Good morning from Hurlingham.
Cloudless blue sky, it's going to be a hot one.

What's happening today?
I shall copy the Mangler's info:

The Croquet Championship

Final (best of five)
10am start
Lawn 4 - Reg Bamford v James Death

The Association Plate
10am start
Lawn 3 - Draw final (single game) - Ian Vincent v Brian Cumming
followed by
Lawn 3 - Playoff (best of three) - winner of Draw v Nick Parish

Z Knockout (single games)
10am start
Lawn 1 - Joel Taylor v Andrew Hobbs
Lawn 1 - Doug Grimsley v Robert Wilkinson
Lawn 2 - Stuart Lawrence v Mark Ormerod
Lawn 2 - Gabrielle Higgins v Thomas Coles

ZZ games available on lawn 6

No sign of the players yet.
When do you think they'll actually start?
My bet is 12 minutes past.

James Death is here.

You'll have read Eugene's message (on the Nottingham Board) that we have live streaming.
I'm being superseded!
Seriously, I don't regard the streaming as a rival, I hope my text will complement that coverage.
Also I know of you will be doing other things, and catch up with this later.
I'll even give you the link:
"Today's AC Opens final between Reg Bamford and James Death will be live streamed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Jb1EZqT2axE from 10am BST."

Sadly the Spoon doesn't do Sundays, so I'm off in search of coffee. Back soon!

The players are warming up.
The weather is already warm.

Bamford and Death have played 53 games, Death has won 13.
Doing the math last night, if you only win a quarter of your games, you win a best-of-5 10% of the time.
Happily, sport doesn't work like that. If I offered you 9-1 against Death, you'd grab my arm off.
Let's just say Bamford is clear favourite.

Open Final: Reg Bamford v James Death

T1 Bamford Black 11y N of 4th corner.
T2 Death Red 6" S of 2nd corner.

Bamford won the toss, electing to go in.

T3 Bamford Blue at Black from A-baulk. Hits.

T3 Bamford Blue takes off to Red. The crowd thinks this may be too hard. We'll never know, as Blue hits hoop 2.

Blue has stayed very close to hoop 2 (touching, maybe). Bamford is squinting to see where he can play Blue.
The ref is on.
Thru the hoop, Bamford hits Blue to 13y S of 2nd corner.

Obviously, all distances are approximate.
Blue may be a bit less than 13y.

T4 Death Yellow at Red from B-baulk. Restalks. Hits!

T4 Death Yellow takes off to Blue, rushes to 1, makes it, rushes to near end of B-baulk.
Rolls Blue west, Approaches 2 sending Red to 3.
Five foot hoop...

...runs it to the boundary.

Death needs one good croquet stroke (from near 2) and he has a break.
That is pretty good.
Death pauses for a drink of water.

The crowd expects 9 hoops here. Maybe a POP or two?

T4 Death Yellow POPs Black thru 1 before 5.

POP means Peeling the OPponent for tactical reasons other than with a view to pegging them out.

Nick Parish has come up with a good title for a TV show on croquet:
"POP Black"!

T4 Death Yellow POPs Black thru 2 after 1-back.

T4 Death yellow makes 2-back off Red, rushes Red off N bdry behind 2.
Red is croqueted near W bdry, N of peg-high.
Yellow rushes Black near 3-back where Blue is waiting.
Yellow makes 3-back, hits Black, croquets it near W bdry, 11y N of IV
Yellow rushes Blue near Red, leaves Blue on W bdry, rushes Red near 2nd corner.
Red is just S of 2nd corner with 1' rush on Yellow southwards.

T5 Bamford lifts Black to B-baulk. He'll be shooting facing the sun, and he doesn't wear a hat.
Bamford stationary, visualising the shot.
Black hits Red.

T5 Bamford Black rushes Yellow very close to Blue.
Rushes Blue to 3.
Runs hoop 3 with more wire than he wanted.
Undercuts rush of Blue to Yellow, he's 7y S of Yellow.
Oppo's hope is that even if he picks up break, he won't be able to organise 1-back leave.

Bamford Black rushes Red to 4, makes it, rushes Red to 5, makes it.

Just had a local GC player wondering why there's only one player on the lawn.

After 5, Bamford Black rushes Red 2y N of Blue. Croquets Red toward 2-back, rushes Blue nicely to 6.
Will he be making 1-back?

After 6 Bamford Black rushes Blue a few yards NW of 5. Takes off to Red. He will be making more hoops, partially vindicating Death's tactics.

Bamford has misapproached 2-back!

Black retreats to 4th corner.

Blue is near A-baulk, oppo is hoping not actually on the yard-line.
Yellow is in middle of lawn, maybe 5y NW of peg.

After a pause, Death is ready to play.

Blue is 1' into lawn.
T6 Death lifts Red, rushes Blue to 1.
Makes 1, rushes Blue...

... into 4th corner. Great shot! He has a cannon.

T6 Death Red makes 2 off Yellow.
Black is at 3, Blue 7y NE of 4.
Red rushes Yellow nr Blue, croquets Yellow to 5' S of 4-back, rushes Blue to 4, takes off to Black.

Death Red runs 3, but not cleanly. 3 or 4" thru. Has he a shot?

Death Red is able to hit Yellow. Does so. 7' peel. Goes thru by 6".
Death needs to complete a standard TP to win the first game.

Most players play the northward rush to peelee after 4, but not Death. He's confident of getting forward rush after 5.
Does so.

Bamford's misapproach of 2-back, from not very far, is his first proper error for a while, certainly since I've been watching the event..
My expert tells me that his 3rd turn take-off into 2 has to count as an error.

A slight misplay at 6 leaves an angled peel of penult, which Death fails to get.

Death is planning to do the penult peel before 4-back.

After 3-back, Death Red rushes Black into the peg. Black has stopped an inch south of the peg, which is inconvenient.

Death calls the ref on to remove the extension from the peg.
Black wasn't as bad as I thought, he can get to penult.
Death Red peels Yellow thru penult before 4-back.

Just the straight rover peel to negotiate.

Peeling from a foot in front.
Stop shot or irish?
Stoppo. Yellow goes a yard thru.
Red jumps over Yellow to the deep ball.

Death wins game 1 +19tp

There will be a short pause between games.

Brian Cumming has beaten Ian Vincent in the Plate.
Brian will now face Nick Parish in the best-of-3 play-off.

Chris Clarke has been doing the audio commentary on the livestream.
We think Stephen Mulliner might now be involved.

Bamford v Death Game 2

T1 Death Black supershot - 3y NW of 5.
T2 Bamford Yellow E bdry, S of peg-high
T3 Death Blue at Yellow from 3rd corner. Hits!

T3 Death pretty good croquet stroke. Yellow perfect at 2, needs cut rush of Black.
Undercut.
He is rolling up to 1 from the S bdry. Good shot.
He's thru 1, no rush.
One more good croquet stroke needed...

T3 Death Blue has 3-ball break.

No rush after 2 either, but copes well.
Now in full control.

Death is thru 1-back.
Cannot see any reason to stop before 9 hoops are made - Bamford doesn't do TPOs, normally.
What will be Death's leave?

T3 Death Blue is making 3-back off Black. Yellow is in the vicinity.

After 3-back, Death Blue hits Black, croquets it to a spot 11y N of 4th corner.
Yellow is left so that Black has a 4' rush pointing WSW.
Blue is sent off 7y S of 2nd corner.
"Three breaks done, three to go!"

"It's hot out there!"
I'm told Black is halfway between rover and peg, ie 13y N of 4th corner.
T4 Bamford Red is shooting from A-baulk...

......Bamford hits Black centre-ball.

No roquet has been missed yet!

T4 Bamford Red rushes Yellow to 1, makes it with rush to Black.
The presumption would be 6 hoops and a 1-back leave.
And maybe a POP?

I may lose some readers saying this, but surely a Clarke / Mulliner double act on the streaming commentary is unmissable!

After a bit of work Bamford has all four balls in play. He's now for hoop 4.

T4 Bamford Red is making 4 off Black.
I thought he might rush Black to 1 for the POP,, but no.
Blue is the hoop 5 pioneer, Black at hoop 6, Yellow is going to 1.
Yellow is emphatically not an early 2-back pioneer!

T4 Bamford Red has made 6 hoops.
Black is left maybe 2y NE of 1st corner.
Blue a couple of feet from hoop 1, wired obviously.
Red has rushed Yellow into 3rd corner.
Bamford checking that if Yellow stays in 3rd corner, whether it's open for Black and/or Bue
Almost confuses himself into playing the wrong ball.
Yellow in 3rd corner, Red 2y WSW.

Clips: Bamford Red 1-back, Yellow 1; Death Blue 4-back, Black 1.

T5 Death Black at Yellow....

... close, but no cigar.

I don't understand that phrase, can anyone explain?

Richard Hilditch has been reading yesterday's commentary:

You say that Jenny could not buy you a drink before noon. My memory was that the tennis bar always used to assist in that matter, is that still true?

Ah yes, I remember the tennis bar from 30 years ago.
I've asked a couple of locals, they seem unsure...
I asked Jimbo, and he's never heard of it!

T6 Bamford Yellow peels Red thru 1-back before 1. Red thru by 2'.
Are we to see a repeat of his second game yesterday, when Bamford did all six peels before 3-back?

After 2, Bamford Yellow rushes Red 5 or 6y Shy of 2-back. Here comes the peel...
...I think it's thru!

No sorry it's in the middle of 2-back.

Both players came close to elimination earlier in the knock-out.
In their decider, Andy Myers TPOed Death.
He then inched round without any breaks.
Myers reached 4-back and peg with Death still on 1.
Death attempted hoop 1 from the boundary - bounced off to rover!
Myers made 4-back, but without a rush to penult.
He tried to croquet a ball near the W bdry, but it only reached hoop 2.
Myers retreated to 4th corner.
Death hit his 7-yarder, rolled to 1 from 4th corner, finished.

T6 Bamford Yellow rush-peels 2-back after 3.
He runs 4 to a deep Blue.
Blue is croqueted 5y E of peg.
Bamford attempts to peel Red thru 3-back going to Black which is 3y ENE of 5.
Good shot, Red is peeled to near Blue, Yellow has rush on Black.

T6 Bamford Yellow will attempt to peel Red thru 4-back before 1-back.
The 2-back pioneer is 3y SW of peg.

Bamford's lucky escape came against Mark Suter.
Suter hit everything for a game and a half, winning the first game (best-of-3).
Game 2 (SuperAdvanced):
Bamford to 1-back.
Suter hit lift, to 4-back with 2 POPs.
Suter then had chance for standard TP, grotesquely misapproached 2.
Bamford shortly (can't remember, it's in Friday's commentary) had a turn where the clips went from 3 and 1-back v 2 and 4-back to 3-back and box v 2 and box.
Suter put down two 2-ball breaks before Bamford eventually won.
Bamford had a 4th turn QP in the decider.

T6 Bamford Yellow puts Red into the front of 4-back before 1-back.
Looks to be rush-peelable.

Black is going to 3-back so Red must rush-peel.
Bamford is looking at whither he should rush-peel it so he has a clear take-off to Blue.

Gentle rush-peel, about 2y N of hoop.
Take-off misses the peg, yields 4' rush.

Recap: Bamford is on a sextuple. He is approaching 2-back with 4 peels done.

Before 3-back, Yellow rushes Red from 4-back to penult. One yard in front, good enough for a death roll.
Red is peeled thru penult by a foot.

Less than a foot, maybe 6"

The Red ball is at rover, waiting to be peeled.

Between 4-back and penult Red is nudged to within a foot of rover.

With Red so close, Bamford opts for 2 side-balls at rover rather than a deep ball.

Irish peel goes well.

Five foot peg-out...

Bamford wins game 2 +17sxp

Bamford 1-1 Death

(Best-of-5 match)

Lunch!
For the players and myself.

Bamford v Death Game 3

T1 Bamford Blue 10y N of 4th corner
T2 Death Red just S of 2nd corner

T3 Bamford Black at Blue from A-baulk...

... Bamford misses!

His first missed roquet of the match. Death has missed only the tea-lady in game 2.

Black has come on not far north of Blue. Is it a target?
Death is shooting from A-baulk.

T4 Death Yellow misses Blue / Black.

The lawn has been measured at 12 Plummers.

T5 Bamford Black taps Yellow, rushes Blue to 1.
After 1, Black rushes Blue back to Yellow. Stops Blue near 4, rushes Yellow to 1' E of 2nd corner.

Little take-off, Black rushes Red to 2. After 2, Black ignores Yellow and rushes Red to Blue.
Black rushes Blue to 2nd corner, Yellow to 3 and Bamford has the first break.

Thanks to Marcus for his kind message.

In the Plate play-off Cumming has won the first with a triple. Parish has the first break in game 2.

In case you were in any doubt, there is a 1-back leave in the offing.

Apparently the livestreaming is down.
Either problem with Hurlingham wifi or the cache is full. Whatever that means.
So welcome refugees from Youtube.
The match is 1-1, and Bamford has just made 6 hoops on turn 5.
Usual 1-back leave.

T6 Death Yellow at Blue (30y+)....

...restalks...

...Death misses.

Red is some way from hoop 1, maybe 5y WNW.

T7 Bamford does not try the first peel before 1

T7 Bamford Blue peels Black thru 1-back after 2. It's about 2/3 of the way to 2-back.

Bamford's hoop 4 pioneer - at 2-back, is insufficiently south.
Another longish 2-back peel coming up.

Five-yard peel attempt of 2-back goes nicely thru.

A word on the seeding.
The Selection Committee was asked to seed eight players - and they did!
Often the seeding is fudged, with two or more players given equal seeding.
This time they went for 1-8. You can work out which from their position in the Draw.
The top two seeds are in the Final.

T7 Bamford Blue peels Black thru 3-back before 6.
The Red and Black balls are close together 8y N of 4.

So the Selection Committee did better than 2018, when unable to decide between Marks Suter and Avery, made them joint 8th seeds, and had them play each other!
Not to mention the year they made Aiton joint 1st seed with Bamford and Fulford. Not sure how many of the last two' 21 titles had been won by then, Aiton still has zero.

Drama!
Bamford Blue tries to rush Red to 1-back, it hits hoop 6, and stays close.
He is able to roll to 1-back, 6' hoop, makes it, though Red's position has been compromised.

Bamford Blue is taking croquet from Red which is 4y WSW of 2.
Black is 34 in front of 4-back, Yellow 4' SSW of Black.
Rolls them both over. Crowd thinks he may have wired himself, but he's OK.

You could throw a handkerchief over all four balls at the moment.

Bamford Blue tries to peel Black thru 4-back before 2-back. The peel fails, Black is 6" E of the hoop.
Blue rushes Yellow to 2-back, avoiding the peg..
Runs 2-back to the boundary, but is South-East of Yellow rather than South-West.
Blue cut-rushes Yellow....

...into hoop 1!
Yellow bounces off hoop 1 to the middle of the West bdry.
Another big roll, and this time he is wired from Black.
The chances of finishing have dropped well below 50%.

Bamford Blue needs to make 3-back off Black. Needs significant cut, good direction, 3y short.

Experts cannot see how to finish this.
Nor it seems can Bamford
Bamford has run 3-back and is taking croquet from Black which is 3 or 4y N of 4.
Eighteen-yard peel attempt!
Black just misses the hoop.
Death will be having a contact turn.

Wixy asks to whom did Aiton lose when he was seeded first equal?
A rhetorical question!

Ref is on, slight hamperage after 4-back, no real problem.
Bamford is contemplating a posthumous peel.

Bamford Blue jawses Black in 4-back before penult.

After penult Blue rushes Red back to Black.
Perhaps he was hoping to promote Black thru with Red, but Red has finished 6" North of Black.

The crowd thinks Black may be thru. It is still in the jaws, but yes it must be thru.

Bamford manages to use Red to bombard Black back thru 3, and gets rush to penult.
Blue peels Black thru penult before rover.

My expert thinks Bamford will be pegging himself out.
My expert thinks this is "bonkers".

After rover, Bamford Blue rushes Yellow off North boundary behind 2.
Red is East of 3, Black 1y N off peg.

After much thought, Bamford takes off to Red. Hits Red off E bdry, 8y S of 3rd corner.
Blue takes off to Black.
Crowd calls rush-peel followed by peg-out!
Blue rushes Black to S bdry behind 4.
Blue takes off to peg.
Blue is pegged out.

Bamford's clips: Black rover, Blue box; Death 1 & 1.

After 3 sextuples yesterday and the one in game 2 today, Bamford at last fails to finish.

T8 Death lifts Red to Yellow.
Black and Yellow were already wired, so it is straightforward for Death to lay a wired rush.

T9 Bamford to 1' W of 3rd corner.

T10 Death Red undercuts Yellow to 10y E of 1st corner. Scoops balls between 1st corner and hoop 1.

Black can see Yellow.

T11 Bamford to 4th corner.

T12 Death Yellow makes 1, though with more wire than he wanted. Rushes Red 5y SE of 2. Approaches putting Red into yardline area. Runs 2 off lawn.
Rushes to 3y NW of 3. Makes 3 with forward rush. Death asks for umpire - to see if he can rush into 4th corner for the cannon. Not quite.

Red is 2y N of Black.
Death yellow croquets Red behind 4 getting rush on Black. Stop-shot approach to 4 and he has a 3-ball break.

Parish is 1-1 with Cumming in the Plate play-off.
Joel Taylor is in the final of the Z, awaiting the winner of Coles v Ormerod. The former has a big lead.

Death has reached 2-back without alarm.
Another expert describes pegging yourself out as "horrible".
Because, of course, Bamford no longer gets lifts or contact.
Except wiring lifts.

T12 Death Yellow is making penult off Black, with Red at rover.

Death croquets Black behind rover, makes the hoop, roquets Black NE of Red, croquets Black 3y NW of 4th corner,
Red and Yellow are near 2nd corner.
A runner has been sent out, and reports that Black can see the peg, and Red but not Yellow.

Sorry, forgotten where the black clip is. It's on rover, not the peg.

Bamford is preparing to shoot.

Bamford misses! Looked close.

T14 Death Red croquets Black to 2, rushes Yellow into hoop 1, which was handy, as it seemed to be a bit hard.
Death has a three-ball break.

He finished a bit shy of Black at 2, so take-off approach, but copes.

Death has reached hoop 5.

Death hasn't the ideal rush after 6. Needs a squarish split from 4y ENE of peg. Good shot!

Death is not getting a rush out of every hoop, but his croquet strokes are good enough to compensate.
Now at 4-back.

Death tries a cheeky peel after rover!

James Death wins game 3 +2

Death leads Bamford 2-1

After pegging himself out, Bamford rejected one 30+-yarder, from which Death went round, then missed another 30+-yarder, from which Death finished.

A missive from Sam Murray:
Your account of the 2018 seeding isn’t correct. The seeding committee have no powers over who plays whom beyond choosing seeding places. 8 seeds are chosen, even if 8th place is determined by lot. They can’t then require the ‘9th seed’ to play the 8th. That’s entirely random.

I obviously misunderstood at the time. Perhaps someone was joking and I took it seriously.

Bamford v Death Game 4

T1 Death Blue 4yNW of 5
T2 Bamford Yellow to East boundary
T3 Death Black at Yellow. Hits, cutting it six yards into the lawn!

Croquet stroke is good enough. Death hasn't had a 4-ball break since game 1. This is his 4th 3-ball break. Hasn't broken down yet!

T3 Death is uncharacteristically ragged around 6 / 1-back. His 2-back pioneer is 10y NW of hoop.

Good croquet stroke after 1-back rescues control.

T3 Death has made 9 hoops. Presumably aiming for same leave as G2T3.

Yup, Blue on E bdry with rush on Yellow to Black on W bdry.

T4 Bamford Red at Blue from A-baulk (17y)...

... Bamford misses!

Could prove to be his last shot.

T5 Death Blue taps Red, stops it a few yards in-lawn, rushes Yellow to Black. Yellow comes on 6" south of Black.

Another little stop-shot, and Blue rushes Black to 1, 4y past in fact. Approach looks OK, he's thru with an eastward rush.

T5 Death Blue rushes Black south of Red, stops it towards 4-back, a little far on Red but a good cut-rush to SW of Yellow.

Poor dolly rush of Yellow to 2, 1y hoop, run to boundary.

The Black is maybe 5y S of 3.
Yellow is croqueted to 4, bit short but Blue is perfect on Red.
Again the dolly rush to hoop is underhit.
Take-off approach, good enough, you'd think.
But Blue runs hoop just by a few inches.
Ref is on.

This looks trickier than last time. But it isn't.

Death Blue peels Black thru 4-back after 3.
Red and Yellow aren't exactly where you'd want them, but should be good enough, given it's a front lawn at Hurlingham.

This time Death fails to get forward rush after 5.
Taking croquet from near hoop 4.
Red wants to go to 1-back, Blue to somewhere whence he can hit Black.
Which is exactly what has happened. In fact he can rush Black across.

Death Blue peels Black thru penult after 6. Well thru, maybe 1y NE of rover.

Death's 2-back pioneer is a little deep, otherwise all is good.

Yellow may be 3y WSW of 2-back. May preclude Death attempting rover peel before 2-back.
Indeed, Blue rushes Black off W bdry behind Yellow. Can now send Black back to rover. Nicely done.

Death Blue peels Black thru rover before 3-back.

Pick your cliche. Fat lady on the pitch perhaps.

In case that's misconstrued, I was attempting humour by conflating "Crowd on the pitch" with "Fat lady clearing her throat".

A microdrama as Red is rushed just north of penult. No problem.

Sorry i meant south. That's ruined my perfect commentary.

Death wins game 4 +26tp

James Death is Open Champion

For the second time, having also beaten Bamford in 2019.

Congratulations James. Can't think of an error today, unless you count missing a 16-yard double.

Brian Cumming has won the Plate.

Bamford's game 3 tactic reminded me of the 2005 Open Doubles Final. Clarke and Fulford v Bamford and Gibbons. Here, lawn 3 I think.
Gibbons to 1-back.
Bamford embarks on sextuple.
Finishes with Gibbons' ball on rover, Bamford's ball off the lawn.
Fulford then played an all-round three-ball break, including a POP, for some tactical reason I forget.
Sadly Clarke soon missed a short roquet.
Gibbons hit in, croqueted a ball behind rover, hit the other ball on the East boundary, took off to rover, ran it and won.

The Z final is in play. Joel Taylor v Thomas Coles.
We may be waiting for that to finish before the presentation.

Or maybe not.
I appear to be wittering, so now might be a good time to stop.

Cheers, Andrew