Good afternoon from Hurlingham.
The 4 quarter-finals are in progress.
Bamford v Suter (1)
Fisher v Higgins (1)
Mulliner v Riva (2)
Lawrence v Death (2)

Except Death has already won 26tp 26tp. (7th turn / 6th turn)
I might as well make my first mistake deliberate.

Riva won the first 26tp v Mulliner.
Mulliner is having a 2nd turn ball round in the second.

Suter v Bamford is SuperAdvanced.
G1 Bamford went to 1-back, Suter hit, to 4-back with 2 POPs, contact leave.
Suter then hit again, but broke down at hoop 5.
Bamford...? Suter hit again! Finished with a straight triple.

G2 Bamford to 1-back 3rd turn, three ducks.
Suter hits, to 4-back with 2 POPs.

Mulliner Yellow to 4-back 2nd turn, Blue 9yN IV, Yellow in II.

Some sort of error from Suter on the leave.

Riva hits 3rd turn.

Fisher v Higgins, still game 1. Fisher won the opening, but was psychologically hampered after 3.
Higgins to 4-back.
Fisher hit with hoop 4 ball, equalises.

Riva fails hoop 1.

Just to confirm, these quarters are best of 3, and double-banked. (though Mulliner v Riva is now single banked.)
I think each of these decisions may have raised an eyebrow.

After much thought, Bamford is playing with his 1-back ball.
Bamford Yellow lifts to contact with Red, takes off to Black / Blue...
he's off the lawn!
Suter has potentially match-winning turn.

Death claims to have run a 65 degree hoop 1 this morning! Ground level, hit hard!

Mulliner is thru hoop 1, standard TP to equalise.

Higgins missed the lift on lawn 1, they're now breaking for lunch.
They may be single-banked when they return!

Suter has failed to approach hoop 2, and has retreated.

Bamford has hit something, and is making progress with his backward ball.
Suter is 2 and 4-back, Bamford 1-back and break (now for hoop 5).

Mulliner has peeled rover before 3-back.

Bamford is going for a delayed TPO!

Mulliner finishes TP, 1-1 with Riva.

G3: Mulliner Blue supershot
Riva Yellow to max posi W bdry
Mulliner Black appears to be pacing out which is the shorter shot at Yellow.

Bamford's 2-back pioneer is near the peg.
He's peeling partner thru 1-back (!)

Mulliner missed 3rd turn (from A-baulk)
Riva missed 4th turn.

Bamford red peels Suter's black ball thru penult going to Blue near the peg. Black collides with Blue, but he's OK.

Bamford red peels Suter's black ball thru penult going to Blue near the peg. Black collides with Blue, but he's OK.

Sorry for duplicate comment, no idea how I did that.

Mulliner has broken down at hoop 3.

Bamford appears to have jawsed the rover peel before 3-back.

Bamford is approaching 4-back with all 3 peels of the TPO done.
He'll be hoping to have another peel of partner.
And then how many balls off?

Riva has 4-ball break.

Bamford wanders off to talk to oppo for some reason - maybe checking superAdvanced rules?
This will be a contact, but not lift to position.

Bamford Red peels Yellow thru 2-back before rover.

Bamford has 2 balls off. Yellow is near 4th corner.
Suter's Blue clip is on 2, Bamford's Yellow on 3-back.
My expert tells me a 2-ball break is not that tricky in these conditions...

Riva is round to 4-back with an attempted MSL, but the ball at 4 (Blue) is not good.
Mulliner Black at Blue from A-baulk. Hits the hoop, misses the ball.

I've come lawnside to watch the 2-ball ending, but it seems they,ve gone to lunch.
Fisher has resumed v Higgins, and is lining up his 4-back. Peel fails.

Riva needs a standard TP to progress to aa semi-final with James Death.

Fisher rush-peels partner thru 4-back before 6.

Riva Yellow peels Red thru-back after 3. Only just thru, still in the jaws.

Fisher adopts the Wylie method, so he can attempt penult peel before 1-back.

Riva is able to rush peelee back thru 3 before 5.
Surely he's 90%+ to finsh now.

Sorry my commentary's been a bit frantic so far.
I hope to add some colour later on.
Plus I have the inside scoop on Alain Giraud's injury.

We are in glorious sunshine, by the way.

Fisher's penult peel before 1-back failed, now eyeing up a death roll before 2-back.
Peel is thru, about 4y from gis 2-back pioneer, but that is naught to the modern player.

Fisher's TP is not under full control, but I dare say he'll cope.

Riva is attempting rover peel before 3-back...
The peel hits the outside of the wire.

So both TPs in progress will need a straight rover peel to complete.
Mulliner thinks his chances have improved to 1% from 0.1%.

Fisher irish-peels rover. Peelee sails thru, the other ball is just thru.
Can he see anything?

Fisher seems to be taking on the (hampered ) 9-yarder at partner....
Misses!

Riva has no such problem.
Just a good rush to the peg required.

Jose Riva defeats Stephen Mulliner.

Higgins' turn to try a standard TP.

Bamford v Suter resumes.

Two balls left on lawn. Bamford's Yellow clip is on 3-back, Suter's Blue on 2.
Suter taking croquet from near 4th corner.
Big roll...

.. has to mark double-banker's ball...

... ... not bad!
7' hoop....

Suter runs 2 to boundary.
Yellow is 5y SE of Suter's Blue.
Blue hits Yellow, it bounces off 6 to 2y E of 6.

Suter plays squarish split, slightly overhit. Suter runs 2y hoop 3. Hits Yellow.
Yellow is now peg-high Rolls up to 4.
Runs 4 to the boundary, and he has rush to 5!

Meanwhile Higgins is trying penult peel after 6. Gets it. Suter will need to mark a ball again.

Suter has angled hoop 5, runs it,, but only by a yard. Yellow is 4' N of peg. Not sure Blue can see Yellow.

Mulliner has just completed a practice sextuple.

Suter's Blue retires to S bdry, 7y E of 1st corner.

Bamford Yellow to just W of 4th corner.
Suter Blue dribbles to hoop 6, not in front.

Bamford Yellow to 4 or 5' posi at 3-back.
Suter to S-bdry, 1oy E of I.
Bamford runs 3-back.

sorry 10y

Bamford now waiting for double-banker.
Higgins is approaching 4-back with 2 peels done.

Bamford takes 5' posi at 4-back.

Suter Blue 12y W of 6.
Bamford runs 4-back. Lift pending.

Bamford Yellow to E bdry, a few yards south of peg-high.

Higgins has straight rover peel. It goes well.

Higgins wins game 1 +2tp.

Suter lifts Blue to B-baulk. Misses to 4th corner.

Bamford Yellow tries to take posi at penult. A yard short.

Suter Blue at Yellow (25y)....

... Suter re-stalks...

Suter misses to N bdry.

G2T1 Fisher Green supershot.
T2 Higgins White to max posi E bdry.

Bamford thinking...

I think White may be nearer peg-high....
T3 Fisher Brown at White from B-baulk. Hits!

Bamford Yellow to peg-high on W bdry.
Suter Blue to 2y S of 2nd corner.

Bamford Yellow to 3rd corner.

Clips: Blue 6, Yellow penult.

Suter Blue to just in from W bdry, 3y N of peg-high.

Bamford Yellow to 8y S of 3rd corner.
Suter Blue taps into lawn a little.

Bamford looking for spot near B-baulk, wired from Blue.
Yellow goes back into (near) 3rd corner.

T3 Fisher has 3-ball break.

Suter Blue to 4y E of 2nd corner.
Bamford Yellow to 8y S of 3rd corner.

Suter Blue 12y W of 6.
Bamford Yellow to 4y W of 3rd corner.

Suter Blue moves a few yards South.
Bamford Yellow moves a few yards West.

Suter Blue to 11y W of 6 (and a bit S...maybe wired??)

Bamford yellow plays 2 or 3y towards Blue.
Suter reciprocates.
Bamford maintains wiring. Yellow now 6y in front of penult.
Suter taps Blue.
Bamford thinks of trying the hoop...

Bamford tries 6y penult. Flicks off wire to 8y N of 1st corner.

T3 Fisher has made 9. Three ducks leave.

Suter Blue to 5y NNE of 2.

My battery's running low, may have to move back to mangler's tent.

Bamford Yellow to 3rd corner.

T4 Higgins misses from B-baulk,

More cat and mouse from the first colours game.,.

Sorry for break in transmission, back in tent now.

Yellow clip is still on penult, Blue is still on 6.

G2T5 Fisher failed to peel partner thru 4-back after 3. Now needs delayed TP to equalise.

Yellow clip is still on penult, Blue is still on 6. Not aware of any attempt at hoop or roquet.

Bamford attempts 7y penult. Hits both wires, stays within a yard of hoop.
Suter attempts roquet from 3rd corner, misses.

Bamford Yellow takes 1' posi.

Suter Blue hits Yellow! Rushes it near end of B-baulk.

Fisher approaching 6 from some distance. Copes. Not sure whether he's had the first peel...

Suter taking off to 6. Wow, I think that's nearer the peg than the hoop.
Runs 11' hoop to boundary.
Has rush westwards.

Suter has 7' 1-back. Runs it with ideal amount of wire!

Approaching 2-back from 4y... overhit.
Fails angled hoop to East boundary.

I know I confuse East and West often, but I do mean East boundary.

Suter Blue clip is on 2-back, Bamford Yellow is on penult.

Bamford takes 2y posi at penult.

Suter shooting...

... hits centre-ball!

Yellow ball is in 2nd corner.

Suter plays big roll to 2-back, well short, 5 or 6y hoop. Retires to N bdry.

T5 Fisher is for 2-back having done one peel.

Had Bamford v Suter been best-of-5, they'd be well out of time by now.

Suter Blue is 8' in front (ish) of 2-back.
Bamford Yellow is 5' in front (ish) of penult.

Suter runs 2-back.

Suter takes v long posi at 3-back.
Bamford takes good wired posi at penult.
Suter to W bdry.
Bamford runs penult, hits the peg.

Bamford Yellow hits Blue (which was a yard or two in from the boundary).

Fisher still going, despite distraction of double-bankers.
He's just peeled penult before 4-back.

Bamford Yellow stuffs blue near 3rd corner, takes posi at rover.

Suter Blue at Yellow - "last shot", ....

... hits! The crowd goes wild.

Suter "rushed" Yellow to 1st corner. Approaches 3-back sending Yellow to 4-back. Four yard hoop...

... rejected to East boundary.

Fisher completes 5th turn TP. One game all v Higgins.

Bamford Yellow is in front of rover, again.

Suter shooting from 4th corner, misses.

Bamford runs rover.

Bamford has run rover to the South boundary.
He can see the peg.
Shooting at it hard.
Hits!

Bamford wins game 2 +5tpo, one game all v Suter.

G3 Suter Blue attempts to lay supershot by flicking hoop 5. (these two are playing superAdvanced)
Misses hoop, ends up near B-baulk.
T2 Bamford Red rushes Blue near 2, good take-off to 1, runs hoop to N boundary and has 2-ball break.

T2 Bamford approaching 6 from beside the peg. Good shot and he's still going.

T2 Bamford is making 2-back.

T2 Bamford Red has made 8 hoops - that's all he wanted, we think. Leaves Red in the middle of E bdry, Blue in middle of W bdry.

T3 Suter Black takes contact from Red, takes off to Blue.
Thick take off approach to 1 yileds 6' angled hoop. Runs it by a yard or two, misses 11-yarder at partner.

G3T1 Higgins E bdry.
T2 Fisher just out of 2nd corner.
T3 Higgins joins up.
T4 Fisher hits target from B-baulk.

T4 Bamford Yellow hit Red, and is now taking off to 1 from 3y North, makes hoop, needs quadruple peel for match.

Where are we?
One semi-final is decided: Jose Riva v James Death.
The other semi will be between the winners of the two double-banked games on lawn 1:
Reg Bamford v Mark Suter; and Harry Fisher v Gabrielle Higgins.
Both games are in their fourth turn. Fisher is hoping to get to 4-back; Bamford is hoping to win with a quadruple.

Bamford peels partner thru 3-back after 4. Peelee ends up 3y S of 4-back.
Fisher still going round.

I promised you news of Alain Giraud's injury. He is staying with Nigel Polhill, whose words these are:
Minutes after getting up yesterday [Wednesday] morning, Alain fainted and bashed his head. Blood everywhere! Phoned for the ambulance and spent an agonising 20 minutes trying to keep him conscious before they arrived. We both rode in the ambulance to the hospital. Patched him up in A&E and gave him a CT scan. Released 5 hours later. He’s out on the lawns today [Thursday] with 5 stitches in a head wound!

Bamford has just rush-peeled penult before 2-back.

Fisher made 9,and has a spread. When placing the ball by the peg, it went 12" instead of 6", so won't rush to 1.
Higgins plays the other ball as it lies at Fisher's balls (22y, target?).
Misses. Hasn't hit anything today, I'm told, but Fisher's 2 errors allowed her to win game 1.

Higgins now regretting choice of shot, though it was a target. Missing into 4th corner would have left Fisher a tricky pick-up.
Now Fisher makes 1 off partner. The ball at the peg wii rush to 2. He waits a while for the double-banker, then promptly rushes Brown into Black.

Bamford wins game 3 +25qp

This is the winner's account of this morning's game between Fisher and Christian Carter.
Fisher third turn ball round.
Carter 4th turn TPO.
Now the normal TPO leave is ball on East bdry wired from 1, ball in 2nd corner.
Carter decided, for some reason, to have ball in 3rd corner rather than 2nd.
BUT, he missed the corner!
Fisher could rush the ball near 2, take-off to the other ball, knocked it so he could roll to 1, did so, finished.

My battery has recovered, so I shall move down to lawn 1 to see how Fisher's finishing turn is progressing.

Fisher jawsed the 4-back peel after 3, and again attempted the Wylie manoeuvre.
He didn't get the rush to peeling posi, but a nice death roll before 2-back and he's back in good shape.
Though the peel only went thru by a few inches.

Fisher is 4y from his 3-back pioneer, clubs it 5y past, copes. Such is the modern way.

Fisher has a straight rover peel to do. Unlike game 1, both balls are well thru.

Fisher wins game 3 +26tp

Tomorrow, the semi-finals (best-of-5):
Reg Bamford v Harry Fisher (lawn 2)
Jose Riva v James Death (lawn 3).
10am start, I shall aim to be here!
Cheers for now, Andrew