Final should be kicking off in about 20 minutes. I know the 100,000's of people are so desperate to know whats happening, but you'll have to stayed glued to your chairs. Watch this space sports fans!

For the record holders.. who can tell me the youngest AC average age for an Open Doubles final? Maths was never my strength, but the average for this final is 26.5years which is a good sign for NZ. Also a guarantee that we will have at least one new name and potentially two on the silverware.

Freeth and Westerby have had a good 10 minute warm up on Lawn 1 (final on Lawn 2) and are both rocking a pair of black shorts and a lovely white polo with a stunning teal stripe down the side. Hakes has a t shirt on rather than a singlet which is nice and Fordyce isn't blinding us by his glowing colours for a change =)

Some pretty impressive turns so far this event, Harps gets a shout out for a nice QP against myself and the bald eagle, then Webby popped his doubles peeling cherry with a reasonably controlled triple with a very impressive angled rover peel finish

Freeth has come a long way in the last year and is a significantly better player than even 3 months ago when I last saw him (and got beaten by him!) at the Magak tournament in Auckland. A seriously good single ball shot player who can run a hoop with control and has the guidance from Aaron to help him where he is at his weakest - tactically. Unfortunately with the other semi final going into today, there will still be a time limit for the final of; 3, 2.5, 2.5. Fingers crossed our winners peg out in all games played!!

Hard to pick a favourite for this match - I think Byrant and Webby were just outright favourites at the beginning of the event but got beaten yesterday by the underdogs. Westerby has had a bit of rust, but has played reasonably well considering how little he has played lately. Most comments I've heard so far are picking Westerby and Freeth as slight favourites, but it's really tough to pick it.

We're underway!

Westerby = K
Hakes = R
Freeth = B
Fordyce = Y

K to EB
R to 1ft S of 6
B down the line into c4
Y rushes R off the SB level with 4 and has the innings.. geez that young fella can hit a balll straight!

Rolls over to c4 and croquets B to 6yN of the peg and K to 2y position at H1. Leaves a rush for Y to h1 which is possibly a double for K? Hakes will be desperate to get Fordyce round to 4b first, but I don't think its really a necessity.

K turns down a shot and goes into c1. Westerby and Freeth will definitely be the more defensive pair out of the two in this game. Good rush from Fordyce and he's approaching from 2y straight

Good h1 and gets a rush back into c1. I'll expect his clip to be on 4b with a spread at the end of this turn.

I spoke to soon.. grovelled through H6 and couldn't hit the reception ball. Missed the 1b pioneer and finished in c2

Y for 1b in c2
B 1yn of 1b (freeth)
K 2yN of h1 and R 2y N of h6

Freeth hits the 7 yarder to 5y s of h3 and has a good chance for a break

Nice croquet stroke, has made h1 with a southwards rush and has a good pioneer at h2 and the 4th ball in c2

Going round pretty nicely, a few questions during the break but is currently approaching h4

It's not the fastest turn in the world, but hes getting there. Josh has lost a bit of control and is rushing to h6 from just N of the peg

no pioneer within 5 yards of 1B, but has a good 2b pioneer and should be able to tidy it up pretty easily

Just approaching 3b and it's going to be a spread with Fordyce's 1b ball at the peg and Hakes' h1 ball over by the WB. Good turn Freeth

Peg ball is lifted and Fordyce heads to c3

Middles the lift into c4!

Good chance to get to 4b here

Has made 1b and 2b and with Hakes following him around the lawns and has managed to get an NSL, it's just the wrong way around and he didn't really have the time to get the parity right.

Current position:

Y and B on 4b
R and K on h1

K is at h4 in what looks like an OK position and B is over in good position on the WB. I don't think we'll see any surprises, Westerby will lift his ball at H4 and head into c3

Shot at the inlawn ball as that boundary isn't entirely straight, misses to 1y w of c4

Hakes now has a delayed TP to take the first

The job is harder with the rush to h1 finishing 5yS of h1

Has a hampered h1 and needs to hit the reception ball 7yN of the hoop

The umpire comes out and has a very interesting way of marking the balls... lets leave it at that.

Turns out he coudn't get it and plays up towards partner finishing 2y SE of c2. Will Freeth have a shot at something? I think Westerby will want to dry the game up and he will go tot he SB

Freeth goes tot he SB level with h5

Hakes hits his 5y Rush in the middle and it finishes 3y SE of h4. Really good take off and has a rush on the ball near c4 to the other ball on the SB. Massive increase in his chance to go round this turn now.

After some very good shots, plays a dreadful rush to h2 and finishes 10y of it. Plays a pretty reasonable croquet stroke to give him a 1y 10 degrees h2 which catches a lot of wire and misses to 6y SE of h2 leaving Freeth a 10 yarder on Hakes' ball where if he misses, he will finish next to Fordyce, or; play back down to Partner which is now just off the SB by h1.

Plays to give Westerbys K on the SB a rush to H1 but falls short and finishes level with H1

Hakes turns down the option to go into a corner and takes the 20 yarder at partner near c4...

Wasn't the big thrash he would have done in the past, looks good and middles it. Good shot bruv!

Another very average rush to h2.. approaching from 5yW with the standard TP ahead of him..

Fails into the runnable position, but I think Freeth has a relatively straightforward clearance

Freeth hits the 5 yarder.. now has a really interesting decision. Does he go to the peg and really put some pressure on? Ball is at 4b for him, or do they try and make a max distance leave to give Westerby a standard TP if they miss

Westerby is laid up in c2 with Hakes 1y NE of c1 and Freeth 4y s of H3 with a rush to the EB.

Hakes misses partner into C3 and Westerby has a standard TP with a few good shots

Has a backwards take off to h1 and has a 1ft 20 degrees

Good hoop and should be away. Oppo is 1ft n of h3 and partner is just off the EB level with the peg. Still a few good shots needed to get the TP. Didn't get a rush out of h2 and will be rolling it up to peeling position

Rolls it to 2ft SSE of 4b and plays a pretty good approach

I'm glad I'm sitting in the shade.. current temperature is 25 degrees and pretty calm with the wind.

Gets the peele just out of the jaws but still rush peelable and then blobs in 5

Fordyce has a 2 yarder and Hakes has a 7 yarder

I think an awful decision, after Fordyce walks onto the lawn.. they turn down the 2 yarder and Hakes takes on the 7 yarder at a ball just out of 4b

Hits the shot, but I don't think there was a need to take it on. Plays a good rush to H2 and is approaching off partner from 1y with a ball at 3 and one 1yN of h5

After h2, ignores a h4 pioneer and goes straight to h3 thinking of the peeling. Plays an awful shot positioning the peele where it bounced off the wire. Rushed escaped ball to h3 and got a good bombard so should still be peeling after 3

Looks like it's rush peelable, but has to be good shot

Rush down to the ball at h5 is unfortunate - the ricochet bombards the peele out of position

Tidies it up after h4 and has a good escape ball.. after H5 he doesn't get a rush and the croquet stroke runs into the wire of 4b. Can still hit the peele

Doesn't get the peel going to 6, but a good rush across and the 1b pioneer is far enough north he's still got a chance of getting the peel going to 1b

Good shot peeling going to 1b and is back in control

After 1b, rushes off the NB and plays a good stroke loading 3b and getting a rush to the WB. Croquets peele back into good position and has a good rush to 2b.

Good death roll going to 3b.. but finished within 1 roll of being completely wired on the pioneer. 1 peel to go!

Skinley and Hogan are game up against Bryant and Webby after a nice delayed TP from Skinley

Good finish, 26TP - 13 in game 1.

Game 2:

Hakes plays B to the EB.
Westerby plays a duffer
Fordyce misses (shock!) into c4
Freeth misses the duffer (think this is the first one he's missed this event!).

Fordyce half balls the 9 yarder and lands 4y E of the peg. Would be big turn to go round with, but on the croquet stroke getting a rush to 1, runs into the duffer so we willl see some sort of leave or he will need to roll of h1 from the SB

Snicks the 5 yarder on the boundary and approaches the hoop but goes too far and will abort towards c2

Freeth doesn't shoot at anything and goes into c4

Hakes has what was supposed to be a wide join on the NB beside partner, but ends up being a very tight join, I think Westerby had a nice target from over near h3 and misses.

Fordyce plays.. that's a surprise ;) . Makes H1 but doesn't get a foward rush and his pioneer for h2 is still on the NB

After 1, croquets a pioneer to H3 going to the ball in c4, takes off from this to ball on the NB, takes off to h2 and then sails through his 1 yarder with ease. Has all the balls for a break now

Really good pickup and he's now in complete control approaching 2b

Good tight spread with Westerby on the peg and it looks as if Freeth is on the WB - I missed a few shots, but I'm guessing he rushed it off the lawn after running 3b. Who will take the lift??

Westerby lifts the ball at the peg and heads to c3..

Hits the gap. Hakes has a delayed TP to claim the NZ Doubles

Makes h1 and still needs a few good shots to get the break out - h2 pioneer is 4yW of h2 and doesn't have a rush

Gets a good rush to c4 out of h2 and digs the ball out a few yards getting a northwards rush on the missed lift which was out of c4.

Skinley has one peel done of a delayed TP to close out the match for 3rd

Hakes plays the big roll after h3 loading 5 and going to partner near the SB. Has a northwards rush after h4 but I would refer to it as a roquet

Hits the 5 yarder in the middle and will have a nicely set up peel going to h6

Skinley failed 4b with two peels done in the 3/4 play off

Hakes gets peele in the jaws but falls short when rushing to h6

Underapproaches but runs a good 1ft 30 degree hoop and is back in control

After 3b he doesn't get a rush.. penault peele is 2ft w of penault and has a good escape ball

Jawses the peel but with the angle of the peele ends up having a 5y rush to 4b

Miss hits it and is approaching from 4y SW.. really tough angle but runs it no worries

Perhaps peele is just out of the jaws? After 4b puts red into an awful position - from a distance it looks in line with the peg rather than E or W

Peele goes to 3yN of Rover and he calls a referee on to watch the penault hoop shot. Looks like he'll be fine from here

Good deep ball and side ball.. 6" rush to rover

Over hits it by nearly 2ft and its now sitting 1ft W of rover

Rover and Peg plays 1 and 1...

Westerby is 8yN of h4
Freeth is 8YN of h1
Hakes and Fordyce laid up in c2 with a rush to R

R has a massive tripple from A Baulk but i suggest he'll go to B baulk and shoot across

heads to the end of B baulk and is lining it up..

re stalks

re stalks again

Middles it!

Should be a ball to 4b.. I'm guessing with a spread and then hoping for a miss

Westerby rushed to an average position, then had a lot of angle with hte backwards takeoff

Fails the hoop and the younger pairing has a chance to get the innings back

Fordyce turns down the 12 yarder at Hakes S of h2 for the win and Hakes takes a 13 yarder down at the balls by h1

Misses by not much and does a little dance after it

Freeth has played a good few turns and now has made H2 with a ball at h3

Commentators curse - after h2 he was loading 4 going to 3 from west of h2 and clubbed the strikers ball into the wire. Retires to partner near c1

Hakes takes a very agressive shot from h3 shooting at the balls near c1. Didn't need to do that I don't think and now gives Josh a chance to set up a nice easy 4bb rather than a semi difficult 3bb where he's much more likely to make an error

Freeth rushes to c4 and when loading 4 getting a rush on a ball 2yE of h4 to take up to h3, finishes with a rush pointing at the EB level with h4. Stops K (Fordyce) up to h3 and retires to partner.

Another bonkers shot.. Fordyce takes a shot from 5yN of h3 to the balls near c1. Freeth and Westerby where 5 yards apart and I think Josh was 20% to go to 4b if they corned. Now he's closer to 50% and the one way I can see them losing this game is if Josh gets to 4b, they miss the lift and Westerby finishes with a TP.

Josh now has all the balls in lawn a perfect h4 pioneer and a 1ft rush to H3

Will it come back to bite them??

Freeth has made h3 and has a good pioneer at 5 and control at h4

Still in good control, has made h6 but has the rover ball at 2b to keep the control so it'll be harder to get the ideal leave

Has the peg ball at 3b so could have the ideal NSL but has sent partner to the peg which means he'll be having a spread

I've just heard there is 31 minutes remaining in g2 so Westerby will likely need to complete a TP to tie up the match if the lift is missed

Spread with the rover ball at the peg and peg ball close to the WB. Good turn Freeth!

Fordyce goes to c3 and is shooting down the line. Nice to see them make a sensible decision.

Misses into c4. Potential finishing turn from Westerby.

Westerby has done the hard bit.. he's made h1

Wind has picked up a little bit and he's restalked already

Has a good escape ball at 4b and control at h5, but the peele is about 7y SW of 4b

No rush out of 5 so I'll be very surprised if he gets the peel going to 6

aborts and is taking a break to the peg - I'm not convinced he's got time to do that

11 minutes left and about to approach 1b. If this gets to the peg with a spread, it'll be the fastest westerby break I've ever seen =)

He's jogging between shots now

8 minutes left.. 4 hoops to make and a leave

just blobbed 3b. It's all over folks

Hakes and Fordyce taking their time over the leave. We will have two new names on the doubles championships. Will Fordyce be the youngest ever NZ Doubles champion?

Hakes misses a 6 yarder giving Freeth 90 seconds to hit a 13 yarder and make 1 hoop and set a leave..

Misses it. 23 possibly 24-17