Good morning from Cairnlea. The news today is the Kiwis are now down to 4 players with Aaron Westerby testing positive after play yesterday. It's all a disappointing end to what has been an excellent event. Yesterday, Aus took a 2-1 lead against the English, but the match-ups over the next 4 days are less favourable. USA took a 2-0 lead against NZ, but once again the next 4 days have worse match-ups, so I'm expecting comebacks from both trailing teams as the Tests progress.

The weather today is meant to be slightly better again, with temperatures reaching 20 degrees.
Today there are another three doubles to be played in the final and four singles in the wooden spoon match

Today's lawn allocations are
1 Forster & Dumergue v Carter & Patel
4 Robbie + Dwayne v Harry & James
5 Mal + Edward v Jamie + Mark

2 Matt v Jenny
3 Tom v Greg
10 Zack v Paddy
11 Jeff v Edmund

Paddy has just been moved to lawn 12

It's a dull overcast morning here, but it should stay dry.

So, the big questions are, can Carter continue his improved form? Is Edward's improved performance just a blip? Can Harry & James dig themselves out of a losing hole? Can Jamie & Mark remain unbeaten?

The Captains and Manager are trying to work out whether the revised doubles pairing of Greg & Jenny should replace Aaron & Jenny or Felix & Greg. A decision doesn't need to be made until tomorrow on that though and who knows how many players will test positive by then (of the ones who are actually testing).

Callum has volunteered to cover the USA v NZ test today, so check the commentary section for another link soon.
I'll focus on lawns 1, 4 and 5

It was a crucial 4 yarder that Samir missed in game 3 yesterday against Robbie and Dwayne and the English never took croquet again. Can they bounce back against the weakest Aussie pairing of Forster & Dumergue?

Robbie was good yesterday and really bossed his match. Dwayne likes playing with him and from my perspective this is the match the Aussies are most likely to win today.

The practice session ends.

One of the things that having a 4 player match today does is highlight how bad moving to teams of 4 would be. We must retain the history and tradition of this event.

Samir 9y N of C4. Forster S of C2. Christian shoots at partner from A-Baulk.....misses. Ian shoots at long double from B-baulk.....misses

Robbie 8y N of C4.James S of C2. Dwayne shoots from A-baulk.....middles it.

I can only see about half of lawn 5. Jamie is in play with a break.

Dwayne makes a DL. Harry shoots from A-baulk......misses.

Christian clubs his approach to h1 and retires to partner.

Dwayne fails h1, but it may have bounced back to wired from James....yes, James shoots N at a 13 yarder......centre ball. Big swings already.

Ian finesses to 2y S of C3. For improvers reading this, 2y out of a corner is way too far out - you're better to go in.

Surprisingly, James avoids the big croquet stroke from near the E boundary loading 2 going to the ball at h1 and just takes off. He has made h1 and will now need to make h2 off a ball 3y E of C2.

James copes and now has a break

Christian misapproaches h1 and has a 45 degree hoop....retires to partner near C2

Jamie reaches 4-b with a spread

Forster plays 2y N of C4 - please see above

Christian has a 3 yard "rush". I'd let Samir play and make a leave. Christian centre-balls his rush just off the end of A-Baulk. Rolls towards C4 and sends Forster to mid W boundary, 3y in-lawn

Looks like Wilson has hit the long lift

I expect Forster to shoot here - I thought Christian should just guard C1

Forster shoots.......misses. Christian needs to go round from here to justify laying up near C4.

James is round to 4-b with an NSL - teh ball at h4 may not rush perfectly to h1

Wilson has a break

Christian gets a 7 foot h1.......clangs, having sent partner 17y N of h1. I just thought that whole sequence was dreadful. Forster shoots at partner near C3....misses by over 2 feet.

Christian takes an 18 yarder at partner........misses

Robbie lifts ball at h2 and takes the long lift.......misses - he can't believe it.

Forster plays and gets a good rush to h1 following an excellent pass-roll from the N boundary. Makes h1 and has a break.

Harry plays a good stoppo from C4 to load h2 and get a rush to h1 and now has a standard tp ahead of him.....until he rushes back into 2-b after h1 which will make thing slightly trickier

Wilson is still on a break

Harry calls a ref ro watch the take-off and it appears to have been faulted......all four players and the ref are now at h1.

Harry calls a ref ro watch the take-off and it appears to have been faulted......all four players and the ref are now at h1.

No, the Aussies and ref leave the lawn and Harry continues....his take-off had been awaful - he only moved the striker's ball 3-4 yards instead of 17. Takes his 14 yarder.....misses. Dwayne lifts the ball in 2-b which had a wiring lift and takes a 9 yarder from B-baulk at Robbie.....middles it.

Either Wilson made an error, or he's playing much slower. He continues his break

Dwayne takes off the lawn next to Harry

to be fair, he might have taken off short and missed, he's quite a fast player and I didn't see it. Anyway, a gift for Harry

Harry fails h2 off Robbie. Robbie is wired, but has a 7 yarder.......hits

Forster reaches 4-b with an NSL

Wilson appears to be hampered - hits ball looks like it it just through penult?? Was he tpoing?

Yes, Wilson was going well on a tpo and has now missed a sweep after penult - that should be terminal

Samir lifts the ball at h4 and takes the long lift......misses to C4

Dwayne has made h1 and has a standard tp ahead of him

Ian fails an easy h1

Christian has a 10 footer at the ball halfway through h1 - not easy, but compulsory.......calls a ref......rushes it to the S boundary. Rolls up to 7ft straight...not good from there.....takes it on.....smashes it through by 2 yards

Dwayne is just playing a 4 ball break

Mark is going round/finishing

Christian is hampered after h3....calls a ref.....hits quarter ball

Ah, it was a standard tpo that Dwayne turned down - no surprise there. He's making his way to 4-b and is making an NSL

There's a tendency to think that Robbie goes round every time he takes croquet!!

Dwayne reaches 4-b with an NSL. Harry lifts the ball at h2 and takes the short lift......misses

Robbie makes h1 with a standard tp ahead of him

Mark is struggling to get the single peel

Christian reaches 4-b and is putting a ball into NSL position from 4 feet.....on the wire - may not rush perfectly to h1

Mark reaches peg failing to get the single peel and is making a sub-standard leave - that's a real surprise. Recap peg + rover v 1 + rover. Great chance for Mal to hit and win

Robbie peels 4-b after h3.

Forster lifts the ball at h4 and takes the long lift.......misses

Mark may have managed to pull together a spread - the last stroke is dribbling back to partner from the peg, so he could have left anything. Mal lifts the ball at h2 and takes the short lift......misses

I've found out what happened with Harry on his take-off from the ball in the jaws of 2-b. The ref called a crush and all four players agreed that the ruling was incorrect and the Aussies allowed Harry to continue, kudos to Robbie and Dwayne.

Jamie finishes

Samir is in good position to peel 4-b after h3

Robbie rush-peels penult before 3-b

Samir jawses the 4-b peel after h3

Samir runs a tough h5.

Jamie has made h1 in game 2

Jamie has a break

Robbie peels rover with an irish peel and finishes +16tp

Samir jawses penult after h6

Maybe not quite in the jaws, but definitely rush-peelable

Samir rush-peels partner through penult after 1-b but loses control at 2-b and approaches from 5y......short.....angled......runs by an inch......calls a ref......misses. That gives Ian everything......stand ard tp or single peel on Christian

Jamie reaches 4-b 3rd turn and makes 3 ducks. Wilson misses from A-baulk to C2

Ian inexplicably rushes a ball North instead of towards partner. I explain to people around me that he's left himself a 20 yard take-off and might not take croquet again this turn. Ian takes off 3.5 yards long and misses roquet, joining 7y from partner near C1. Samir misses from h2 at partner. Ian takes 7 yarder.....misses

Christian takes 8 yarder at Samir.....misses. Ian takes 15 yarder....the crowd gasp as it misses. Samir get a C4 cannon which is handy as he is on 3-b. Should be able to finish with a single peel.

Game 2 James lays a longish supershot. Dwayne plays 7y NE of supershot (I thought Robbie might play then) - Dwayne has overhit his shot by 3 yards and left a double. Harry takes double from just E of C1........hills off. Robbie hits 2 yarder from C3 and has a break.

Samir gets a break, but doesn't get the rover peel.

Mark reaches peg with no peels and it looks like a spread is being made

Robbie reaches 4-b with a spread

Harry lifts the ball at the peg and takes the long lift......can't believe it has missed.

Samir leaves Ian in front of rover and Forster 12y S of C2. Lays up 13y N of C4 witha longish rush at Ian. Ian shoots at oppo from where he lies.......hits

Mark doesn't get a spread and lays up in C4. Mal lifts and takes the short lift.......hits

Dwayne makes h1 with a 3-ball break

Ian fails to get a rush to h1 and rolls partner to guard C1.....leaves partner WNW of h1 and guards to the best of his ability.

Dwayne misapproaches h3 and retires to C3. Harry hits a 7 yarder at the h4 pioneer and needs a couple of good shots to pick up a break.

Mal runs h1 by 15 yards and has more work to do

Harry's rush tp h1 from h3 finishes 7y E of h1......he rolls up off partner......gets a an angled jump.....good shot and made h1 with a break. I should correct an earlier error - Robbie is going to 3-b, not 4-b as an anti-TPO measure

It also means that if Robbie gets in again, he has time to make a strong leave whilst making 1 hoop.

Christian corners. Ian hits partner and plays a 3y backward take-off to h1. .....runs h1, but without a useful rush.

Mal has a break - will he peg Mark out???

Ian makes a leave with oppos at h2 and h3

Mal stops at 1-b with a 1-b leave, presumably so that Edward can got to peg with a peel next turn and peg out Mark.

Mal's 1-b leave has a ball on the S boundary

Samir moves the ball at h2 to 1ft N of C1.

Harry reaches 4-b with a reverse spread. Recap 4-b + 1 v 3 + 3-b

Ian sends partner to h3, but can only rush 4y E of C2.....takes off to h2......runs it and has a 3 ball break

Very aggressive shot from Jamie as he takes a 38 yarder with the ball on the S boundary at oppo near C3........misses

Dwayne lifts the ball at the peg and shoots at partner from B-baulk into C4.......misses

James picks up a 3 ball break and is hampered after h2..........hits

Wilson gets the first of his sextuple, but I doubt he'll try any more

Ian approaches h5 from 5 inches to the side and hits it 2 feet. Considers where to retire.....scatters Forster to mid-W boundary and goes off the N boundary 10y W of C3. Christian will shoot from h6 to Samir just N of C1........middles it

James has partner as his h6 pioneer.

Wilson is progressing his break - expect a peg out of Mark's ball

Christian making a leave.

Edward has one peel of his "sextuple" done on the way around to peg Mark out

James has rushed back from hoo p6, and is trying to jaws partner in 4back from ... looong, and very angled

Nope - not a leave.. Christian has taken off from the middle of West boundary.. to straight in front of rover... runs a nice hoop powerfully off the lawn, and he has a cut to the peg. Nice turn this!

Cuts black towards the peg.. squeezes it just past rover to leave a very easy pegout to win game 1

Meanwhile James Death doesn't have the first peel, and appears to have paused for a drink before making 1b?

Greg Bryant has the first peel of a standard TP and plays a super croquet stroke sending out an excellent hoop 5 pioneer and getting a rush to hoop 4

Christian pegs out on lawn 1 to win game 1 +12

That'll be lunch on lawn 1. Lovely day for playing today - the lawns are a nice pace and the sun is out and wind is low

James Death has put partner to 3back (apparently called a McCullough). He's in full control of this break to the peg though

Edward through 4back. It'll be Jamie on 4back alone (Edward will peg out Mark's ball), Edward on the peg, and Malcolm on 2back.

Edward has an angled approach to penult, but seems to have coped well, and he's through

Greg running hoop 5 with two balls at hoop 6 and one peel done

Up on lawn 4, James is in a little trouble at 3back - he seems to have run 3back and rushed partner back into the jaws. Has a referee on for the takeoff and has a 4 yarder on his pivot, but ble still stuck in 3back (which is red's hoop - it's going to need rescuing)

All action now...
James has missed his 4back pioneer - and seems to have hilled around to a wired position from it - that was from only a few feet!

Edward Wilson has pegged out Mark's ball, and rushed partner over to the west boundary looking to put hoop 2 and hoop 6 in the way of the roll to 4back.
Jamie will have a contact, and likely Edward's ball will be in corner 4, or possibly directly south of hoop 4 (Robbie Fletcher's favourite spot, as it puts hoop 5 entirely in the way of getting between the two oppo balls

Dwayne has taken his lift, and hit James. Now looking at how they can deal with the blue ball in 3back. Dwayne is for hoop 3

Has a rush on partner to hoop 3

ok, another absolutely fabulous lunch is done I'll try to be a bit more active. I must say though, each individual meal here has been superb. The fact that we've had different, superb, meals every day - wonderful - so so grateful to Helena and Rosie

Lawn 5: Jamie has run 4back - should finish here...

...spoke to soon - Jamie has missed a 6 yarder. Now penult and box v 2back and peg.

My money is on Jamie, but there's a ways to go yet. My sources suggest he rolled up to 4back from the west boundary ball

Lawn 3: Greg Bryant is looking pretty healthy... has blue in the jaws of rover and he has just run 3back. A bit return to form there.

Lawn 5: Yes, Jamie had rolled in from the west boundary. The other ball is on the south boundary behind hoop 4, and the Australians will be looking to join up down there, as JAmie is up north of hoop 2

Lawn 4: Dwayne not looking at a quadruple peel, but is on 1back and under control

LAwn 5: Mark is lunching! - apparently everyone there is lunching. 2b (Mal) and peg (Ned) vs penult (Jamie)

Lawn 3: Greg will be fancying lunch soon - he has a penult pioneer, has rushed well to 4back, and has completed the rover peel with peelee south-west of Rover

LAwns 1 and 5 lunching. Dwayne has fired his 4b pioneer well past the hoop, but should cope fine on his break to the peg.James and Harry both of 4back, Robert Fletcher on 3back (deliberately)

LAwn 3: Greg approaching Rover from super close with partner near the peg.

Lawn 4 Dwayne is through 4back and has good pioneers at his next two hoops. Looks like he's just having a spread, which is very reasonable given oppos are on 4b and 4b. I suspect lunch may be taken at the conclusion of this turn. We're getting to compulsory lunch stoppage time anyway (1pm)

LAwn 3: Greg pegs out for a very good win over Tom Balding. NZ win the (shortened) day 4-2, and it's now 4-4 in this uncertain-length test. With kiwis toppling all over the place, it's a good test to be in front in

Lawn 4: only lawn in action now. Dwayne appears to have rushed balls onto other balls, and is making rover off partner (!). And he'll be roqueting partner after rover. Robbie runs on to suggest hitting blue first, but it's not 100% clear with the wee wick he got in running the hoop that he can hit blue.

Rushes partner 7 yards south of corner 2

3-3 would be more accurate!!!

Dwayne is trying to make a reverse spread. Recap peg + 3-b v 4-b + 4-b

Lunch

The Kiwis are confused......they can't ever remember finishing before 1pm before.

Edward joins Mal on the S boundary. Jamie moves to C3. Mal rushes towards C1 and will be making a leave. Recap 2-b + peg v penult + box

I may have been given some bad info and Mal may still be for 1-b

Yes, Mal rushes to 1-b, so Jamie is in a good corner, in C3

Disappointing not to get 1 peel on your 4-ball break to the peg. It makes a big difference to the pegged out ending

Mal makes 1-b and puts Edward 19y N of C1 and himself 19y S of C3.

Jamie lifts and shoots at the peg ball from B-baulk.......middles it

Game 2 Forster to 9y N of C4. Samir S of C2. Ian misses partner from A-baulk. Christian shoots from A-baulk......hits

Jamie rolls up to penult and it's a really good shot.......fails a shortish, 20 degree hoop and bounces to the side Wilson hits 6yarder at Jamie to N boundary, takes off to partner and makes a leave near C4

Christian runs h1 by a couple of millimeteres and may not be able to hit anything.....shoots at partner near C2......misses leaving a double

Jamie goes to C2. Wilson improves the leave

Ian takes a 16yarder at partner instead of the 28 yard double.......misses

Jamie stays in C2. Mal rushes to 2-b, makes 2-b and lays up near C4.

Christian plays a croquet stroke that he will be very unhappy with and goes off the lawn next to Ian. It was only moving his ball 16 yards

James is apparently open at partner and takes his 12 yarder.....misses. That should move Australia 3-1 ahead in the Test

Jamie shoots.......hits and get a cannon in C4 - not very useful when you are for penult.

Jamie plays teh cannon really well moving a ball along the S boundary and rushing a baal 8ft E of penult.......makes penult without a rush. Now taking off from S boundary to rover......gets 2y 40 degree hoop.....clangs

Wilson shoots from the S boundary at Jamie's ball which has bounced back to probably unrunnable??.......hits

Ian has a break

Ian misapproaches h3, he's having a shocker. Retires to C4

Robbie finishes to extend Australia's lead to 3-1

That moves Harry and James to 2 out of 8 at doubles

Jamie shoots from near C2 to S boundary......hits pretty much in the middle. Wins +6 to move within 1 at 2-3

So, one match left and it is on lawn 1
Samir hits, but rushes poorly to h1 and has a 5y backward take-off.....gets a 4ft hoop.....runs it and has a break

Samir reaches 4-b with a reverse spread. That's all from me today - this lawn will be live streamed