Good morning everyone, we are here at Colchester Croquet Club enjoying some warm weather with the sunshine gradually making it's way through the clouds. I will be providing a little commentary for the day, any questions please feel free to e-mail me at alison@alisonswebsites.co.uk.

Lawn 1 - Plate Semi Final - Miranda Chapman v Rich Waterman
Lawn 2 - Final - Ian Lines v David Maugham
Lawn 3 - Debbie Lines v Joel Taylor
Lawn 4 - Plate Semi Final - Nick Steiner v Robert Wilkinson

Let's croquet....

Lines has won the toss and chosen to take play, Maugham chooses red and yellow... ever so slightly predictable perhaps?

This will be a best of 5, so it could be a long day....

Blue shoots off the boundary north of C4 and H4, standard position. Yellow just out of C2.

Black shoots at Blue, ends up 1 yard north of blue, Red shoots from C3 and hits blue....

Me - "He hit"
Lines - "Shock"

The finalists are very greatful to Jack Wicks for his mowing services for the finals lawn last night.

Maugham made h1 after getting his perfect rush to 1 on black, rushed black after 1 toward h3 and took off to behind blue on east boundary...

Cut rushed blue toward h4, took off to yellow just out of C2.

Hits Yellow into the corner and will roll out to h2

Maugham is through h2, and now has a perfect 4 ball break at 3... I'll type more when something interesting happens :)

Maugham sets a sextuple leave, blue and black tightly wired at the peg, both rushing to h1. Yellow has 2ft rush pointing towards the peg from west boundary, peg high and about 3 yards from the boundary.

Lines picks up black, shooting at yellow into C2

Hits... Comment from Maugham, "That's 4 out of 5, hit against me this tournament. Nick hit the second one, Miranda hit both and Ian's hit"

As this is Super Advanced rules, I would guess that Lines will be stopping after h6 with a lift leave.... but for now, he has rushed blue directly in front of h1, red is near peg and yellow is h2 pioneer... it's a 4bb...

Meanwhile, on lawn 1, Rich has had a ball to 4b against Miranda with a standard contact leave. Miranda (playing black) took contact from yellow in c2, poking yellow toward h2 and going toward red in c3. Is short on red in c3 but clips the 7 yarder... croquets red to h1 and misses black in c4. Black with 1 inch rush on blue along south boundary... Red at 1, yellow at 2.

Rich shoots red toward blue and black, misses. Black is 1 inch north of black in c4... Miranda plays Black and now has a rush to h1 with partner...

Perfect rush getting blue to 2 ft south of h1... will check back in with this game in a while (current clips: Rich 1 & 4b, Miranda 1 & 1)

Back to the final... Lines still in play.

Lines runs h4 with black, sends yellow toward h6, blue in jaws of 5 with red as pioneer...

Lines has now run 1 back, so is planning his contact leave...

Clips: R for 1b, Y for 1, B for 1, K in play after 1b...

Lines now having a think about what to do... after rushing red into c2 (near it's hoop), he is deciding what needs to happen next...

Sorry, that was a lot of thinking... now taking off from Red, leaving it 3 inches out of c2 on the north boundary, rushes blue 5 yards north of 2b, sending blue to 3b to get to yellow (good pioneer) at 2b.

Blue now 4ft sw of 3b

Runs 2b and has 1ft rush to blue with yellow

On lawn 1, Miranda has taken black to 4b and set a standard contact leave, so clips are K for 4b, B for 1, R for 4b, Y for 1.

Rich lifts yellow and takes contact from blue in C2...

Lawn 2 (Final) - Ian has taken black to 4b and contact leave is as follows: R - c2 (just out on north boundary), B - c4, Yellow (for h1) 13 yards north of c4 3 inches off east boundary, black in c3.

Maugham lifts red, takes contact from blue in C4...

Lawn 1 - Rich has shuffled some balls around, and aparently resisted the temptation to take on a dodgy hoop 1. He has a rush with yellow on red pointing north to behind h3, black at h1, blue in c2.

Miranda plays black back to c3

Rich plays yellow (for h1) has rushed red 9 yards south of c3, takes off and hits black in c3. Sends black back to a pioneer position at h1 and sets up for a rush to h1.

Blue is sitting 2 yards south of c2.

Lawn 2: Maugham has made a leave, Yellow has rush on red pointing towards h2, black is north of h1 toward peg high.. shoots at red and yellow... blue still in c4

Black misses...

Lawn 1: Miranda played black and shot at red and yellow, hit. Is now setting a leave for blue.

Lawn 2 (Final): Maugham has played yellow, hit black and croqueted it 7 yards west of h3, getting a rush on red toward blue...

On Lawn 3, Debbie Lines is on a TP for the win against Joel, who reports he hasn't really done anything wrong... I'm never really sure if this is a comfort or just pure irritation

Robert Wilkinson (from Lawn 4) is now in the club house with me... he believes he has forgotten to swing a mallet, but I suspect hopes the red wine he has currently poured will help out. Meanwhile, his oppo, Nick Steiner, has just broken down.... there is hope!

Lawn 1: Rich banished his red ball (which was at h1) to corner 4, and Miranda has now picked up a break for blue... she has a fairly long approach to h1 (3 yards se) but copes with a 2 ft angled hoop run.

Lawn 2 (Final): Maugham didn't get to h1.... so instead leaves the lawn with black and blue wired by h6 (black is north of 6 towards 3), blue is west of h1. Red and yellow are set up in c4, with yellow's rush on red pointing towards 1

Maugham: "Well, that could've been a lot luckier"

Lines shoots with blue at Yellow and Red...

Hits.

Ian has left red near c4, yellow is now h2 and black was rushed to west boundary by h2.... not quite the 4bb he was hoping for...

Oops, was having a chat and got distracted... Lines set a leave, Maugham hilled off, Lines back in but more shuffling of balls going on.

Ian is now on his way to h2, and appears to have something of a standard TP ahead of him... although he is making hoop 2 off partner.

Lawn 1 (Plate Semi): Miranda running rover with blue, she will be 4b & peg, Rich will be 1 & 4b.

Lawn 3: Debbie and Joel appear to have finished their game, Debbie didn't complete the TP, but did win.

Lawn 4 (Plate Semi): Nick Steiner is back in play against Robert WIlkinson, I'm wondering if I should take Wilko his wine, or if I should hide it...

Slight debate in the club house... is Ian Lines 'sensible' or 'boring' ;)

Ian is pottering around on his TP... he is playing blue and is currently at hoop 4, he will be rushing back to black with yellow any second now.... and black is in the jaws of 4b

Miranda wins the Semi Final Plate.

Lawn 2 (Final) - Ian wins the first with a TP. Dave chooses red and yellow and Ian takes play... Off to Game 2. Ian plays blue to standard position off East boundary.

Dave went to C2 with Yellow, Ian hits third turn with black, takes off from blue to yellow, but misses yellow, so two balls in contact in c2... red to play

Dave playing red, must have hit and is now at hoop 3 already....

Dave is now setting up his sxp leave... here we go again...

Ian misses to c2 after shooting at yellow, yellow for 1 will now begin it's sxp journey.... meanwhile... we are watching the U21 GC worlds.... check out the CA youtube channel for live video and commentary.

Dave has now done two peels on red, and run 5 hoops with yellow.

Dave peeled 3b going to 6, made 6 and 1b and now for 2b, with the 2b pioneer at 4b.

Has a few issues with blue being in an awkward position to rush back to 2b, luckily with the rush, the yellow bounced off blue and narrowly missed hitting red back out of the jaws of 4b.

Dave has now made 2b with a rush toward the middle of east boundary on yellow. Red is in the jaws of 4b, so the 4b peel will be happening before 3b. Black is next to 4b waiting to be rushed to 3b.

Lawn 4 (Plate Semi): Nick Steiner wins +12 against Rob Wilkinson. The final of the plate will be Miranda Chapman v Nick Steiner.

Back to Lawn 2 (Final): Turns out.. red wasn't actually in the jaws of 4b, so not rush peelable. It has now been peeled, but before 4b. .... oops

Dave rushed his 3b pioneer to 4b after making the peel at 4b.... so approached and ran 4b. Ian has spotted the mistake and Dave's turn is now over. Oopsie. We will be back after lunch.

We are back after lunch, after Dave missed out 3b by mistake, the clips are as follows:
R - Pen
Y - 3b
B - 1
K - 1

Ian is playing with Black, he did manage to take a turn leaving yellow at 3 and red at 2, unfortunately he failed h1... Dave shot at blue with red, but hit the hoop, so Ian has taken play again with black and is now in break at hoop 5.

It looks like Ian has misapproached hoop 5, so with blue just north of 5, red wired from blue and an inch north of the peg, yellow also possibly wired from blue, but an inch south west of 6... black is sent to C2. Dave plays with Red and hits Yellow, runs penult and will be planning his leave for a 4 ball break to the peg.

Ian missed his shot at Dave's balls which were in C2, so starting at 3b with yellow, Dave has mad all of his hoops and is about to peg out.

Game 3 will commence shortly

Game 3 has started. Ian starts and plays to east boundary, Dave goes just out of c2, Ian misses 3rd turn to east boundary, Dave misses Ian's balls on 4th turn.... Ian to start his break. Meanwhile, Georgeen has provided a delicious lunch which was finished with a pudding to die for... Quince and Blackberry sponge pudding topped with flaked almonds and cream. Yummy!

Ian constructed a leave, leaving a rush to a ball at h2, with other oppo ball at h1. Dave hits from h1 to h2 and is now in break on his way to hoop 3.

The Plate final has started on lawn 3, Miranda is B & K, Nick is R & Y. Black is for 4b and all other clips for 1. Nick has just run hoop 1 with yellow and has rushed over to blue and black which were in c4.

Dave has wizzed around and left a good sextuple leave which Ian has missed.

Dave has had 1 peel for yellow, and is now approaching h3 with red.

Meanwhile, Nick is continuing his break against Miranda, and is approaching 2b, so will be setting up for a contact leave (with Miranda on 1 & 4b).

Dave is now approaching hoop 4, black is waiting near 2b as a pioneer for 5.

Yellow is now jawed in 2b, over hits his rush to 5, and has under approached 5.... he puts the clip on h5 and is thinking about what to do ...

He scatters black to 2 yards east of c2 and red 9 yards north of c1. Blue is just higher than peg towards 6, yellow still in jaws of 2b.

Ian lifts black to c1, shoots at red...

On lawn 3, Nick has laid a standard contact leave, almost missed the corner 3 shot from near c4.... but just gets it. Phew.

Ian has missed his 9 yard lift shot, Dave plays yellow through 2b and hits red on the boundary. Red clip is 6 and Blue and Black are on 1.

On lawn 3 (Plate Final), Miranda takes contact with blue and sent yellow to 1... but hit the peg... then laid up in c4.

Nick shoots with red at yellow in the middle of the lawn, hits!

Back to the main event, Dave has made two hoops with yellow and has left with yellow clip on 4b, red on 6. Blue and Black on 1. Black left near corner 2, Blue was near 3, red and yellow laid up on south boundary.... Blue plays and hits.

Ian is now through hoop 1 with blue...

Ian has started a TPO, yellow is in the jaws of 4b and blue is now running 4

Blue is being peeled through Penult and Ian is looking very much in control...

Yellow was peeled to just north of the peg, very nice peel indeed.

Ian has run 3b with Blue and will be hoping to rush peel Yellow which is just out of the jaws of Rover.

Ian did attempt an angled rush peel on yellow at Rover, but unfortunately ended up 3/4 through, so not an easy take off to get anywhere near red which is a few inches south of 4b...

Ian takes off toward the east boundary and has a 5 yard roquet to red... copes

Yellow has now been peeled through Rover and Ian is now approaching Penult with Blue

Ian just had a stight pause to think about the leave.... with red on hoop 5, yellow box, blue will be peg and black for 1... not exactly a standard position.

News from the Plate Final, Miranda Chapman wins +17.

Ian's contact leave was blue in c2 and black 10 yards south of c3, leavng red in the middle of the lawn. Dave took contact from black, sending black to near peg going to blue. Hits blue and plays huge croquet stroke to 'nearly' get position in front of hoop 6.

Sorry, hoop 5. Takes wired position from black at hoop 5, with blue sitting on the north boundary 1 yard to the east of hoop 6.

Ian plays black into corner 4.

Dave tries to run hoop 5 to the north boundary, get's wire and stops just one yard north of the peg.

Shooting at black in c4...

Misses

Black taps red and leaves it in corner 4, takes off to blue on the north boundary....

After a little more interaction, red is now in corner 1 with it's clip on 6. Black is in play and just run hoop 2, with blue clip on peg.

Black rushed blue to corner 3 after hoop 2 and is now setting up a rush to hoop 3, wired from red in corner 1.

Ian has now run 4 with black, but giving away a lift with red sitting just out of corner 1, he decided a defensive leave was the answer. So left blue near c4 and shot black to c2.

Ian hadn't quite finished his turn and hadn't moved the clip from 4 to 5, so Dave, thinking black was still for 4, took a shot from c1 at blue near c4... missed.

Ian then told Dave what had happened, moved his clip to 5, Dave took his lift shot from the end of A baulk and hit blue.... tried to roll up to 6 and didn't get there, tried to take position (wired) and didn't get close.

Ian hits back in with blue (peg ball), puts red toward c4 (midway between h4 and c4, then goes to near black on north boundary, near c2.

Ian avoids giving away a wiring life... by an inch apparently. Dave shoots at blue and black in c2... hits the peg. The top of the peg is now crooked and the red ball is off the north boundary just east of the middle of the lawn.

Ian has played blue and croqueted black with a big roll towards the south boundary near hoop 1... so he leaves the lawn with Red on north boundary, black midway between south boundary and hoop 1, blue wired from red 2 yards east of black...

Red shoots to C4. Black who is now for 5, rushes blue towards 5, and approaches...

The crowd having loyally watched all morning, have decided to find entertainment elsewhere.... they are now on lawn 3, playing doubles...

Should I mention it's doubles GC? ;)

Ian has run hoop 5 with black, having put his clip on hoop 6, he has declined the roll to hoop 6 and is now rolling towards corner 2

He rolls blue to north of hoop 2, and is looking at where to send black off the lawn to get a rush to 6, and be wired from red sitting n corner 4.

Dave plays red into corner 3.

Ian plays with blue.... hits black toward corner 2 and is now plotting his wired position from red.... this is going to be a long day!

Ian tried for wired position from red behind hoop 2. Dave shoots but misses, hits the hoop and bounces off to near corner 2.

Ian rushes blue towards 6, runs 6 with black...

He then rushes blue towards 1b, takes off to red in corner 2, tries the stop shot approach to 1b.... over approaches so shoots off to corner 4.

Clips are red for 6, black for 1b and blue for peg.... yellow in it's box.

Dave shoots his red ball and hits blue which was near hoop 2.... takes off to black in corner 4.

Black was actually 10 yards on east boundary north of corner 4... but I was being a little lazy and didn't get up to check. Sorry.

He is now rolling black to 2 back, whilst getting to hoop running position at 6.

He is now rolling black to 2 back, whilst getting to hoop running position at 6.

He runs hoop 6 to the north boundary, hits blue 5 yards away, approaches 1 back and is now in a 3 ball break to the peg. I'm off to make the coffee...

Right then.... Dave won game 3. The tea is being poured and I have just had the most scrummy piece of lemon drizzle cake...

Game 4 has begun... Dave hit forth turn from north boundary and is now about to run hoop 2 with red, rolled off hoop to with partner apparently... says Ian who is munching not just one, but two chocolate brownies.

Lawn 3 is housing a game of GC still, I did hear a little laughing but it's turned rather serious...

On lawn 4 we have a zed game between Joel Taylor and Jack Wicks, not clear what the clip positions are, but it's definitely been interactive.

And on lawn 1 we have the lovely Rob Fulford showing us all what a real practice session should look like.

Whilst we have been chatting, Ian has had another couple of cakes, and Dave has finished on the lawn with a sextuple leave. Clips: R for 1b, all other clips on 1.

Ian missed his lift, he shot with black from the north boundary and blue, which is tight to the peg.

Dave will play yellow, rushing red to near peg, sending red up to be a pioneer at hoop 2 and gets his 2 ft rush to hoop 1 on blue.

Rushes blue to hoop 1 which ends up level with the hoop, Dave plays a take off and runs hoop 1 to get a perfect rush back to black on the south boundary.

If I could take a picture I would, this looks to be the start of a perfect sxp

Sorry, lots connection... Maugham is now finishing his SXP with a straight TP..

Played the promotion after 4b, red has been peel through penult, but has ended up two yards south of Rover.

Rushes black to north boundary and stops it two yards north east of rover... getting rush to Red with Blue

Blue stops 2 ft short of rover... croquets blue as deep ball.... BANG!

Maugham sends Blue off the lawn on the south boundary, leaving black, yellow and red all around rover. Clips are Red & Yellow on Rover, Blue and Black on 1. Ian has a contact.

Ian picks up black and takes contact on blue...

Ian is now in play and on his way to hoop 3

Ian is now running hoop 6 and setting up for a leave.

Dave shot with yellow which was at the peg, Red was between 1 and 2 peg high.... Dave missed at Blue and Black 7 yards north of c4

Blue clip is 1 and black for 1b...

Ian plays with black, hits yellow and leaves it near east boundary, rushes blue towards red, croquets it toward 2b and get the rush on red to 1b

Ian rushes just short of 1b, so taking off to the hoop...

Oops... it's a blob at 1b. However, it looks like it's straight in front of 1b, so red is running the hoop to hit black the other side.

Red hits black

Makes one hoop and has a leave, yellow has a rush with red pointing to rover, blue is near corner 1 and black was near corner 2...

Black shoots at red and yellow, needing to miss the hoop... but hit the hoop, so kindly gave Dave a ball to play with in the middle of the lawn. This should be finishing shortly.

Davis Maugham wins the Eastern Championship.

Oops... David. Congratulations David Maugham :)