Apologies for late start - commentary person now in position.
Beautiful sunny day in Queensland, as usual.

Current state of play.
S Forster playing black 4b & blue 3 in break Verses C Hyland Red 4b & Yellow rover.
made h3 with bk unable to peel bl so will position to peel 4b after 5.

Forster 90% peels bl thru 4b on way to h6, had angly h6, however thru nicely to get rush to 4b. Rushes bl to position to croquet down to 2b - break under control

Forster blobs in 3b!. Hyland plays R (4b) hits 6 yarder at penult.
Croquet shot playing for red to rush bk from 3b to 4b falls shorts.
attempts to hit black - hits leg of hoop, and bounces off misses black, however black pops throw hoop and is now wired to r and y 5 yards north.
Lifts bk, shooting at bl at 10 yards (east of penult) lining up a triple with R & Y.... misses by a whisker.

Hyland 4b & rover in play v 4b & pen.

Hyland R makes 4b, then fails to make pen.
Bk roquets R, given Bl is 3 yds south of 4 unlikely to finish this turn.
Bk throw 4b and Pen, after pen, positions R behind Pen for the leave.
Y is 2 yards south of maximum position 2 yards in from east boundary - setting up south of corner 2 wired by H2 from R. (in the shadow of tree...always handy when playing darker colours)

Hyland lifts R, shoots from B baulk at Bl & Bk - misses.
Forster on finishing break for Game 1

Forster takes Game 1, in this best of 5.

Game 2
Hyland lays super shot with R, Bl into cnr 2 - Hyland hits - makes 3rd nine.
Leave - R & Bl max position east boundary - Y Max position west boundary

Forster shoots from cnr 3... and hits, rushes over to west boundary to dig out Y for break...makes H1 and has break under control

Forster fails to get in front of 1B, retires to Cnr 2
Bk & Bl (1B and 1) v R & Y (1 & 4B)

Hyland shoots R (near peg) at Y - 2 ft north west of H1 - misses.
Bl hits Bk in cnr 2, commencing break

peels Y thru 4b - looking to complete TPO - peels clean thru by 2 yards.
Everything in good position... BUT mis-approaches H5 to a very short angled position... retreats to Cnr4.

Hyland plays R hits 9 yarder Y. Croquet Y to 2 going to Bk nth of H5 - roquets to south boundary, nice hoop approach to H1 and he is away
On a break to finish requiring to 2 peels with Y.

(First) attempt peeling Pen was from slight angle 3 feet out... Y ends up resting on outside of leg...
makes 1B, now looking to death roll to 2B - good position 18 inches out - clean thru to 3 yds North of Rover, with R nice and close to Bl at 2B.

Under hit yellow so attempts rover peel on way to 3B, Y ends up on outside leg of rover... shouldn't be an issue to finish.
Croquet stroke after 3b has left the load for Pen closer to the peg than Pen... lawn conditions are easy so no probs rushing back.
HuH??? looked away for a second.. Bl is north of peg not rushable !!!
grovels thru Pen... croquet stroke with black hampered as tries bombard onto Blue... fails. hits blue.. then over rolls past Y... roquets back to angled position

Jaws peelee... half jump fails to drag Y thru for peel.
Looks to bombard... hits Bl to Bk.. Bk back to good position to bombard.. misreads pull.. both Bk and R graze Y.
Croquets Y to 1 yard Nth of H4 on east boundary, retires to Cnr4

R & Y (peg & Rover)
Bl & BK (6 and 1B)
Forster shooting at R... Misses.

Hyland declines playing Y (an 7 yarder) at Bl to play R - a tap on... so will reset... and gives Forster another chance.

Bl 3 yards Nth of Cnr 4
Bk 4 yards south of Cnr3 2 yards in
Rush set for Y pointing at H1... both wired from Bl & Bk

Forster shoots Bl at Bk... misses.
Hyland to negotiate his way around the lawn to make Rover and peg off to level the score at 1 game a piece

commentators curse... Hlyand misses 4 yard return roquet after Rover (attempting to cut towards R near Western boundary..)
Forster shoots Bl at Y, 3 yards from end of B Baulk... misses to just south of cnr 2

Y shoots at R... misses to 4 yards south of R (10yds north of cnr 1
Bl shoots at R... misses to a baulk
Y roquets R slightly into court.. attempts pegging of R goign to Bk (4 yds north of end of a Baulk).. just misses peg R passes by 7 yards
croquets Bk to 3 yards south east of cnr 2 and pairs up with R

Bl shoots from Cnr1 at R... misses.
Hyland pegs off to level scores. 1 game all

Game 3
Forster Bl & Bk
Bl 10 yard nth of Cnr 4
R inches sth of cnr 3
Bk hits R, croquets to 2 yards north east of max position from west boundary and retreats to 5 yards north of crn4 - leaves a double from B baulk
Y takes on double... misses to cnr 4.
Bk roquets Y, to commence a standard break... which finished prematurely in the jaws of hoop 2.

Y (4 yards south of H3), shoots at Bl, hits the 15 yarder.
Rushes Bk from the jaws of H2 to H1 for a standard break...

A standard break for Hyland includes setting Bl and Bk wired thru the peg before making 3back.
The angle was not quite right, so repositioned after 3b... now with Bk unable to be rushed to H1.
Retreats to maximum position on eastern boundary.

Forster lifts Bl and shoots from cnr3... misses.
R makes good position on Bkand rushes to 4 feet west of H1
slight overall on approach shot, but negotiates successfully.
Hyland will be looking to completing triple peel and has Y already at H3.

Y peeled thru 4b by 6 inches after H3.
Y rushed to Pen and peeled by 6 inches after H6.

Setting up to attempt rover peel on way to 3b - pioneer is a bit North... but wont concern Hyland.
Attempting from 2 yards out on 20 degree angle - nicely in the jaws with straight rush to 3b.
Rush peels Y. good rush after 4b to collect Y and load Rover.
Hyland wins game 3 to take a 2 - 1 lead.

GAME 4
Hyland Bl - suppershot - almost peg high
Forster Y - 1 foot north of corner 4
Bk - misses Y by 6 inches to south of Y
R - misses into corner 4. Forster talking to himself about 'doing the same thing' - his shooting has been under par in last hour. Will need to get the radar working quickly.

Hyland over approaches H4, shoots at R in cnr 4, misses, giving Forster simple start.

Hyland has definitely been shooting better than Forster this morning.

Forster has made H4 and has break under control...

Completed break.
R & Y 4b and 1, v Bl & Bk 1 & 4.
Bl in back of H1 and Bk at H4, forcing Hyland to play Bl.

Hyland shoots from B baulk ... misses

Forster, with renewed vigour, now looking to complete a triple to level the scores, skilfully peels red thru 4 back by 5 feet.
R was rushed into the leg of Penult, but keeping a cool head is able to bombard it out of harms way to make H6 and then able to jaws it.
After 1 Back gets perfect position to rush peel
WOW... he has rushed peeled peelee thru Penult and Rover in one shot... drawing rapturous applause from one of the spectators in the crowd.

With shot making like that and Forster pegging off to win game 4, this final has now been elevated to a new level, surpassing the mens final of 1998.

Game score 2 :2

BTW great to see Harley Watts drop in to McIlwraith CC to check on beer supplies.

GAME 5
Forster won toss (alternates each game) and decided to keep with Red and Yellow balls, giving Hyland the opportunity to again start proceedings with a long peg high supershot.
Y to maximum position.
Bl shoots from A baulk - misses
R shoots from B baulk at double on eastern boundary - hits.

Forster (R) completes break to 4b and sets a NSL - Bk is in jaws of 3 back.
Hyland, who has been perched on the railing watching the 3v 4 playoff between McCormick and Ross, surveys the situation from the end of A baulk.
With eagle eye precision lines up Bl and Yellow... and misses.

Forster looking for the triple to win, but first must figure out how to get Bl into play...
He ignores Bl.

er sorry... that should have been Bk. He ignores Bk. Roquets Bl, then croquets up the lawn towards H3, Rushes R to H1 with rush back to H4.
His rush peeling skills shining thru, loads H3, get gets position on Bl to rush to H2.
After H3, leaves Bk behind to set up for Triple Peel.
After H4, with return rush and subsequent croquet, placed R to south west of 4b.
Able to get the forward rush out of H5, to set up for another glorious peel of 4b, this time thru by 5 yards.

BTW McCormick defeated Ross in the battle for 3rd place. Congrats Dwayne.

R was croqueted down as 2b pioneer... but ended up 5 yards North. Croquet shot to load 3b resulted in Y side on to R.
Forster, as cool as a slice of cucumber in a jug of pimms, plays a confident approach to 2b and negotiates resulting in a rush back up the lawn.
With 3b completed, an exquisite croquet shot enable him to peel R thru Pen on the way to 4b.

Bk, 6 yards west of Pen, should be rushable to position, however just knicks it and has to play hoop approach from 5yards away

Angled hoop... OH.. ends up in the Jaws... Hyland has the opportunity to get in with a 4 yarder at Y in jaws of Pen

Hyland instead takes the slightly longer shot - Bl on Black...

and misses into B baulk.

Forster, runs Pen, croquets Black to side of Rover and taps R into peeling position... straight rover done.
Hits Bk, rushes R to 4 yards East of Peg...

and Finishes.

Congrats Stephen on a 3:2 win over Callum.
This is Stephen's 2nd Mens Championship, equal now with Harley Watts!