Good morning from Surbiton.
And it is good - sunshine though it's just clouded over.

The sunshine has prompted me to retreat deeper into the Management tent.
I can still see all the hoops on lawn 3, and most of the corners.
Management not here yet, which means I don't have a socket.
Battery might run out soon as I did the last game last night from nearer the lawn.

Statto has furnished some stats:
[This] will be the 11th Reg v Robert final. First was in 1995.
Reg leads 6-4
Both are on 11 Opens wins - the record - Solomon had 10

I'm all plugged in now.
Besides the Championship Final, we have the Plate Play-off between Mark Suter and Jamie Burch. (lawn 2, best-of-3)
And an 8 man knock-out for the Z. Details on croquetscores should you care.

The most recent Fulford v Bamford Opens Final was in 2017 at Hurlingham.
Reg Bamford beat Robert Fulford -25sxp, -3, +20sxp, +26sxp, +19sxp
I dare say we can expect more sextuples today.

Both players here, no practising yet.
We should be underway at 10 o'clock, but I bet it'll be closer to quarter past.

Fulford seems to be practising laying the northern tice.
On first turn, will he be going for the supershot (hitting hoop 5?
I don't know, I have no expert to guide me at present.

Bamford is testing the east boundary.

Now 10:08 so I've won my bet that it'll be closer to quarter past.

Who's your money on today? (I'm not offering odds!)

Bamford seems to have had enough practice.

Robert Fulford v Reg Bamford

Best-of-5 SuperAdvanced.

G1T1 Bamford Black 9y N of 4th corner.
G1T2 Fulford Red northern tice: 11y W of B-baulk, presumably in lawn a bit.

G1T3 Bamford Blue shoots at Black from A-baulk. Misses on the southside. Comes on 1'or 18" N of Black.

G1T4 Fulford Yellow at Red (11y)...

... Fulford misses. May have been nearer 10y. Yellow is just S of 2nd corner.

G1T5 Bamford Black rushes Blue near 3. Takes off 4 or 5y shy of Red. Rushes Red into 2nd corner. Stops Red a yard or so into lawn. Rushes Yellow 7 or 8' west of 1.
Good approach. Thru the hoop. If he can make 2 you'd expect him to go round from here. Not all the way round, ,obvs. Six hoops and a spread.

G1T5 After 1, Bamford Black rushes Yellow near 4, good take-off to Blue, rushes Blue to 2nd corner. Red is further in-lawn than I thought.
Black stops Blue 3y E of 2, rushes Red to 2, makes hoop.

Nick Parish is horning in on Statto's territory:

I looked up some stats for the Surbiton Facebook page. Rob has reached 18 finals and Reg 17. 10 of those finals were against each other.
Weirdly, early only it tended only to be one or the other who reached the final. Of the first 8 finals in which one of them featured, only one involved them both.
They have only ever lost 3 finals not to the other - each has lost once to Mulliner and Reg lost to Jimbo two years ago.

From what I’ve seen Rob has shown superior break play but Reg has shot better. I’m going for Rob in 4.

G1T5 Bamford Black makes 6 off Red. Yellow is already 1' E of peg, Blue 2y E of peg.
Black rushes Red east of Blue, croquets it 2 yards in from west yardline, north of peg-high.
Black taps Yellow, little take-off, Yellow now very close to peg.
I've had a quick squint. Yellow will rush close enough to 1.
Blue has rush on Black from 12y N of 4th corner.

G1T6 Fulford lifts Yellow to B-baulk. Misses to 1'W of 4th corner.

Bamford is affably chatting to a spectator.

So if you didn't know what six hoops and a spread meant, you do now.

G1T7 Bamford Blue rushes Black to west bdry. Black to 2, slight cut rush on Red. Pretty good rush. He's thru 1, 2with northward rush.
How will he extract Yellow from 4th corner?

G1T7 Bamford Blue declines his rush on Red, takes off to Yellow, hits it.
Big shot - the Hogan roll. Yellow close to 3, Blue close enough to Black.

Love and kisses to Fag-End Spice.

G1T7 Bamford Blue fails to get posi for 1-back peel after 2. Perhaps he ran 2 too cleanly? Take-off to Red. Thick take-of sends Red to 4 as Black goes to Yellow

After 3 Bamford Blue rushes Yellow to N bdry behind 2. I think Yellow will go between 1 and 5, hoping for 2-back peel before 5.
He's got to get the 1-back peel first!

Yellow is croqueted 5' NE of 1. Maybe I do know what I'm talking about.
Bamford Black trying to peel Black thru 1-back going to Red, which is 4y NNW of 4.
That's a good stroke. Black peeled to roughly peg-high, Blue nice on Red.

After 4 Bamford Blue rushes Red 4 or 5' NW of Black.
Where's Red going?
4y N of 1.
Dolly rush of Black to peeling posi at 2-back, but he overhits it, Black ends up just east of east wire.
Facing west for this shot, he puts Black a few inches north of 2-back.
Now has 2y rush to 5, that'll do.

After 5 Bamford Blue rushes Yellow 5y S of 1. Croquets Yellow 4y SW of 1-back.
Blue is 3 or 4' from Black. Rush-peel...

... fails. It's not even in front of hoop.
Sextuple definitely behind schedule now.

Unless he does something clever I haven't thought of, Bamford will need a straight quintuple to finish.
After 6 he rushes Red toward 1. Hoping for a miraculous promotion?? No such luck, Red is 3y SW of 1.
Croquets Red 3y ESE of 1. Taps Black. Take-off to Yellow at 1-back.

Black is back in front of 2-back. Really needs a rush after 1-back. I'd have thought southward, but it's actually pointing south-east.
Cuts Yellow 5y NW of 5.
Take off to get posi for rush-peel.
Blue is 2' from Black.
This time he does get the rush-peel.

Bamford needs straight quad to finish sextuple.

After making 2-back, Bamford Blue croquets Red 2 or 3y south of 4-back. Rushes Yellow near Black. Black is within 2' of 3-back.

Irish peel of 3-back coming up...
Black well thru, maybe 4y SW of 4-back.
Blue is also thru, but only by inches.
Bamford's mallet is straight up in the air.
First he wants the ref to bang the carrots in a bit.
Yellow is about 5y away.
The way he's lining up it seems Blue landed fortunately.
Yes, he has hit Yellow.

After 3-back Bamford Blue croquets Yellow 2y E of penult. Rushes Red SW of Black.
Can he rush Black to peeling position?
Rush not great one yard away, 15 or 20 degrees.

(You do realize I can't rush onto lawn with protractor and tape measure for every hoop approach. All measurements approximate.)

Black is peeled thru 4-back, I think, but may still be in jaws.
Blue jumps over it to make 4-back.

Bamford Blue trying to bombard Black with Red.
Spending a lot of time lining this up.

I wish I could tell you exactly where Black is.
Can I walk 30y there and back before Bamford's played his shot?

Bamford Blue bombards Black 5y NW of penult.
Blue taps Yellow, takes off to Black.
Rush leaves Black a few feet in front of penult
Bamford has spent a lot of this turn on his knees.

Penult peel thru by 4 or 5y. Peg is in the way of rushing it on front of rover.
Bamford Blue runs penult, rushes Yellow back beyond Red, croquets Yellow 2y SE of rover, rushes Red near Black.
More bombardment? No.
Big shot, this rush. Big in importance, not size.
Black just misses the peg.
Two yard peel, ten degrees.

Bamford's rover peel hits near wire, bounces 4' east of hoop.
Blue runs rover.

A runner informs me that the rover peel attempt was longer than I thought, 3y+.

After rover, Bamford Blue rushes Yellow a few yards south of 3rd corner. Too close to the corner.
Bamford thinking. He is conceding contact.

Bamford Blue croquets Yellow down the east bdry going to Red near the peg. Yellow is 5y N of 4th corner, maybe 1' in-lawn.

Bamford Blue rushes Red off east bdry a couple of yards north of Yellow.
Takes off to Black, little bit short if he wants to go to second corner.
Blue rushes Black 10y south of 2nd corner, croquets it a foot or two south of second corner.
Blue to 3rd corner.

Clips: Fulford 1 & 1, Bamford Black rover Blue peg.

Sixty-five minute turn there; more thinking is required when things don't go smoothly.

G1T8 Fulford Red takes croquet from Black, taking off to Blue, then taking off to Yellow, 3 or 4' shy of getting a good rush.
Red rushes Yellow off S bdry behind 4.
Scooping to hoop 1.
Pretty good shot, he has a chance at hoop. 5', 10 deg.?

Fulford fails 1.

Red and Yellow are 6 or 7y apart.

G1T9 Bamford Black at Blue (25y).....

Bamford misses. He seemed interested.

G1T10 Fulford Red snicks Yellow.

Burch has won the first game of the Plate play-off 16sxp.

G1T10 Fulford Red takes off to Black, rushes Blue ...

... into the peg!

Blue bounces to 3y W of peg.
Fulford Red croquets Blue toward 4th corner, trying to approach 1 but not quite the correct angle.
Red and Yellow joined up north of 1.

G1T11 Bamford Black at Blue (30y). Doesn't like it. Misses to south bdry.

G1T12 Fulford Yellow rushes Red off south bdry. Croquets Red near 2. Rushes Blue off a yard or so north of 4th corner.
Yellow rushes Black to 1 Misapproaches hoop. Looks to be worse than 45 degrees. Joins up with Red.

Fulford hasn't settled yet.

G1T13 Bamford Black shoots at Blue (17y). Misses to near 4th corner.

G1T14 Fulford Yellow rushes Red about halfway between 1 and 2. Takes off to Black. Blue is 2y S of 4.
Black is croqueted between 6 and the peg.
Cut rush of Blue required, good shot.
At last Fulford makes a hoop.

Fulford has 4-ball break.

Fulford has put a ball to 1-back, presumably for leave purposes. Surely he'll be stopping after 6?

Pete Trimmer's done a sextuple in the Z.
Only two games finished today, both sextuples.

Fulford has made 6.

After 6 Fulford Yellow rushes Black near 2nd corner, croquets it 4y NE of 4.
I think Blue is already in the desired position, just SW of 2.
Yellow rushes Red off west bdry.
Leaves Red a few feet noth of peg-high, Yellow 4' NNE of Red.

Do I recall a similar leave in 2017? Bamford did the wrong thing and Fulford's sxp was soon reduced to a standard qp.

G1T15 Bamford lifts Black to B-baulk. Misses Yellow. Black is replaced just north of Red.

I'm sure this is what happened in 2017, though Bamford's clips would have been different.

G1T16 Fulford Red taps Black, rushes Yellow and attempts 1-back peel.
Jawsed.
Cut rush of Blue to 1 ends up 10' shy.
Take-off approach.
8' hoop.
Runs hoop, almost to north bdry.

Yellow wasn't where I thought.
Red hits Yellow (7y), it's spat out in front of 1-back.
Red peels Yellow to within a yard of 2-back, going to Blue.
Blue is croqueted to 3. Sometimes in a sextuple, pioneers are actually at the appropriate hoop.

After 3, Fulford Red croquets Blue between 4 and 5. Hoping to peel 3-back before 5.
But he can only jaws the 2-back peel before 4.

After 4 Fulford Red rushes Black say 7y SE of peg, takes-off to Yellow in 2-back, rush-peels it.
Rolls Yellow to 3-back, short of getting rush on Blue. Takes off to 5 from 4 or 5y. Makes it.

Fulford Red peels Yellow thru 3-back before 6. Yellow is peg-high.

Some thinking required.
Fulford Red will be making 1-back off Yellow.

Burch has won the plate with another sextuple.

If all goes well, Fulford could be doing the 4-back peel after 1-back.

No, he didn't get the rush. 4-back will be peeled before 3-back. At least that's the plan.

All four balls are in a square yard south of 4-back.

Fulford Red jawses Yellow in 4-back before 3-back.

Fulford Red rush-peels Yellow thru 4-back, rolls it to penult getting rush on Black to 4-back.

Fulford requires straight double peel to complete his sextuple.

Fulford's irish peel of penult goes well. Yellow is 3y NW of rover.

Fulford's irish peel of rover goes well.

Fulford wins game 1 +3sxp

G2T1 Fulford Black 8y N of 4th corner.
G2T2 Bamford Red just S of 2nd corner.

G2T3 Fulford Blue misses Black from A-baulk. Comes on an inch or two north - a fat target.
G2T4 Bamford Yellow hits Black.

Bamford makes 1 off Blue, rushes back to Black, Black to 3y E of Red.
Take-off to Red slightly underhit.
Cuts Red 3y W of hoop 2.
Stoppo approach sending Red to 3.
Angled hoop bullied thru to the boundary

Bamfprd is having 4-ball break.
I am having lunch.

Bamford has made 6 hoops and a spread.

G2T5 Fulford lifts Blue (not Black by the peg) to B-baulk.
Hits Red centre-ball (22y), rushing it near 4th corner.
Not ideal rush on Yellow.
Overhits ten-yard take-off.
Cuts Black in the right direction, but 7y short of hoop.
Take-off approach yields 2y hoop.
Fails into middle of hoop.

Red has 10-yarder for the break.
I guess Bamford is lunching.
Which means... pudding time!

G2T6 Bamford Red elects to take the slightly longer shot at yellow (12y). Hits.

Another sextuple attempt ahead.

Bamford Red POPs Blue thru 1. Not for any tactical reason, just to guarantee the break.

G2T6 Bamford Red peels Yellow thru 1-back after 2.

Sorry my mistake. Bamford did the 1-back peel before 2.

A chance to catch up on my emails.
Richard Hilditch has been in touch:
In 2017 in game 1 at Hurlingham Robert had the following leave after 1 pop according to your report:
Blue is left a few inches SW of 2. Red is 11y S of 2nd corner. Yellow maybe 5' NNE of Red. A sort of reverse NSL..
Is that the same as today?

Yes pretty much Richard. I also saw Samir Patel deploy a similar leave, with the fourth ball just north of 5.

A smattering of applause tells me Bamford has peeled Yellow thru 2-back before 4. I'm guessing a relatively lengthy peel.

And Ailsa has been in touch.
Judging by speed and quality of play of the finalists, when do you think the match will finish?
Rather depends how many games are needed. If we have five games each as long as the first, um... about 1am.
There are time limits but no-one seems sure what they are.

Also has there been a measure of the speed of the lawn?
Apparently the lawns were measured at the start of the tournament, and all were 10.5 - 11 plummers.
Much the same now.

Bamford has peeled Yellow thru 3-back before 6.

Bamford has peeled Yellow thru 4-back before 2-back.

Misapproach to 2-back. Forty degree hoop. Powered thru to boundary.

After 2-back, Bamford rushes Black into Yellow. He didn't want to do that. Dare say he'll cope.

Bamford Red playing big split from near 3rd corner. Yellow to penult, Red to Blue is the idea. Blue is 3y NW of 3--back.
That is pretty good. Yellow is a yard from penult. Red just beyond where he wanted it, so he won't be getting rush after 3-back.

Good roll after 3-back might earn Bamford an attempt at the penult peel before 4-back.

Bamford has peeled Yellow thru penult before 4-back.

Bamford needs a straight rover peel to complete his sextuple.

Just a good rush to the peg needed now.

Three-yard peg-out...

Bamford wins game 2 +25sxp - tied 1-1 v Fulford

G3T1 Bamford Black 9y N of 4th corner.
G3T2 Fulford Red northern tice. Shorter this time - 9y?
G3T3 Bamford Blue at Red...

... misses!

G3T4 Fulford Yellow at Red / Blue.
Hits Red, rushing it 1' south of Blue.

Fulford Yellow rushes Blue 8y N of Black. Take off 2' short. Cuts Black 11y from hoop 1.
Considered scooping to the hoop. Instead played croquet stroke sending Black off in 1st corner, Yellow going off N bdry 5y from Red.

Richard Hilditch has the answer on time limits

Standard UK tournament conditions T1c2 specify
for matches that are best of five games, cumulative limits of 3, 5½, 7½, 9 and 10½ hours for each game. Time taken to complete a game after time has expired is deducted from that available for subsequent ones, subject to each game having a minimum time limit of 1½ hours. These are known as standard time limits.
It may even be that I invented these :-)

Richard

G3T5 Bamford Blue misses Red (32y)

G3T6 Fulford Yellow hits Red (5y). Red is 2' south of Blue, which is in second corner.
Yellow rushes Blue 5y East of Black.
Takes off short of Black.
Good approach.
Thru 1 with work needed to establish break.

Fulford Yellow approaching 2 from west bdry. Red is sent beyond 3, Yellow is short.
Yellow successfully scatters Red.

G3T7 Bamford Black hits Red (15y).

G3T7 Bamford Black is thru 1, should pick up break from here.

G3T7 Bamford Black looking to POP Red thru 1, so that Fulford's clips would be 2 & 2, making potential sextuple trickier.

G3T7 Bamford Black does POP Red thru 1 before 5.

Bamford is dissatisfied with his rush to 6. No real problem.

Spread. Yellow (at the peg) will not rush to 2. Bamford was unable to get final rush on partner, so rolled them toward east bdry. Blue a couple of yards short, so is scattered to boundary. Blue's rush looks OK.

Clips: Fulford 2 & 2; Bamford Blue 1 Black 1-back.

G3T8 Fulford lifts Yellow to B-baulk. Misses to 4th corner.

G3T9 Bamford Blue rushes Black to Red, Red to 1. Approach to 1 lands in a hole. Ref is on.
Is it an old hoophole, or the normal hazard of an indifferent court
Ref decided it was special damage, perhaps from a jump shot, moved ball back by an inch.
We continue.

Bamford Blue trying another Hogan roll from 4th corner. (as in G1T7)
Aims Yellow a bit wider this time, it's 5y SE of 3.
Makes 2 off Black
Peels Black thru 1-back going to Red near 2-back. Black is about ten yards thru.

After 3 Bamford Blue rushes Yellow nearer Black than he'd like. Yellow ends up further north than he'd want.
Rush of Black to peeling posi at 2-back not perfect, but Black is peeled anyway.

Bamford peels Black thru 3-back before 6.

Manager is calculating points for the Solomon peeling prize.
So far this year players have scored 1109, eclipsing 2017's 915.

After 1-back, Bamford Blue could only rush Yellow off the west bdry. Big roll over to 4-back where Black and Red await.
Yellow is not ideal, it's just east of 4-back and a bit north.
Bamford is perplexed.

Can he find a spot whence he can peel Black thru 4-back, getting a rush on Yellow to 3-back?
Not that he's made 2-back yet, mind.

Rush to 2-back not the best, rolling up from 4 or 5y. Good approach. Lot of wire but still runs it to boundary.
After 2-back, Bamford Blue rushes Red... into jaws of 5! He really didn't want to do that.

Ref is on. It's Linesy!
Ref is lying on the ground for some reason.
Player asking ref something. Oh for a hoop-mic!
Unclear how close he can get to Black and Yellow, nor if he can get Red out of the hoop.

Bamford is unlucky Red ended up where it has. It was a 3-yard cut-rush, hoping to get Red in the vicinity of 4-back.

Didi think he was about to play a stroke there, but no.
Now he's wandering up to 4-back.

Clean take-off played. Blue a couple of yards from Black. Red still in middle of 5.

One more stroke, and the ref is back on. Intricacy around 4-back. Not in position to peel Black thru hoop.

He will need straight triple peel to finish sextuple. Extracting Red out of 5 a priority, I'd suggest.

Ref needs hammer. May as well take bucket.

Bamford's shot not as easy as it looked, I'm told.

Bamford Blue rushes Yellow to3-back. Makes hoop.

After 3-back, Bamford rushes Yellow off south bdry.
Croquets Yellow 2y N of penult going to Red.
Rushes Red out of 5 to north bdry, 3y W of B-baulk.
Black is 5' E of 4-back.
Good shot required here.

Bamford plays good stroke.
Straight triple finish still plausible.

Bamford Blue peels Black thru 4-back straight. Runs hoop, jumping over peelee.

Bamford Blue hits Red. Red is 3y from Black, but he seems to be lining up bombard.
Excellent shot garners applause.

Finish still very much possible. Maybe even favourite to finish.

Irish penult peel goes well. Peelee is 2y NW of rover.
After penult Bamford Blue rushes Yellow into Red, which doesn't matter.

Bamford Blue irish peels Black thru rover. Black finishes 1' shy of the white line.
He needs good take-off now from 5 or 6y NE...
Applause again.

Bamford wins game 3 +24sxp, leads Fulford 2-1

My expert thinks their should be extra letters for that sort of thing.
eg sextuple with straight triple finish, stxp, straight quad finish sqxp.

G4T1 Fulford Black 10y N of 4th corner.
G4T2 Bamford Yellow just S of second corner
G4T3 Fulford Blue at Black from A-baulk. Misses.

Blue comes on 18" north of Black.
G4T4 Bamford Red at Black from A-baulk...

...misses!

Red is just N of Blue. May even be touching?

G4T5 Fulford Blue takes croquet from Red, stops it in-lawn, rushes Black to 1.
Makes 1 with eastward rush.

After 1 Fulford Blue rushes Black to Red, then Red.. into hoop 2. Red bounces off 3 or 4y N of hoop.
Take-off approach, runs hoop 2.
Hits Red off N bdry, 5y E of Yellow.
Takes off to Yellow, bit short.
Cuts Yellow to 6y W of 5.
Big rolls ends Yellow3y NNW of 4th corner Blue nicely on Black.
Makes 3 off Black.

After 3 Fulford Blue bonks Black southward (6-yarder).
Good take-off gives rush on Yellow.
Makes 4.
Red is still behind hoop 2.

Fulford Blue makes 5 off Black, then takes off to Red. Yellow is at 6.

Fulford Blue has made 6. Spread, with Red at the peg. Two inches away, so not as tight as preferred by Bamford.

G4T6 Bamford lifts Red to A-baulk.
Shooting at Black (16y).
The usual preparation. Standing 5 yards behind shot, hands by the side, not grasping the mallet yet.
Here goes....

Bamford hits!

G4T6 Bamford Red picks up break.

Six hoops, one POP on Black, spread.
Not the most outrageous prediction.

Bamford Red POPs Black thru 1 before 5.

By email:
_2 hours for a +24sxp game. The slow play needs to be dealt with _
Not sure if correspondent wishes to remain anonymous.

That should have been in italics.

Crowd is dwindling. A dozen or so.
Bamford has ref on to do some gardening by the peg.

Bamford unhappy with ball by peg(Blue). It is very close, but to the NNE, not the east.
I've been out to have a look, I think Blue can see all of Black ten yards away.
Bamford leaves rush for Yellow from west boundary anyway.

Six hoops, one POP on Black, B-spread.

Clips: Fulford Black 2, Blue 1-back; Bamford Yellow 1, Red 1-back.

Fulford thinks for a long time, then lifts Black to B-baulk.
Blue wont rush anywhere near 1.
G4T7 Fulford Black at Blue from near 3rd corner.
Misses to just east of 1st corner.

G4T8 Bamford Yellow rushes Red one yard east of Blue.
I've never seen as much bombardment as the last few days.
Here again, Bamford is aiming to knock Blue away from the peg with Red.
That goes well, though Red is now parked by the peg, won't rush to 1-back.

G4T8 Bamford Yellow rushes Blue to 1st corner to get a cannon, Yellow ricochets Red away from the peg!
A nice cannon and suddenly the sextuple is all there.

G4T8 Bamford Yellow jawses Red in 1-back after 2. I think that's all he was going for.

After 3, Bamford Yellow rushes Black to 2y W of B-baulk.
Croquets Black very near Blue (3y NNE of 2-back), but he can still rush Blue to 4.
Rush-peels Red to just in front of 2-back, takes off to rush Blue to 4.

After 4, Bamford Yellow rushes Blue to the end of A-baulk.
Croquets Blue to 6, Yellow short of position for rush-peel of Red.
Roquets Black instead. Takes off to rush Red to 5.

After 5, Bamford Yellow rushes Red to 7' in front of 2-back.
The peel goes thru by 4 yards.

After 6, Bamford Yellow rushes Blue 2 or 3y East of 1st corner.
Stops Blue 2y NW of 5.
Can he rush Red to peeling position at 3-back?
No, short of that.
Takes off to Black at 1-back.

After 1-back, Bamford Yellow rushes Black into 4th corner.
Black is croqueted toward 4-back.
Trying to peel Red thru 3-back, getting rush on Blue (by 5) to 2-back.
Good stroke. Red is 10' east of 4-back.

After 2-back, Bamford Yellow rushes Blue poorly. It's somewhere west of 2.
Rolls balls eastward, but Yellow doesn't reach Red.

Bamford will need a straight triple peel to complete sextuple.

Bamford Yellow rushes Black to 3-back. It finishes one foot directly north of hoop.

Angled hoop. He's played for hoop and rush. Good shot.

Red is somewhere beyond 4-back. I think Bamford hoped Red would hit the hoop in an earlier croquet stroke.
Good rush of Red in front of 4-back.
Peel goes thru.
Again he runs hoop jumping over peelee.
More bombardment on the way, surely!

After 4-back, Bamford Yellow rushes Blue one yard east of Red.

While he's lining that up, a selective history of multiple sextuple matches.
If Bamford finishes this turn, this will be the third 4 sextuple match.
The second four sextuple match was the 2017 Opens final, much mentioned today.
The first four sextuple match was the previous day, Fulford beating Mulliner 3-1.
The first three sextuple match was the 3rd place play-off at the 1997 Men's, Fulford beating Maugham 3-0.

Of course, should Bamford not finish this turn, this might be a 5 sextuple match!

Successful bombardment.
Bamford is now lining up his irish peel at penult.
Red sails thru, just misses the peg, finishes less than a yard in front of rover!
Yellow taps Black, takes off back to Blue, rushes Blue near the peg.

Bamford Yellow is one straight rover peel away from his twelfth Croquet Championship.

irish peel at rover.
Just a little take-off, and a rush too the peg.

Three yard peg-out...

Bamford wins game 4 +19sxp, and the match 3-1

Reg Bamford wins the Open Singles for the twelfth time.

That's all folks.

Cheers, Andrew