Hello world, what a treat to be back at Cheltenham for a day before I head back to winter.

We have the quarter finals today, and I'll be covering Fulford v Suter and Burch v Mulliner.

Forget centre-court Wimbledon - we have a fast Cheltenham lawn and Robert Fulford in the Open Championship quarter finals!

It is overcast today, lawn 6 is a gorgeous pale cream colour and is approximately 12 seconds uphill (south to north).

It is overcast today, lawn 6 is a gorgeous pale cream colour and is approximately 12 seconds uphill (south to north).
The chaps have just finished their hitup, and this commentary will be a big chunk as Chris has wandered off with my wifi (phone) to have a chat on it to someone. Will send when he’s back.
The hoops didn’t look too difficult, and talking to people since I’ve arrived the general comment seems to be that

I’ll have to sort out the markup (as usual!) once I’m back online but will try to have Mulliner/Burch with Italics and Fulford/Suter in normal font.
1. Mulliner has kicked off with yellow to a normal east boundary position
2. Jamie plays in a duffer which seems to have hilled around to about six inches directly south of hoop 6.

3. Stephen shoots down from corner 3 with red, and misses on the yardline area - looked fairly close
4. Jamie shoots at the duffer from about 10y west of corner 3, and misses partner to a yard east of corner 1

These chaps are on lawn 5, which is also a beautiful colour. Jamie has played on most of the lawns here this week and reckons that's the most difficult lawn. I think we're going to have the final, as usual, on lawn 8, which seems a shame, as it's one of the easier lawns

5. Stephen hits partner in corner 4, rolls up, putting red to hoop 2, but hasn’t got past black, and rushes it to the west boundary level with hoop 6 – he’ll have an approach to 1 from near corner 1
Hmm, I thought we’d see a takeoff there, but he chooses to croquet black towards ? hoop 4? – puts black about 2 feet in from the yardline 5 y east of corner 4… but yellow is off!!

6. Jamie has a 3 yard rush on yellow to black… plays it poorly and he’ll be approaching hoop 1 off yellow – copes, but no useful rush – at least he has red at hoop 2 – should be ok.

Typical croquet stroke after hoop 1 –it’s uphill, and yellow ends up level with hoop 6 and only a couple of yards east of it

Meanwhile the old hoop holes on lawn 6 were disturbed by some birds overnight, and they’ve just been repaired, so we’re off in the Fulford v suter quarter too.

1. Mark to about 12y north of corner 4
2. Rob 6 inches north of corner 4

Jamie is through 2, but didn't give himself enough space to get a 4 pioneer, approaches 3 well, but dribbles through the hoop into yellow. Plays a good croquet stroke and he's away. Rushes to black before hoop 4

3. Mark misses the 13 yarder into corner 4, hitting the corner peg closest to red

4. Rob shooting at the double - snicks blue on the south side, promoting red up a little.

Looks a little like he might be considering playing something fun here! He seems to have the possibility of a promotion going to this black 12 yards up the boundary. It's unclear if he has the angle to keep the croqueted and striker's ball out of each others way and on the lawn though... he's playing it though! Chris is videoing it too

Pretty much a full roll... red 8 inches north and maybe an inch or two east of corner 4 spot.

Plays a gorgeous shot! - red to between 3 and 4 and slightly west of that line and yellow about a yard from black. Blue has come in a yard or two - really nice shot that.

Croquets black to hoop 2 getting a rush towards 1 - overhits this a bit, and black is closer to the west boundary than 2, and he has to cut partner to 1 - plays it really well, to 4 yards south of hoop 1. Should be away here.

Approaches 1 - has a 3 foot slightly angled hoop - and runs it nicely with a lot of wire to get a useful NW rush on red.

The lawn colour reminds me somewhat of Marewa during the 2014 MacRob. The lawns are a little slower (they've been estimated at 12-13.5 at various times and directions this week), but the hoops really aren't the nuclear difficulty of Marewa where touching the wires generally meant an unflattering rejection. Hopefully new holes for the semis, though we're also threatened with rain this after, which would be very disappointing.

Meanwhile, Jamie has just made 2back 6th turn. He surprisingly has all the balls still, as typically something is planted in corner 2 after 1back in superadvanced (I believe)

4. Rob hasn't rushed at all well to hoop 3 - he's approaching from about a yard SSW of hoop 3 - tries to approach it to get hoop and roquet - has blue as a fallback to thrash through to on the south boundary. Runs three firmly - gets a nice wick and centre-balls red (reception ball) off the middle of the south boundary. He's away now. Really nice play to set up for that hoop and roquet to enable him to not have to wibble through the hoop. Now instructing the balls to stay still as he rolls red south of hoop 4 giving himself a 2.5 yarder on blue, which he has hit - gives himself a deep ball for his hoop 4 reception ball to allow him to both attempt to approach the hoop from close off the pioneer, but also run it deep.

6. Jamie's leave has red and yellow across corner 4, red about 4 yards west of corner 4, and yellow looks about 6 yards north of corner 4. He rushes black towards corner 2 - it's now a couple of yards south of that, and plays black into corner 3.

7. Stephen takes croquet with red, taps blue, doesnt seem to have bothered black (I was called away for a straight-forward wiring decision on lawn 4) and has taken corner 1, although is very tight to the corner - it's a pretty free looking shot

8. Jamie shoots from near corner 2 immediately looks a bit unhappy, and black has gone between red and yellow.

4. Chris commenting on his video saying normally after 1back in super advanced you tend to put a ball into corner 2, but on quick lawns, best to keep all the balls for as long as possible – Rob demonstrates this by having red between 1 and 2, blue is at 2back, and he has made 1back off black. Puts black to the peg

9. Stephen can only get black out as far as hoop1, and rushes partner to hoop 1. Makes it - rolls partner defensively towards corner 1 (ok, a few yards in from it), and has a rush on black pointing towards corner 3 where blue is waiting (he must have taken off from it towards partner in corner 4, as it's a few feet west of the corner).

Plays a nicely paced stroke to rush black to corner 3... well, it's actually a bit south, and maybe could have done with an extra yard of pace.

4. Rob still going - he's going to give Mark a lift to position!

9.Stephen has played a good croquet stroke, ahd has a rush to hoop 2. Has woefully underhit this, and it's much closer to hoop 6 than 2. He might have needed some cut, but I think here he just played a poor stroke.

Rob rushes red into corner 4. Chris calling red 2 balls out of corner 4, black and blue in corner 3, yellow in corner 2. Let's see if that happens.

Stephen has overrolled his approach to hoop 2 - going home to yellow near corner 1 - he's trying to find a safe place to play to - can't really lag a ball down so this will be a shot off the buondary, as David Goacher just found on lawn 3 against Louise - he rolled back to partner near hoop 1 - and cross-wired himself as it drifted about 8 yards past partner! No, Stephen more sensible than that - shoots off south of yellow

4. Error from Rob - he has run 4back, so made all the hoops, but rushes black towards corner 3, takes off back to want to rush blue to the north boundary, leaving black a yard south of corner 3, but has run onto hoop 3, and has no swing onto blue. Plays yellow to a foot south of corner 2 (has to avoid the cannon), and his clip is on penult.

ok, not a real error, but not ideal

5. Mark has a lift to position - likely to lift black from corner 3ish and rush one of Robs balls to corner 3, put that to hoop 2 and play the long rush to hoop 1 on blue (which is NE of hoop 3). He seems to be thinking about going round the houses and taking red from corner 4 to corner 2 first.

• 
  
  1. oops - on lawn 5 Stephen has lost the innings - Jamie must have hit something - looks like he had played his 4back ball. Leaves yellow SE of hoop 1, red a bit too close, well south of hoop 2, and blue and black in corner 3 with a rush for his hoop 1 ball.*
     
     11. Stephen centres red from south of hoop 1 - should get going this time.
  
  

(sorry about that formatting)

(sorry about that formatting)

5. In the end Mark plays a micro rush on yellow (near corner 2) towards blue - hit it quite gently, but it reaches the boundary - maybe a yard south of where would be ideal. Croquets yellow back towards hoop 2, and the important ball, black, has about a one yard rush on blue pointing directly at hoop 1. Hits it really well, and it looks like a 12 second lawn as it runs downhill to 4-5 yards south of hoop 1 - this lawn looks very playable.

5. In the end Mark plays a micro rush on yellow (near corner 2) towards blue - hit it quite gently, but it reaches the boundary - maybe a yard south of where would be ideal. Croquets yellow back towards hoop 2, and the important ball, black, has about a one yard rush on blue pointing directly at hoop 1. Hits it really well, and it looks like a 12 second lawn as it runs downhill to 4-5 yards south of hoop 1 - this lawn looks very playable.

Plays a good approach to 1, gets plenty of wire running a 2.5 foot straight hoop and has a rush north. Yellow is about 3 yards ESE of hoop 2, and he has rushed blue somewhere handy, so should be away.
11. Meanwhile, Stephen has rushed to hoop 1 from corner 3, not sure where he approached it from, but he’s almost dead east of the hoop, and runs to the west boundary, guarding black’s shot
12. Jamie shoots from hoop 1 at red – it’s a free shot – again a disconsolate swing of the mallet after his stroke, and blue’s a yard east of corner 2

5. Mark's playing this turn nicely, rushes well to hoop 3, approaches to dead straight... and wibbles just through the hoop! Looking at playing through the hoop - no, can't reach - standing over it and playing in front of the hoop. Jeff Dawson on to adjudicate, and he plays it really nicely, hitting centre ball. Rushes it halfway down the lawn, taking a bit of length of the takeoff down the hill to corner 4 (he has a good yellow for hoop 4). And he's short!! - this is at least 6 yards...

Nails it, so we're back to lawn 5...

13.Stephen rushes red across to the east boundary, croquets it to hoop 3 getting some sort of rush on black to hoop 1 - and he's approaches to somewhere adjacent to hoop 1 and is playing back to partner. He has now played back to about 6 yards from partner. I'll try to get to see full detail of his next attack on hoop 1.

14. Jamie might corner here - Stephen's rush on partner is pointing at hoop 1, but it's probably actually closer to 7 yards, blue is a yard east of corner 2 ... and Jamie plays black into corner four.

15. Stephen not fancying the huge rush to hoop 1, hits with red (hoop 2 ball) at partner on the boundary - rolls them both across, leaving himself a tasty 4.5 yarder on blue.

Maybe it's 3.5-4 yarder

Meanwhile Mark has put his 6 pioneer a bit NW of the hoop, but it all looks ok, and he has taken off well to rush his decent hoop 5 pioneer on top of the hoop.

Clip update: Lawn 6 Robert Fulford is on penult (yellow) and 1, Mark Suter is on 1 and in a break with black

Clip update: Lawn 5: Stephen Mulliner is on 2 (red) and 1, and Jamie Burch is on 4back (blue) and 1

15.Stephen hits blue, approaches hoop 2 sending blue to hoop 3 (I was distracted watching Mark play), ... and sticks in 2.

16. Jamie hits partner in corner 4 from hoop 3. This is his forward ball, so we'll just see a leave here. Takes off from black all the way towards corner 2 - really nice shot that

5. Mark is having a DPO!!! Red is SE of 1back, rushes blue into yellow and it's now directly north of penult, but he puts out an escape ball getting a good rush on yellow back to the hoop - looked a bit short to me, but it's worse than that - yellow has curled around to directly in front of hoop 6! Chris wanted blue near the north boundary and some sort of Wylie peel, but Mark has put blue a yard NW of hoop 6. Looks like yellow really has found a disappointing position, and not really any fault of Mark's

16. Jamie has put yellow north of hoop 3, red about 7 yards north of hoop 1, and has shot off the south boundary givnig black a rush to hoop 1

5. Mark runs 6, yellow his really quite angly, and his return roquet could easily take it out of peeling position. Dribbling this off quarter ball could go horribly wrong - that's already where some hill occured. - hits yellow knocking it out of peeling position.

17. Stephen shoots at partner from north of hoop 1 - hits. Takes off to corner 4 well and rushes black into the corner.

Mark has put yellow back in front, and has a slight cut on red to 1back, which he hits really nicely. Has a good 2back ball for the death roll too - about 2.5 yards north of hoop 1

Stephen croquets black inlawn a bit - rushes to 4 yards SSW of hoop 2 - approaches putting blue VERY deep - looks ok though, but he has an angled hoop. Should be ok - he wouldn't have got through this at United in the NZ Open this year - the new hoops on a very firm lawn rejected most of his hoop attempts that day. Through this though by about 4 feet - hits blue.

It really is lovely shooting on this sort of surface - no need to thrash. I can't believe club players reckon lawns should be lush and green - most of them don't have the power to play in those horrible conditions.

End of rant.

Meanwhile, Mark has put red short of 3back, but gets good position to rush yellow into an ideal spot - about a foot north of penult - plays the peel really nicely - yellow is between peg and rover (a tad west of the line), and black is just a bit far east of the 2b pioneer, but taps it and is approaching the hoop from maybe 5 feet in front.

Stephen puts blue between 3 and 4 going to partner nearish corner 3 - puts that to corner 2 approaching hoop 3 - ends up adjacent to hoop 3 - clip is on, and he's heading back home

Mark runs 2back with loads of wire - in some conditions that would come straight back at you, but here it harmlessly rolls off the lawn and he has a rush north.

18. Jamie shooting at red and yellow - I wonder if hoop 2 is in play? - seemed like otherwise it might be a target. Jamie nails yellow (the inlawn ball) - maybe red was hidden? Anyway, that's Jamie in with his forward ball again.

5. Mark will have a go at a longish rover peel going to that pioneer which is about 3 yards NW of hoop 4. Has put out a really good 4back pioneer. - cuts yellow to fractionally west of straight - has about a 1 yard peel from the perfect position to go to red.

18 Jamie leaves yellow near corner 2, rushes red halfway between hoop 3 and the boundary, I expect he'll take corner 1 here - no - I thought he looked a bit disappointed - looks like that was a rush to 4back.

5. Mark plays quite a wide split - yellow gently dribbles into rover. Rob comments that these balls are pulling quite a lot. Mark with a cut to 3back as he overran red a bit. 'Good cut' says commentator Chris. Have to agree - approaching 3b from a yard SSE. Looks like he'll leave yellow there until he's for rover - sensible man.

18. (this isn't showing as sent): Jamie has croqueted red directly south of hoop 1 and is rolling to a wired spot from red on the east boundary level with hoop 4.

5. Mark approaches 3b well, but has a slightly nervy jerk as he runs 3back, leaving himself a 5 yard return - hits this really smoothly, but red still sails off the south boundary a couple of yards west of corner 4. Has a big croquet stroke now

Had the option to go and peel yellow at that point, but goes to the 4back ball - really good red a yard west of penult, and has a dribble at 4back - nudges blue to just north west of penult - has a backward takeoff - it's short, but they're never nice. Likely to have a 5 yard return.

19. Turns out blue and black weren't wired from red - Stephen shoots - misses.

20. Jamie nudges red in, rushes partner to hoop 1, and has made it rushing partner south of hoop 4. plays a wee croquet stroke to get a rush on red to corner 2 where yellow is waiting - poor stroke (or hill?) which rolls into red, and he is playing a monster croquet stroke sending red towards corner 3 (defensively to hoop 3), going to yellow in corner 2. Plays that well, and he'll be approaching 2 from corner 2.

5. Mark approaches with a thin takeoff - no attempt to get hoop and roquet position, but makes sure of position, gets a mile of wire, but still runs 4back off the lawn, and has hit his 5 yard return towards the middle of the east boundary.
Plays a great croquet stroke putting blue 2 yards west of rover and has a rush to penult - which he overhits, but should cope.

Really good approach, the turn counter is about to go nuts I suspect.

Up on lawn 5, Jamie has approached hoop 2, made it and rushed yellow to the middle of the north boundary. Not a nice position to go to red from, so plays a pass roll putting yellow well to hoop 5, going to partner. That'll give a better line to get to red. Rushes blue away from hoop 4 to tidy up the line he'll take off from. Takes off to red croqueting blue back to pioneer position - and he's played that well - has a 4 ball break now.

Up on lawn 5, Jamie has approached hoop 2, made it and rushed yellow to the middle of the north boundary. Not a nice position to go to red from, so plays a pass roll putting yellow well to hoop 5, going to partner. That'll give a better line to get to red. Rushes blue away from hoop 4 to tidy up the line he'll take off from. Takes off to red croqueting blue back to pioneer position - and he's played that well - has a 4 ball break now.

Mark has decided to take off from red, rather than get a deep ball, gets an umpire as a courtesy call to hit his 3 yarder at yellow and hits it confidently. Red looking like it would have been handy as a deep ball right now. Should cope.
We’ve been going about an hour and a half now – and we’re still on turn 5 on this lawn!

20. Meanwhile, disaster on lawn 5 – Jamie has misapproached hoop 4. I didn’t see the shot, as he looked to have everything under control. Clip on – black to the north boundary 5 yards in from corner 2.

21. Stephen hits his 6 yarder with yellow on red – we’ll get to see him approach hoop 1 again!

Internet coverage here, on my phone, very patchy.

5. Mark through rover with another hoop stroke which takes heaps of wire – through, but his rush on partner pointing rather unhelpfully at hoop 1 – probably needed that red ball down… - croquets blue about 4 feet off the east boundary yardline and 7 yards south of hoop 3. Has a 3 yard pegout.

Was that deliberate??? – Mark pegs out both balls!! Game on!

6. Rob has contact from blue. No lift-to-position in Super Advanced if you peg a ball out. Approaching hoop 1 sending blue north of hoop 1. Red travelling… has a 5.5 yard straight hoop. Blue is a couple of yards NW of hoop 2 – both balls just a little far, as he’s going to try to crash through off the north boundary.
No… taking position – Blue is nicely to the side of hoop 2 so he can get position. Robert will want this to be a tactical battle, rather than a shooting battle (easy to commentate when Chris is here!)

Chris saying Rob had 7, 8 and 9 hoop breaks in his 2 ball break practice the other night here. The lawns are quick, and there's a bit of hill, however the hoops do look pretty straightforward.

21. I missed it! - Stephen has misapproached hoop 1 again. Plays off the middle of the east boundary to protect the shot at red which is between 3 and 4.

*22. Jamie shoots at red anyway from hoop 1, and snicks it - now has the difficult take off to yellow on the boundary... plays it well and rushes nicely to hoop 4 (which his clip is waiting on)

7. Mark to mid east boundary.

8. Rob ignores this and opts for the positional battle. Runs hoop 1 - plenty of wire, and runs it by a few yards. Not ideal, but he is taking position at hoop 2 - hills a bit, but it's a really good shot.

9. Mark playing up to hoop 1.

22 Jamie is through hoop 4 - will have a wide splitty croquet stroke to get a pioneer and a rush to 5

Daniel Gott acting as ball boy and spotter checks and blue is definitely runnable - did go a litle far.

10. Rob at hoop 2 - gets a little near wire, and red is either in front of hoop 2, or it's nailed to the wire! - Rob's back... red is glued. That takes a lot of pressure off Mark.

11. Mark is fairly straight, but opts to take position... but looks disgusted as it hills awfully to somewhere very difficult. We thought he'd take that as an opportunity to run 1 hard and try to get to a pioneer.

12. Rob has a look at blue... it's miles out of the corner for the line to the hoop - taps red in front of hoop 2.

13. Mark taking this on - runs it nicely, but only by 2 feet - not very useful. Chris points out he'd have been better off taking position, as now he'll have to play away to somewhere from which he'll need to take position from an angle - rather than being able to run 1 and then approach 2 from straight.
Ignores Chris (who he can't hear!), and goes straight anyway - goes a little south of peg high between 1 and 2.

14. Chris reckons Rob will want to keep this positional - a typical tactic for Rob in tactical games - Rob's an expert tactically, but also fantastic at 2 ball breaks - has many options. Taps through hoop 2 - taking position at hoop 3 ... drifts past - it's not runnable.

15. Mark takes excellent 1-2 foot position.

22 And Jamie has failed 1back!! I didn't see where from - it's quite far away

23. Stephen hits his 3 yarder. Has a laid 4 ball break. But he has to approach hoop 1 (albeit probably from a foot)...

16. Rob taps in front of 3.

17 Mark runs 2, will take on the shot at Rob...

We're watching Stephen at hoop 1 this time too

Mark through 2 to the boundary, shooting..hits it very hard - Sam Murray doing the honours on the far side of lawn 11 (which seems to be reserved for the club members this week). Misses.

Apparently the groundsman came in last night and tried to water all the lawns!!! - fortunately he had a slight fail and only managed to water lawns 9 and 10. Years back Chris prevented this sort of activity by padlocking the watering system!

18. Rob hits his 7 yarder. Approaching 3 from the east boundary south of the line of hoop 3. Played it beautifully, and smoothly plays at hoop 3 - and wibbles through - and get the bit of hill to make this a horribly difficult roquet. Taking it on though, so he must have something. Mallet up, and while I muster the courage to referee it, Alison Jones musters Dave Maugham.
Chris "this looks almost impossible to me"- blue was off the line that red could easily play down, and halfway to hoop 4.

Rob plays it beautifully!

Approaches hoop 4 well, but has hit the eastern wire and bounced out leaving mark a cut rush to hoop 3.

Rob's back - reckons it was quite easy - 'a ten yarder with a silly grip, not central but you could still get the mallet on straight

19. Mark overhits the cut, and red is just north of the peg and a bit east. I spent the East Midlands with some discussion I'd overheard where he was whinging that everyone over hits half-ball cuts - and frequently over cut my half-ball cuts...

Mark approaching hoop 3.. goes about 2 yards too far and he's looking at taking position. Needs to leave blue open.

23. Meanwhile, Stephen has failed 2 from nowhere.

24. Jamie shoots - hits the eastern wire of hoop 2 and bounces to the middle of B baulk. Paddy (umpire) considers, and doesn't aware a roquet or a 'moved ball'

25. Stephen taps yellow through hoop 2 - can he make a break now? - pressup at hoop 3... only a slight angle... and he's through that too - might have a 4 ball break now.

20. Rob rolls to position at 4 ... it sneaks forward a bit far and glues itself to another wire.

21 Mark takes good position at 3.

22. Rob runs to between hoops 1 and 2

23. Mark runs 3 and takes good position at 4. Both clips on hoop 4 now

24. Rob shoots... misses.

25. Mark runs 4 - hits it hard, but gets heaps of wire and through by a foot with Murray control. Hits his 6 yarder. Approaching hoop 5 - gorgeous croquet stroke and red bounces gently off hoop 6 while Mark has a 2 with only slight angle. Runs it with a nice hoop stroke, but it stops a foot south of the peg. Looks like he can still see all of red though.

Hits the middle of it, will be taking off from the boundary just west of the end of B baulk.

Stephen still going, now on hoop 5

Clip update: Lawn 5: Stephen on 2 (red) and in a break for hoop 5, Jamie on 4back and 1back

Clip update: Lawn 6: Robert Fulford on 4 and pegged out, Mark on hoop 6 and pegged out - Mark did the pegging out after a double peel on Rob's yellow

25. Mark takes off to get a longish hoop - and bounces out of hoop 6.

26. Rob hits this, rushes it off the south boundary, takes off to get position at hoop 4... misses the hoop entirely!!! Commented "that was a bit of a nervy hoop" as he returns to his seat.

... I then had a quick loo break, ran into some people, and back we are...

at some point Mark got a lead, but had to concede a lift, and we are now back with Rob on 3back and Mark on 2back - remember the other two balls are pegged out.

Rob tries to take tight position at 3back... rolls it onto the wire again!

Mark takes good position at 2back.

Meanwhile Stephen is on 4back with yellow - that was turn 25.
some other interaction saw Jamie most recently appear to shoot at partner into corner 4, Stephen is in play with red, and has a rush pointing at hoop 3 - so there had been some interaction for him to progress that clip. *Jamie still 1back and 4back

Rob took poorish position at 3back - he was coming off a wire, Mark ran 2back and is considering shooting - went a few yards west of hoop 5 instead. Spent a long time thinking about that.

I'm off again for drinks and a battery for Chris - back in action properly very soon.

Right - I'm back!
Clips: Mark: pegged out and blue is for 3back, Rob: pegged out by Mark and red is for 3back

Mark has just failed 3back with Rob 2 yards north of it, but he bounced off to not give an easy tap on

Rob takes his lift... hits centre ball - that'll be a bit of a return for him... and he has underhit this considerably - he's about 2 yards SE of the hoop, having come back from the east boundary. Blue is 5 yards north of 3back, and Rob plays into corner 4. Impasse anyone? (if they call a ref, at least I'm in the hut with battery recharging, and I'm sending out the manager!)

Dave just refreshing on the regs - two balls - toss a coin, essentially play golf croquet (no roquets).... until 11th turn after restart, or turn after the turn where the striker's ball scores a hoop for itself.

Mark lags to SW of hoop 5, Rob plays from corner 4 towards the middle of west boundary - presumably was a gentle go at blue.

Mark takes decent position at 3back. Not having an impasse just yet.

Up on lawn 5, Jamie got in, ran 1back, but missed the return, Stephen now running 4back with yellow, red clip still parked on hoop 3, and Jamie is 1back and 4back (blue), so not a lot of progress since I went for refreshments.

Rob shoots.... hits!! - cuts Mark off the lawn conveniently south of 3back. Approaches 3back leaving the hoop a little long, but fairly straight - runs it from an angle... and it comes out the other side at the same angle.

I'm hoping they'll move the hoops to new holes for the semis, and then the hoops on an independent lawn to new holes for the final. Everyone I've spoken to here has said they have a real bit first thing, but are pretty easy by lunchtime. Interesting all the TPs have been done in the last matches of the day.

Rob approaches 4back well... and bounces out - got a bit of inside wire there. He's wired from Mark, but that only lets Mark take the 7 yard straight rush to 3back.

No mowing today and it's a bit overcast, so everyone also saying it's a bit slower, but Robin and his team have really done an excellent job here - I've not seen the lawns this fast since 2003 - when they really did some damage getting them very short (so shaving off the grass on the high points), and took ages to recover. These look like they are still 100% healthy.

Mark takes his long lift... hits it smoothly ... and perfectly! It keeps running though, and he has rushed red off the lawn directly south of 3back - great shot, and a bit unlucky there is still some pace there. I haven't seen him hit things that hard (apart from that shot from near corner 2 which he over hit and missed the roquet), but he has the ability to absolutely smash the ball when he wants to.

Runs 3back to about level with red, hits red, approaching 4back... Mark did comment earlier that hoop 4 was about 1/32nd of an inch wider than the ball, but hoop 3 was quite tight.

Meanwhile Jamie was in play with his 2back ball, runs 2back - and misses another return roquet!

Mark has a longish slightly angled 4back - hits this hard... and it comes straight back at him - that's a proper rejection.

4back v 4back - and remember Rob gets lifts, but Mark doesn't

Rob has a gentle go at Mark - about a 10 yarder - drifts past the eastern edge to end up a yard north of hoop 4. Mark will take position here. Dribbles up.

Rob has a golf croquet double.. hoop and blue to shoot at...

Stephen has hit in with his 4back ball

Rob shoots... misses - to the east this time, so this time a miss on his right - the previous one was on the left.

Mark would need a decent bit of wire to get a rush on red... but pokes blue into the middle of 4back! Rob has a 6 yarder at a ball in his hoop - Bob Whittaker on to watch

Stephen has hit something and is having a leave for red

Rob shoots... hits the righthand wire (as he sees it - left to me), and bounces off to the level with penult.

Mark runs 4back, has a 6 yarder - hits most of it - he'll be approaching penult from between 1 and 2 - definitely not a done deal, and Rob has a lift.

Jamie shoots - misses.

Stephen has a 6 yarder at Jamie's blue...hits (I was going to say his forward ball, but it's for 4back and black for 3back, so not very forward)*

Mark taking off... hit it so gently... but it still sails past and looks unrunnable

Tries to dribble into the jaws - dribbles onto the front of the western wire - not sure if it's runnable, but Rob needs to shoot at it with his lift anyways.

Stephen approaching hoop 3 off partner from about 5 yards away - really good stroke - he now has partner at 3 to hit, blue by the peg, and black just off the south boundary which he might fancy crashing through to... nope... bounces out of hoop 3. Making lawn 5 look really difficult. If my mallet wasn't in the bottom of a very tightly packed suitcase I'd be keen...

Rob shoots - hits... the middle of the wire of penult, and we think he then bounced onto blue to hit that. Rolls beautifully to 4back. Blue has gone past the hoop, which is inconvenient, but he's in front - maybe 5 feet back though. Runs the hoop nicely through to the boundary. This game has more action in it yet!

Jamie hits from the peg, and conveniently has a ball rather close to 4back - makes the hoop and he looks like he didn't have space to get a rover pioneer - surely he's off to the peg with partner on 3back??

Rob approaches penult from east of 4back - he's a bit long and angly, and chooses to take very long straight position. This is just stopping Mark from shooting at him.

Jamie through penult, rushing to partner on the south boundary, south of hoop 4.

Mark plays to 5 yards in from the middle of west boundary. Dave puts some music on during his lunch.

Back outside witha slightly recovered battery.

Rob has played a bit closer to the middle of the north boundary. Mark looking at a position wired from it in the middle of the west boundary

Jamie is through rover, hit partner first, and has croqueted it towards the middle of the west boundary. Red's in corner 4, and yellow is rushed to the middle of the east boundary

Takes off back to partner, and puts the blue clip on the peg en route

Mark did play to that wired spot, Rob contemplating. Real chance of an impasse here.

About 55 mins to go here.
Mark plays in a yard... and interrupts Rob's contemplation to suggest lunch.. and they're breaking for lunch.

*Jamie's last shot was into corner 2, so we have a bit of a defensive NZ type leave of balls in corners 2 and 4 and middle of boundaries. *

Stephen has lifted red, and is shooting from the north boundary in a few yards from the corner, towards corner 4 - which happens to be nearest to Jamie's clip. Does not miss into the corner!! - misses to about 6 yards south of it - Jamie pretty much has a 16 yarder for the game here. But hey - let's stop for lunch there too.

Clip update: Jamie 3b and peg, and to play, with about a 16 yarder up towards corner 2, Stephen 3 and 4back I believe - though cant see the forward yellow clip, and he's about 6 yards apart on the east boundary near 3back

Back when there's some action.

*Jamie's last shot was into corner 2, so we have a bit of a defensive NZ type leave of balls in corners 2 and 4 and middle of boundaries. *

Stephen has lifted red, and is shooting from the north boundary in a few yards from the corner, towards corner 4 - which happens to be nearest to Jamie's clip. Does not miss into the corner!! - misses to about 6 yards south of it - Jamie pretty much has a 16 yarder for the game here. But hey - let's stop for lunch there too.

Clip update: Jamie 3b and peg, and to play, with about a 16 yarder up towards corner 2, Stephen 3 and 4back I believe - though cant see the forward yellow clip, and he's about 6 yards apart on the east boundary near 3back

Back when there's some action.

Ok, there's some action

Rob came back first and nudged his ball, Mark to corner 2, so we don't have an impasse yet.

Rob to the north boundary 3 yards west of corner 3

Mark to 3 yards east of corner 2

Jamie must have missed up on lawn 5, as they're in action there, and Stephen is in play, , rushing into just about corner 3 when for hoop 3.

Rob nudges red

Mark contemplating.

They have about 50 mins to go.

Mark has just played about 14 yards south of corner 3. All very cagey stuff. They might even have an hour to do, as apparently they started at 10.12.

It's very very still here, virtually no wind all day, and quite muggy.

Rob is going to that this on. Thought he would fancy an impasse, but that does want a bit of luck off the coin toss.

Take this on. Sorry

Rob shoots - hits the left edge again - cutting it usefully inlawn. Big splitty croquet stroke... hard to not overhit this...

Over hits it a bit and gets the wrong line. Blue to a decent rover pioneer, but red goes south of penult - clips the far wire and rattles around to stay south of the hoop. He can't really take position through the hoop as so many possibilities of wirings there.

Rolls red to near the north boundary north of hoop 2 but a bit east of that line.

Stephen having a gentle go at hoop 4 from an angle - not really sure why he's dribbling, and a confused wee red ball hits both wires and pops back out. Yellow was quite far north, but he has shown complete confidence with his 6 yarders today

Jamie hits a 6 yarder with his 4back ball (I didn't see it progress to there).

Mark seems to have stayed roughly where he was (?), and Rob goes to the middle of north boundary.

Mark to 2 yards east of corner 2.

Rob took the 14 yarder last time, so he'll take on the 11 yarder - hits it in the middle. I thought that was a weak option for blue.

Now has the chance to approach penult sending blue between rover and the end of A baulk. Blue to 6 yards north of the boundary, but red has drifted too far to run the hoop. Any position he can take without leaving a wiring lift won't give an easy hoop.

Rob plays to deepish and north-west of penult - that's a guard of the shot from blue, not hoop position.

Jamie approaching 4back off partner from about 5 yards south and slightly west. Yellow directly south of hoop 5 and red near the peg. If he's responsible for yellow, he'd better get through the hoop as it would be a wiring lift. But runs 4back nicely - will need to rush something to penult, but he should finish game 1

Mark plays towards the middle of the east boundary, ends up about 2 feet in from the yardline.

Rob with a long angled hoop... dribbles at it... this time red once again rolls too far, but decides to go into the jaws rather than its usual position hugging a wire.

It's probably in the middle of the jaws, so Mark might shoot at this - Rob nearly got the perfect wired position just in front. Chris saying he'd shoot at this - will require you to take perfect position from corner 2 at penult next turn if you miss, but a wee snick would be handy.

Ian Vincent is sitting here with his Laws book open on his lap - betcha it's on the impasse regs.

Jamie through penult, has a good pioneer at rover - game 1 is almost over.

Mark calls for an umpire, Ian seeks volunteers - Ian is on the lawn...

It was one of those awful ones to adjudicate! - Ian says 'yes' as blue races off to the middle of the west boundary (Mark hit that hard), and red pops out to a yard in front of penult - handy result.

++Jamie wins the first +13++

Jamie Burch leads Stephen Mulliner 1-0 in this best of 3 quarter final

Back on lawn 6, Mark approaches penult well, but runs the hoop past red - roquets red gently -Chris fancied him rushing that off the north boundary and taking position nudging red along a bit. Mark choosing to approach rover sending out a reception ball.

He has underhit that badly - leaves himself about a 3 yard straightish hoop!

Runs it really nicely, and has just slipped past red - has a 4-5 yarder for game 1.

Hits that in the middle.

Mark Suter wins game 1 +3, and leads Robert Fulford 1-0 in their match

I'm off for lunch now, and they'll be resetting hoop 1, as when Samir tapped the hoops in yellow slightly touched both sides. Back later. But not for the whole match - Igotta leave at 3.30