4. Stephen can gain some momentum now

5. Rushes across. Blue to hoop 2, rushes to 1, croquets red well north of 3, approaches the hoop and gets the extra 2 foot 6 on the boundary hits. Croquets it to 4 not getting a rush. Will be approaching 3 from the north boundary...

He's going pretty far west... then it hills a mile further...unrunnable!!

That looks like where Maloof tried to jump from - probably a bit longer. Plays into corner 3 after some though. Maloof has an yarder with yellow from corner 4 at red.
Another error from Mulliner - he deliberately played a ball to hoop 4 not trying to get a rush to 3

6. Maloof turning down the relatively short yellow at blue. Manager not impressed. Misses blue on the right shooting with red.

7.Blue now has a 7 yard pickoff at blue, or 8 at yellow. He was casting before David had lined his ball back on. Re stalks.

Horrible swing - his followthrough swings out to the right - he knew it was bad as soon as he contacted his striker's ball. Misses on the left.

8. yellow has a 1 footer, or a 3-4 yarder for a cannon with red. Maloof playing red. should have a cannon. Stephen has hung around to help (??)

Maloof having a good look at things. Stephen has retreated. Colin Irwin on with a big stick to officiate. Blustery now, wind going west to east (as this croquet lawn lies - anyone who knows me knows I don't do directions!!)

Basically, yellow has rushed blue off. Blue is sitting just north of corner 4's peg, and Colin is now leaving also as David looks around for Stephen. Looks like he was just wanting to confirm with Stephen that it had been adjudged a cannon before continuing. It is a cannon. I have mentioned a few times David's a really nice guy - he is.

Croquet pro and groundsman "Chris, if it gets dark are you gonna peg down or use the lights?"

(we're not on a lawn with lights...)

Cannon - lovely - yellow a few yards north of hoop 4, rushes blue to 2 yards SE of hoop 1. Approaches to get a long 1, which he runs

Daniel Pailas wants the full hoop 1/ hoop 2 cannon - The critical thing here, though, is making hoop 1 - preferably with control

Makes 1, rushes blue to the peg, takes off to get a long rush on partner - doesnt hit all of it and he doesn't have the power for this. Needs to roll off hoop 2 with partner from by the peg. Daniel's still disappointed at the cannon. David probably is wishing for something nicer right now too

There won't be a publish announcement about light until the manager has told the players.

Rolls up... perfect!! runs the hoop, hits yellow (hoop and roquet). (Chris getting a cannon lesson...)

Croquet stroke from near the north boundary - it's difficult and rolls aren't hit best feature...

hit.. his

Plays it really really well. Yellow is a couple of yards south of hoop 4, which is not ideal, as black is still parked in corner 1, however he has a rush to hoop 3. Needed to slide past hoop 2 to get there -it's a great shot which deserves the applause it gets.

Runs the hoop to get a long return roquet - about 4 yards

Rolls blue to SW of 5 and well placed. Red down a line that isn't ideal, but perfect length. Hits it in the middle to get a 2.5 yard hoop approach from NW. This is one of his strengths. Plays it really well. 3 foot hoop but it's dead straight. And he's through. Very good

Disaster - fails hoop 5 from pretty straight and shorter than average. Getting the ref on to check. He's playing red. It was blue Stephen was querying last time. Red was the other unwanted ball at the initial hoop-2-checking in game 1.

Tony Hall takes a fraction of the time to check the hoop than Stewart did, and declares it fine. Clip on. Stephen on.

7. Stephen shooting blue at red... from North East.... misses!!! Hits the wire and bounces across the face.

8. Maloof runs 5 to applause - it looked entirely in the jaws but good to be through - maybe Mieke is over there. Anyway, through 5, hits blue (it was a foot away), and the break continues. Black is still hiding in corner 3, and blue is a bad 1b pioneer for going to from corner 3 - it is south-east of the hoop and about 3 yards away.

Ok, bit of housekeeping - I've requested that the camera move closer to the court, have send Eugene a request as we see if we can get photos on here (!!!!!) and got a really lovely email from Edmund's mum.

Meanwhile Maloof made 6, went to corner 3, dug out black, played another excellent approach to 1back, and discussions are ongoing about getting those cameras back somewhere good

Sends blue accurately to 3back and has a rush to black - all back and tidy.

The camera is advancing up the east boundary. Still a hardy crowd here.

Through 2back ok, black is very near the peg, yellow as a good ball to rush away for the leave, and he has a longish 3back.. wobbles through, but fortunately for David it has limped through by another couple of ball's lengths.
It's time for that croquet stroke again. Blue (the hoop 1 ball) towards the west boundary... red... doesn't have a rush on black to the cross-pegged spot, and he'll be croqueting it there, but everything is much tighter than usual. He should focus some deliberate practice on some of those croquet stroke ratios and get spreads tidier before the Mac.

That said, he's now 2-1 up and break up in the 2016 World Champs finals and has played very well all week.

Setting the leave. Hopefully blue and black are cross-pegged - no guarantees on that today! playing red into position from a wee way. Good turn.

9. Stephen playing his hoop 3 ball from the peg - looked at the hampered stroke but decided he didn't fancy that. Shoots down from corner 3 - misses on the left of yellow - into corner 4. Looks gutted

10. Maloof rushes across , plays a wee inside-out kind of croquet stroke getting a good hoop 2 pioneer and a rush to 1 - plays that well. That spell of sitting out might have calmed his nerves a little

Not that calm - screams through hoop 1 and has a 6 yard return. Hits it. a co-commentator suggests that you can make this 6 yarder easy. Nope.

Hits the 6 yarder anyway. Plays the big croquet stroke - down a great line - but blue is thundering down the lawn - will it stay on?? - yes - about 2 yards in from corner 3.

Hits the 6 yarder anyway. Plays the big croquet stroke - down a great line - but blue is thundering down the lawn - will it stay on?? - yes - about 2 yards in from corner 3.

Sorry about the repeats - happens a little.
Makes 2, gets the rush down... to three yards west of corner 4 - has a big takeoff to play - or an almighty croquet stroke to play

Take off - nerve wracking? - manager is staying "stop, stop, stop, stop, stop"... stops - about 3 inches in from the corner. Rushes this to near the north boundary about 10 yards west of corner 3.

First attempt at pictures in croquetscores.com hasn't quite worked - Tim?? It's an https link, but can you do magic on it?

Takes off to blue, has a cut - rushes to nearish 3, runs the hoop by a long way - 4 yard return - hits. Has a rush on black south, but it's quite long and he doesn't have a great deal of power - Robert Fulford is masterful at this shot.

Black ends up 4 feet SE of hoop 4 - approaches the hoop pushing black halfway to hoop 5 and plays it well.

I should mention - since things have gone on rather long, the NCC have put on hot chicken wings - thank you!!

We're having a crack at getting picture onto croquet strokes - while Maloof looks like he's still going to have a crack at a delayed TP. Blue is well south, red is good but hard to peel going to blue - surely a ball to hoop 6 at this stage.

Rushes to 5. He's not good at getting rushes out of these hoops, and after his first break ended prematurely in the jaws of 5 he's not going to get a rush here. Angled hoop - no problem - rush is towards 1back. Rushes it 5 yards west of hoop 6

Eugene's spectator pics: https://goo.gl/photos/TAUBxKZCo5Ww6fT1A

Rushes red away from 4back to give room for the peel going to blue - he needs to make sure this hits the hoop to keep control - misses, but only to a foot behind the hoop. We should now have a ball to the peg.

Runs 6, blue will go towards the peg, and partner will be 2b pioneer.

Taps blue - it's next to 6, takes off to red, has a 4 yarder - which he hits in the middle - rushing it just north of hoop 6, but clear of any problems - nice place to play the croquet stroke from

Red's a good 2back pioneer, and he has a slightly long but straight rush to 1back. Cuts it a little and will be approaching from a yard to the side again.

Red's a good 2back pioneer, and he has a slightly long but straight rush to 1back. Cuts it a little and will be approaching from a yard to the side again.

Approaches to angle... makes sure of the hoop - it does appear to have got easier to run these and he has a very long roquet at anything on the lawn having run 1back. He's a good shot though - 7-8 yarder at black... fidgeting a bit as he settles. misses badly on the left!!

11. Stephen has about a 5 yarder for a break. Needs to play black at yellow.

clips: yellow now on 2back, red on 4back, black on 3, blue (which is sitting near hoop 6) is on 1.

Stephen has lifted blue - Daniel Pailas is delighted - Chris Clarke is most unimpressed.

Hits the 5 yarder from B baulk, croquets yellow to 2 and rushes down to red near hoop 1.

doesn't approach 1 very well, but he's through with a controlled hoop stroke.

Google refusing re-sharing of images posted to their albums, but you can see Stephen celebrating the roquet that wins game 3 here: https://goo.gl/photos/1x24Mhu9WTr8aU546

Makes 2 and rolls yellow to 4. he'll be having a ball around.

Eugene has appeared with photos of a huge rice crispie slab. He has been sent back to get samples of the real thing!! He's a great chap, and appears to have had a really good time these last two weeks

Runs 4 to get a 2.5 yard roquet which is fine

Chris still whittering 'I can't believe he played blue'. There was suggestion of a TPO - with yellow on 2back?? - yeah...nah

Aha- the missing Aussies are watching from the second level - great view of these lawns. I meant to get up there at some point. I also meant to photograph some of the croquet art here. I haven't. Hopefully Eugene might have and posted it to his shared folder.

With these clip positions Chris would have a reverse MSL. Stephen is looking like having a spread.

Red to 3back, hits black, takes off to yellow which is next to 2back.. he's short - has a wee take-off - plays it well and carries on

114 readers. We peaked at 117 - probably a couple of kiwis have gone to work and a couple of brits to bed.

Yellow (for 2-back) is quite tight on the peg, it'll be a reverse spread. Runs 3back without a rush and is croqueting red (for 4back) towards the east boundary.

Red and yellow can't see each other. Stephen is looking quite comical as he tries to get his feet in a position to be able to rush black away - copes, but he will have to roll towards the west boundary from distance.
More discussion about drones. They're noisy.

Plays the roll - looks happy enough (but he looked happy enough with those earlier leaves!)

This is a good moment to point out that today is ANZAC Day (Australian and NZ Army Corps). The day Australians and New Zealanders stand together to remember those who have been lost in the armed forces defending their comrades and our allies. To learn more, check this out... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnzacDay

12. David lifts yellow from near the peg, shoots up towards corner 2 - misses by a ball's width to a foot out of corner 2.

13. Stephen rushes across to red near the east boundary... nails the middle of the peg. Now has a big roll. Chris: "he's quite good at this shot". Rolls them down - blue towards corner 4 - being quite defensive - gets a nice rush to 3. Rushes a couple of yards to the side, and it's a good approach

Runs the hoop with very little wire - hits his 3.5 yarder in the middle. Won't be picking up yellow just yet

Big pass roll - red goes a long way south, but he has a rush to hoop 4 - wouldn't take that one back

(thanks for the really nice email Rhys :) - you've done a fantastic job here helping everyone, refereeing, setting and resetting hoops, helping with management - and really nice to see you again. Hopefully next year...)

Makes 4 with a rush to the south boundary, croquets blue short of 6 and gets a rush to 5. Approaches well. Things are slowing down out there a little and it's probably cooling down.

Makes 4 with a rush to the south boundary, croquets blue short of 6 and gets a rush to 5. Approaches well. Things are slowing down out there a little and it's probably cooling down.

Has a slightly angled hoop which he hits while casting - that looks easier... replaces black - takes a lot of wire, and he's through hoop 5. Stephen's doing well to keep going here - he must be wrecked. The manager is knackered - multiple days of getting up at 7 and working on lawn assignments and plate pairings until 11pm. Really smooth tournament this.

I really, really don't like this - Stephen has approached 6, marked his ball, lifted it, then summoned a referee. Golf croquet laws handle that well..

Through 6. Red is a good 1back pioneer so he can take off to yellow and finally have all the balls

Stephen has made 1back, nothing special going on here - nice to have a visit from Sherif - that live streaming is still going.

It's 6pm. about 100 minutes of daylight left. But Stephen is pretty quick...

It's 6pm. about 100 minutes of daylight left. But Stephen is pretty quick...

Yellow to 4back, red's at 3back. Blue is going up to 4back - he might be tempted to have a crack at an STP. Croquet's blue up to 4back - it's in front, but a bit distant. Yellow is short of it

Over cuts the rush on red to 3back but comfortably through - has another 2.5 yarder and needs a big roll from 5 yards south of hoop 4 - hoop 4 must be in play here.

Edmund would be delighted! - Stephen kicks a leg out as he rolls red really well to east of penult going to yellow. He's going for it!!

Yellow going to north-east of 4back. Trimmer "very wide yellow given he likes his bombard". He did overhit it somewhat.

Rushes blue about a front. CC: "Looks guaranteed to go through".... "ooo he's played it gently ... if he tries to wibble this through anything could happen". Same result as earlier - runs the hoop into blue.

Rushes yellow to the north boundary. In a bit of a rush, and he stops it while it's moving, croquets it to a very good rover pioneer position and rushes to penult. Approaches penult well - the blue clip is on penult already

Nothing doing onto penult - it's another spread - a very reliable leave.

approaches rover. Red's at the peg - much easier to get a spread sorted when you've made rover. Rushes yellow up, croquets it towards the east boundary - it's a spread.

Great stat from Chris "Statto" Williams, the rankings officer (rankings god, depending on your leanings).... This is the first world championship final so far without a completed peeling turn.

I find this comforting, as earlier this week I was reminded that in the last worlds I got to the quarters without a tp :) A worlds though...

Maloof lifts red, his 4back ball, from near the peg. Shooting from corner 3 again - he is the best shot from the corner 3 area this tournament. By far. ... Looking... looking... hits!!! Huge applause.

14 Maloof hits, croquets blue up the lawn getting a rush on black. Perhaps a better option would be to take off to black and rush it to yellow. Anyway, rushes black towards 4back.. 4.5 yards east of 4back - rolling.. looked ilke a gentle shot but keeps gong - it's very long and a bit angled. Black is the peg ball, but he doesn't fancy it.

Blue and black look to be wired through hoop 3. Heading off for a look at partner - might shoot at it - Chris wants him to go north of yellow and leave himself a rush at hoop 4. Stephen has a cheeky peek at black at blue. I think Maloof is checking out if it's safe for him to shoot at yellow - hitting would give him the option to take off back and have another go, but would it leave a target

Doesn't shoot, but goes south of yellow. Interesting discussion next to me about the options if it gets dark. Still no discussions with the players, so I'm not telling.

15. Blue and Black are wired, Stephen hands on hips - he'll be shooting with something. Blue is on penult (sorry - there was that straight peel). Trimmer has been off to check things out - "Blue can almost hit the centre of black"

Chris "it'd be a doddle now if he hadn't peeled 4back"

What's he got the other way - Trimmer "he can hit this", but it's his peg ball...

Shooting with the peg ball (well, casting)

Shooting... hits!

Rolls blue towards corner 2 giving himself a bit of a hit in... hits yellow... will stop this to corner 1, red will be going somewhere far, far away

Hits red - this is going to the middle of the east boundary. Blue is actually probably about 7 yards south and 3 yards west of corner 2. Tempter... red is croqueted to 4 feet in front of 4back!

They've been going for 9 hours now. That's a rather long time - particularly for Stephen who played 5 against Reg yesterday.

16. Maloof casting at blue and black (well, one of them) with red. Shoot - looking... he has shot brilliantly - just an amazing number of yards of hitting today. Hits blue!!!

Blue to 5 yards from penult, has a rush on black towards 4back - he needs to complete this break really. Rushes really well to 4back "oh boy, oh boyohboyohboy" - that's a spectator enjoying the rush. He as a bit of an approach to play, but from straight in front... and a 2 foot straightish hoop... through it well. 3 yard return (needs to collect his clip eventually...)

Hits black, rushing it to the peg, collects the clip on the way to collect his striker's ball. taking off from black to yellow - hoop 1 is rather in the way. Keeps it safe

Stephen: 4back and peg, Maloof 2back and up to penult on a break. Chris fancies just having a reverse spread here.

Rushes yellow to 7 yards south and slightly east of rover ... shouldn't have anything in the way of the takeoff. Could really do with a rush to penult here...

Rushes yellow to 7 yards south and slightly east of rover ... shouldn't have anything in the way of the takeoff. Could really do with a rush to penult here...Good shot

Rushes really nicely to penult, hoop and roquet. is black coming off?

Has left blue at penult, so the reverse diagonal that Chris favoured looks unlikely

Making rover off the peg ball, black

Considering his options - would need to peg black out with a roll, rush yellow somewhere, then probably would need to move blue - not attractive here. No leave is looking attractive really

Approaches the hoop, will have a rush north...

Through rover, rush is pointing straight at the peg. Remember blue is on penult, Maloof's other ball is on 2back...

Rushes black to near the north boundary - it'll be some sort of spread

Oh dear - croquets black towards the west boundary - about yard north of level with 5. Maybe a 12 yarder from the south boundary. Hits blue, leaves that nearish the peg, everything open. He's off to corner 4. Another fairly poor leave

Encouraging blue to shoot at black unfortunately.

Taking croquet in corner 4. Black just looks really short from here. He's looking at a spot a few yards north to go to leaving a rush to blue - better not leave a double this time

Not leaving a rush to blue - looking to leave a rush to corner 1 - that's a double from A baulk.

Stephen is walking to the end of A baulk - that should dissuade him from leaving a double... no he can't be discouraged - it's a rush to corner 1, from a yard out of corner 4 - it's awful.

17. Stephen lifts blue and has many options - takes the short shot - and hits.

Taking off to red and yellow - it's a good shot, and black is moved about 6 yards into the lawn. Probably needs to cut red behind yellow, but partner can be used for rover,so just needs this rush.

Taking off to red and yellow - it's a good shot, and black is moved about 6 yards into the lawn. Probably needs to cut red behind yellow, but partner can be used for rover,so just needs this rush.

Interruption to service at a critical point as I buy more data.

Takes off behind yellow, rushes 2 yards east of penult. Approaches - goes sailing past... is it runnable.. has a pressup.. casting - great hoop.. runs it .. hits yellow - takes off to black. Average rush to rover and a pressup before his 1 yard hoop. Should be ok from here.

Rubbish time for connetion to die.

Runs rover really well, cuts badly…

6-7 yard pegout, and the manager is poised to have a chat with the players. This time we have Colin Irwin officiating...

Nails the peg. 2-2

Stephen Mulliner wins game 4 26-19

Brilliant - Daniel Pailas and Michael Wright have just introduced each other - they've been sitting together since about 10 am having a great conversation.

Well done Michael - he has just scored a drink from his new buddy.

Chris has conversed with the players - about 40 mins of light yet. Bill Mead is in the cupboard.

There will be about a 15-20 minute delay. They are setting lawn 2. Will start in daylight. Lights will be turned and they will continue in about 15 minutes time.

Both players have been given the option to stop and have decided they would like to play on.

I couldn't keep up with all Chris's announcement as it was quite noisy here, so needed to focus too much to listen and type.

Anyway - we carry on - in 15 mins time!

We have been here about 10 hours. A lot of beverages have been consumed, and in the last two minutes three glasses have become casualties!

Ok, Greg Fletcher has let me snaffle Callum's seat while he's off fetching food.

Both players were offered a 20 minute hit up to get used to the new conditions - new lawn, boundaries, light. They have both declined that practice session. And will have zero hit up.

We have resettled. I'm on a sofa with Greg Fletcher in the front row, but he's a little uncomfy that Callum'll be back soon. Have also been given Eugene's G&T. Thank you!! I think I have a seat reserved in the second row forwhen Callum comes back. More of an issue.. 22% battery!

got electricity, and it'll reach row 2

Still setting lawn 2 as a tourist is photographing the growing crowd. Last night out on the town is off for everyone - pizza for 100 please dominos!

The lights are starting to take effect while the players decide to have a hit up after all.

Callum is back... but we have a resolution - we're gonna snuggle up on the sofa. Works for me :)

Stephen Mulliner vs David Maloof: Game 5 - match is tied at 2-2

updating now is very slow. James Hopgood is pointing out it's very late in the UK - saying something about a snooker match that went on into the night and 30 million? people stayed up to watch. Steve Davis and someone? - it was a very long story...It anyone wants to type us some information I'll cut and paste it in

Really slow to update now, cooling down here. Estimate of 200 people at peak of actual present folks at this venue.

Lights are on – it’s still light here though. After declining a hit up, the players are finishing their hit up. They don’t seem to be very happy with corner 2

Tim’s resetting the server – fingers crossed…

At Stephen has started every game, and David has played red and yellow in every game, we are no closer to knowing who won the toss

Ian Burridge has confirmed the picture is very good now.

We're back!!! Yes, Debbie.. a few more yards of hitting by Maloof than commentary - but maybe not much.

We've got a day-nighter...

Probably still around 60 spectators

I'm sitting 4 feet from one of the readers - better make sure i keep it accurate. Yes, it's the first ever AC final under floodlights. Greg's off to phone the Mrs. Callum's back with his nuggets..

1. Maloof going first!! - Blue to east boundary

2. Mulliner plays yellow south of corner 2

3. Black shooting at blue - hits.

We are not sure if they have mowed this lawn, as we weren't expecting this length of match. It has done well to keep the audience enthralled. Typing has kept me out of trouble

Very fine takeoff and Maloof dribbles into hoop 2's wire - he can't hit yellow, but can easily head home. Hits blue on the way back "it's absolutely bonkers" - no effort to lag a rush anywhere interesting. It's back to a standard opening.

Edmund did call a 5-game final.

Stephen taking the long double from B baulk. I don't really like this boundary. Callum suggests firing at black and hoping it hills into blue. Must have crossed Stephen's mind as he's back to A baulk. The boundaries on here aren't very nice

Swinging - shoots - in the middle! Amazing that the streaming video has gone on all day - just brilliant. Callum recknos there are still 80 here, about 108 for the end of Reg v Mulliner.

Croquets black in a bit getting a rush to hoop 1 - has the referee on asking for something - quick discussion and he's playing the rush - nice shot.
We still have daylight and Stephen's shadow when standing at hoop 1 extends all the way to within 2 yards of the north boundary. And he's a relatively short man.

Plays the approach to 1 from a nice place... it's awful - it's unrunnable - in fact, it's almost adjacent to hoop 1! yellow is still hanging out in corner 2, so he can play up to 2 yards east of that and give Maloof a shot at something

Stephen shoots at yellow near corner 2 - misses. "it is a double? it's a big double. It's the biggest double in the world... you've got to be bonkers to shoot at that!"

Stephen probably left a bit of a target there too

Getting a yard stick out to see where the balls should be accurately replaced. it looks like red is slightly east of the corner. Yellow is probably 8 inches south of the corner. we have a few referees in attendance. Christian "if there's a misplaced ball, does he get to take the shot again?". No, he doesn't.

What a beautiful temperature. Allegedly 27 degrees. The house pool is beckoning - rats.

Nothing changed - one yarded in off the west boundary, one of the north boundary - neither are corner balls.

5. shoots with blue from near hoop 1... hates it ... misses to a foot east of corner 2

Stephen gets the cannon - rushes blue 5 feet south of hoop 1, red 4 yards NE of hoop 2 - deserved a little more applause for that.

6. This is turn 6. Runs 1 a little unconvincingly and he has missed a 3 yard forward roquet up to 2 yards SW of 2!! Was about 3 feet through hoop 1.

Red and yellow are wide open and about 7-8 yards apart. Maloof will be shooting at partner

Thanks for getting things up and running again Tim - croquetscores.com is brilliant, and it's back operating normally.

Maloof is having a really good look at red at yellow. Chris keeps saying "it's wide open".

We don't think the lawns were cut this morning. Callum observes they are a different colour to this morning. John Christie thinks they might have used the new "jacobson 322" ? to have an experimental cut

7. Maloof shoots blue at yellow - likes it .. misses to the north boundary. 6 yarders all over the place!

8. Stephen shooting red at blue - nails it.

Rolls blue to hoop 2 - rushes unimpressively to WNW of 1. Is downhill approaching the hoop ... plays it well - bit of an angle, but should be ok. The hoop sounded pretty firm last time he ran it, so it's probably non-trivial

Runs it really nicely to get a rush to black on the east boundary. Cuts it a bit north, but he should be ok with blue out there south east of 2

Has a good hoop 3 pioneer and among the balls. I reckon he'll finish in two turns now - easier conditions

Another big comeback - he was 2-0 down against Reg also, and had to hit a tealady to stay in the match. Maloof is by no means gone though!

Very good spot Callum... This is Stephen's fourth straight best-of-five to go to 5 games. He dispatched Christian in the round of 32 best of three 2-0, but then went to 5 against Forster, then Huneycutt, then Bamord and now Maloof. He's getting his money's worth!

Through 5, no dramas here.

Lawn really quite slow now. blue and yellow somewhere near 1back - one of them must be the pioneer.

Another very trivial fact... this is the first worlds final to be played on two lawns. We're on lawn 2 around the side, we started on lawn 6 this morning.

More dramatic - black doesn't go to 2back, he's rushing blue up, and croqueting that back down somewhere that is hinting at 2back - about 6 yards away from it. Rushes to 1back This is red he's playing yellow clip on hoop 2.

Stephen has got through this whole match without laying for a sextuple. MW "he has been restrained"

It'll be another spread.. yellow to the peg, black to 3back, needs to rush to 2 back but the lawn is extremely friendly.

Copes well. Sleepy crowd continues to spectate. Greg hasn't come back though - either he's in trouble with the other half or he doesn't think this couch fits three.

Croquets blue into the peg and it bounces off to a nice position, taking off from partner. It'd be nice for this to continue a bit longer as the shadows are just becoming evident.

Runs 3back past black - made sure of that. Needs a decent croquet stroke to get his spread right now though

Good croquet stroke puts black towards the west boundary getting a short rush on blue. Putting it tight onto the peg - Eugene is clapping enthusiastically. Rushes off the east boundary. Not sure how easily blue rushes to hoop 2 though...

It's a spread. Maloof on the lawn before Stephen has played his last shot.

Seems reasonable, as Stephen has been pretty eager this match.

9. Maloof lifts black, the ball nearish 2. Looking at shooting at blue at the peg. Not a bad option, as that east boundary isn't very appealing

Maloof: blue and black for hoop1, Stephen: red for 4back, yellow for 2

Takes the long shot after all. Misses. Goes off the lawn a yard short of corner 4

10. Stephen rushes red to 2 yards south of the peg. Blue must be able to be rushed to hoop 2. Stops red up a bit - miles from 3. Rushes well hoop 2

This lighting is pretty bad - light bits, shadows, dark bits. Stephen has played under lights in Cairo before, Maloof probably has experience also.

Thanks to Eugene for photographing lots of the croquet art in the centre and sharing on google.

Makes 2, rushes back, underhits a croquet stroke and blue is level with hoop 5 and needs to cut to 3. Cuts it to level with 3 as Reg appears on the scene - back from fishing?

Hoop and roquet. Taking off to corner 4. "most difficult shot in the game" - copes very well and has a 1 yarder. Needs to roll up past blue, but it looks very easy out there.

We’re on a croquet scores go-slow as Martin Murray advises me “What's this nonsense about it being very late in the UK? It's not yet 1am!”

And has the following information about the famous 1985 event:
“The 1985 World Snooker Championship final, commonly known as the black ball final, was a snooker match played on the weekend of 27/28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield,England. It was contested between defending World Champion Steve Davis and Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor, appearing in his second final. Taylor produced a determined comeback to win the match on the final ball of the final frame, sealing his only world title. The result was a major shock, as Davis was the heavy favourite, having won three of the previous four world championships. The final frame was one of the most exciting ever seen on television and Taylor's comeback was one of the most notable in the history of sport.
The event was in the eighth year of the BBC's coverage of the event, and snooker was reaching the zenith of its popularity. The climax of the final in the early hours of a Monday morning was watched by 18.5 million people in the United Kingdom,[2] which remains a record for BBC2, and also remains a record post-midnight audience for any channel in the United Kingdom. The total match time of 14 hours 50 minutes is the longest for a best-of-35-frame match.[3]

Stephen makes 4 and rushes up to red. Black is well short of 5 after rolling out of corner 4 – rushing red down would regain control easily – but rushes to peeling position and is taking off

Has an approach from a couple of yards straight. Wants a forward rush – good approach… runs the hoop to get a rush.

Peels 4back, has a rush to 6 – makes 6

Back connected - sorry about that. Makes 6, takes off to red, rushes it across, this will go to 2back getting a rush to 1back.

red is well short of 2back, and he's approaching 1back from a yard to the side. Bit short, but should cope. Press-up time. looks easy...

Runs it without a rush.

Croquets black well to 3back, has a rush on blue towards red.

Blue's left somewhat between 1 and 2, rushes to 1 - has a backward takeoff and quite an angled hoop. This could be interesting, but should be ok...

Runs it really nicely into red.

poor croquet stroke - red 5 yards SE of penult, and a rush pointing at corner 1. Rushes it towards corner 1 as bitey things start feasting on me!

Will need a good stroke here...

Plays it well. Taking croquet now north-east of 3back. Needs a very good rush to get a delayed double.

This is the fourth world championship match to go to 5 games. previously 1995, 2001, 2012. Won't have lasted this long though. It is now completely dark apart from artificial lighting

Rushes to NW of penult - he won't be trying to peel this, but puts it a yard in front of the hoop getting a cut to 4back.

Rushes it a couple of yards south of 4back. Maloof will be happy to return to the lawn if Stephen blinks.

Two foot 4back...

Runs it gently, and rushes it off the north boundary

Just a straight double tonight - what could possibly go wrong?

Blue to 3 yards north of the peg - I think it's far enough west to not get in the way. Rushes black level with penult. Taking off to get a rush to penult. Peeling from a slight angle at 8 inches

Lining this up carefully. Straight peel - hits it very well - red is 4 yards north of rover, yellow a foot through - good to finally see someone hit this at a proper pace.

Croquets black 2 yards south of rover. Rushes blue to the peg. Needs a good rush here. Blue will go level with rover...Picks a spot for red to go...

Blue joins black - no side ball, no deep ball

Rushes red really well - to a foot and a half dead in front of rover - good shot that

Peels red - lucky!!!- yellow is mostly through - then falls back into a hollow. red a yard through

Uses all the balls. No gratuitous bombard. Rushing to the peg from a foot... has a 3 foot pegout

Stephen Mulliner is the new World Champion!!!!

Mulliner wins game 5 26TP-0 after 11.5 hours

That was a 67 minute TP for a quality finish to a very scrappy world championship final

I'm out of here - people milling around now. Im' off to mill. And stretch. And congratulate the champion

I'm out of here - people milling around now. Im' off to mill. And stretch. And congratulate the champion

Final words from Callum "you get more value for money out of that than any football match" - well said sir - 11.5 hours.