Good morning from Nottingham.

Hot off the press, the final will not be SuperAdvanced, as at least one player doesn't want it.

So best-of-5 normal, on court 6, the show court on this western side.
I am in the pavilion as there is light rain.

The start may be delayed as the videographers are setting up.

Still no-one is on any lawn.
Besides the final, we have the Plate play-off: Kevin Beard v Samir Patel, court 7, best-of-3.
And a Z knock-out, which the Mangler is currently fiddling.

Robert Fletcher's loss means no new name on the trophy.
James Death is the defending champion, and also won in 2019.
Mark Avery won in 1987, still the youngest winner at 21 years old.

The question is now posed:
If Avery wins today, would he be the oldest winner?

Head to head record:
Avery 18 v Death 16.

Their only Opens KO match was the 2019 semi, won 2-0 by Death.

At last the players have started their warm-up.

There were very few errors yesterday from these two.

Let's hope for some TPOs, nice endgame.

Mark Avery v James Death

T1 Death blue 2y NW of 5.
T2 Avery red at blue from 1st corner.
Goes 10 yards past.

T3 Death black hits red from B-baulk. Red to 2, rushes blue 1y N of 1. Makes hoop, no rush, good roll, has break.

T3 The hoop 4 pioneer is in the jaws.
The hoop 3 pioneer is rushed into the jaws.

T3 the ref is on. Death is OK. The break continues.

This suggests a new practice routine. Three ball break, all pioneers in the jaws.

We have confirmation that Death won the toss.

T3 Death has reached 2-back.

T3 Death black has made 9.
Leave: Blue 13y N of IV, with one yard rush on red to black near west boundary.

T4 Avery Yellow misses blue from A-baulk.

T5 Death blue taps yellow, sends it a few yards in lawn. Rushes red to black, black to 5y SW of 1. Crucial approach. Three foot hoop, makes it, has rush. Standard tp coming up.

Statto is on the ball:

Reg is 55 - won't be 56 until October.
Mark is 57 - will be 58 in December.
James is 46 later this year
Robert is 30 at the end of July.

Reg played in 1984 Opens aged 16. His father brought him over for about a month in the summer. He played at Budleigh, Colchester and the Opens. Lost to David Croker in round 1. Did better in 1987 when he lost to Mulliner in semi final. Mulliner then lost to Avery in the final. Did not play regularly in Opens until 1993 when he moved to the UK. Won 3 in a row when he first moved here. Lost to Richard Baker of NZ in 1996, who was over for the Mac. Reg did not play as much for a few years while he was building his company.

Opens appearances
Mark 36 - played most years since 1982
Reg 33 - played most years since 1993 and previously played in 1984 and 1987
James 21 - only missed 2013 since 2002. 2013 was a World's year.
Robert - only previous appearance was in 2010 (just before the Mac)

T5 Death blue peels black through 4-back after 3.

T5 Death blue rushes north after 4. No rush after 5 but it's not a problem. Death blue peels black through penult after 6.

The Mangler has done very well to arrange evening entertainment on court 6 the last 3 days.
Thursday,KO R2, Jenny Clarke v Kevin Beard
Jenny game up in best of 3. (normal advanced)
Jenny 4-back and peg v 2 and break.
Kevin goes all the way round and pegs out Jenny.
Jenny takes off to 4-back, makes it.
Some manoeuvring, then Jenny takes on 35 yard target.
She misses, potentially conceding break, but Kevin fails to get going.
Jenny hits, finishes at about ten past nine.
The extra jeopardy was that if the match hadn't finished, we may not have had best-of-5 quarters.

T5 Death blue peels black through rover before 3-back. But he rushes yellow into the back of 3-back. Ref is on again, first to mark the exact position of yellow. Can Death place blue to the south of yellow and still run hoop?

The answer is no, but yes. In the croquet stroke Death bounces blue off the far wire into running position. A stroke worth practising, or at least being aware of.

Death's penult pioneer is also in the jaws.

Death wins game 1 +26tp

Fifth turn finish.

G2T1 Avery red 2y NNW of 5 ("supershot")
T2 Death black 14y N of IV
T3 Avery Yellow at black from A-baulk. Misses.

Yellow comes on 2' N of black.
T4 Death blue makes target from B-baulk. Misses on the left.

T5 Avery picks up break.

It's a nice day now. Blue sky, sunshine.

I was telling you about the evening entertainment.
Friday we had the feast that was Mulliner v Avery.
I refer you to my earlier commentary!

T5 Avery has reached hoop 5 in full control.

Saturday evening, court 6
Kevin Beard v Andrew Hobbs
Plate Draw Final
Hobbs is finishing but fails 4-back.
Beard (for 1 and 4) goes all the way round, pegs out Hobbs.
The players have agreed SuperAdvanced rules, but they are not familiar with them!
This is a contact situation. Had Kevin failed to peg a ball out, it would have been a lift to position
The crowd loves a 3-ball ending, though some of the more excitable elements had to be reminded not to discuss tactics in earshot of the players.
Kevin did have a 3-ball break at one stage, but mostly it was cagy wired rushes.
Eventually Kevin had reached rover + peg v penult alone for Andrew.
With nothing else to go for, Andrew tried to run his hoop from the north boundary.
It missed penult, hit rover, and parked there.
The crowd feared Kevin might lay a rush somewhere in the half of the lawn wired from Andrew's ball.
But sensibly he just finished.
it was about 9pm. Ten minutes later, a thunderstorm.

T5 Avery yellow has made 9.
Blue has been left 5y WSW of 2.
Black is misplaced, it should be just NE of 4 and rushable to 1. But it is just in the jaws.
Red has 4' rush on Yellow pointing east, from 12y N of 4th corner.

Commentator error: Rush is of course pointing west.

T6 Death lifts Blue to B-baulk. Shooting at Red...

... Death hits!

T6 Death blue croquets red south of 6, good rush of yellow to 1.
Black will be the hoop 4 pioneer.
If he makes 2, there will be an opportunity for standard TPO.

T6 Death blue peels yellow thru 4-back after 3.

An expert observes that if conditions are sufficiently conducive to attempt TPO, then it is correspondingly easier to finish from the contact.

By the way, if you cannot understand my terminology, this might help:
https://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=games/tech/jargon

T6 Again Death has no rush after 5. Again it doesn't matter.

T6 Again Death has no rush after 5. Again it doesn't matter.

Sorry for duplication.

T6 Death blue peels yellow well thru penult after 6.

T6 Death blue tries to peel yellow thru rover before 2-back. Or at least jaws it. Seems unhappy with result.

T6 Death blue peels yellow thru rover before 3-back.
It's important not to leave a straight rover peel when TPOing, as the contact leave is made more difficult.

T6 Death Blue is now thinking of POPping Red thru 1.
If you get POP, oppo cannot set up a "squeeze".
(ie oppo in front of 1, ball between 1 and 2, ball in second corner.)

T6 After penult, Death Blue rushes Yellow SW of 1.
Yellow to peg, Blue rushes Red thru 1.
Rolls to Black at rover.

T6 Death Blue makes rover, rushes Black near 4th corner.
Take-off to Red, Of course Red's final position is immaterial.
Take-off to Yellow. Pegs out Yellow from short distance.
Blue into 3rd corner.

Clips: Avery Red 2, Yellow box; Death Blue peg, Black 1.

Avery red rolls black toward 3, hits blue.
Approaching 2 from 3rd corner.
Good effort, a foot too strong.
This is angled, 45 degrees.
Attempt is rejected.

Death blue retires to 1st corner.

Avery runs a difficult hoop 2, shoots at blue.
Misses.

Death blue rolls out of 1st corner.
Red goes near Black.
Blue collides with hoop 1.
Worst possible result!

Ref is on to watch Death at 1.
He can only bounce off wire toward 1st corner. Maybe 3y NE of corner.

Avery red makes 3 off black, rushes 2y S of 1.
Take-off is shy, then good cut rush.
Avery makes 4.

One good croquet stroke required.
Red has perfect rush to 5, blue hit the peg, bounces off 1y W.

Avery red has 3-ball break.

Avery thru 1-back with a forward rush.

On his last roll, Death was worried about pegging himself out. Turns out that was the second worst thing that could happen.

Avery has reached penult.

Avery wins game 2 +14otp

Game all in a best of 5.

ROT is on to fettle the hoops.
Death declares beer o'clock.

G3 Death elects to start.
T1 Death blue 2y NNW of 5.
Third supershot of the match.

T2 Avery red at blue from A-baulk, not hard.
Misses blue, hits peg, stays 1y SE of peg.

T3 Death black makes target from A-baulk.
Misses both to 5y ESE of 6.

T4 Avery Yellow has 3 balls to aim at.
Yellow hits Blue.

T4 Avery picks up break.

More stories from earlier in the week:
Round 1 of the knock-out: Rick Harding v Brian Cumming
It was almost a three TP match, but Rick couldn't avoid roqueting peelee after rover in the decider.
Brian stuck in 2, Rick hit him then had to take off to partner near 4.
The peg intervened.
Now some call this a grievous, but I think that term is reserved for rushing on to the peg.
I seem to remember the term "Jerry peg", named after Jerry Guest, but no-one else backs me up.
Two 3-ball breaks later, Brian won +1.

The reason James Death didn't play the Opens in 2013 was that it was his parents' ruby wedding anniversary.

Avery has reached hoop 6.

Z-specialist Joel Taylor has had a quadruple in the semi-final.

Avery leaves Blue 1' WSW of 2.

G3T4 Avery Yellow has made 9.
This time Black is in the correct spot just NE of 4.
Red / Yellow 12y N of IV
Red has 4' rush pointing west, maybe a bit north of due west.

T5 Death lifts Black to B-baulk.
Shooting at Red...

...misses to 4th corner.

T6 Avery red undercuts his rush to 1. Ends up 4y NW of hoop.
Square split approach.
Angled hoop - 35 degrees?
Avery fails hoop 1.

T7 Death Blue at Yellow (17y).
Misses.

T8 Avery Red at Blue (6y).
Misses!

Avery missed on the right so no rush to Black for Blue.
T9 Death Blue croquets Red to 2, his rush to 1 ends up in the back of the hoop again.
Makes hoop, no useful rush.

T9 Death plays good croquet stroke after 1.
He has break, but Black is still in 4th corner.

After 2, Death Blue rushes Red 5y W of Black. He croquets Red to 4, hits Black.
I thought he might play a big roll to 3 for the standard TPO, but no, it's just a take-off.
After 3, Death takes off to Black for the break.
No experts nearby, but I surmise that he won't go for the delayed TPO. Maybe some POPs?

Wrong again, Death is aiming for a 1-back leave.

Red is nearer first corner than first hoop, Yellow is 18" NE of hoop 1.
Death seems happy enough wit the wiring.

Black is left a few feet out of 3rd corner.
Death strides back to 1st corner to check there is no wiring lift.
Blue is 4' from Black. Black has rush to 2.

T10 Avery Red misses. (35y)

Avery's shot was close, he tells me.

Will we see a sextuple or a TPO?
Maybe start with the former, with the latter as a fallback option.

T11 Death black croquets red to 3, rushes blue to 1-back, takes off to yellow, makes 1 with rush to 3.

Rush on yellow is so good he can put it in front of 4-back. Death rushes red over, makes 2 off black, peels 1-back after 2.

Death black fails to rush yellow thru 4-back before 3.
He makes 3, croquets yellow 2y ENE of 2-back.
He rushes blue to 2-back, takes off to his hoop 4 pioneer which is 10y from hoop. Rolling up from 6y. 5 foot hoop. Hoop is failed.

As the weather seems set fair, I've relocated outside.
You haven't missed anything, Avery is still thinking.

Yellow has a trivial roquet on Blue, but obviously Avery wants to play backward ball.

Clips: Avery Red 1, Yellow 4-back; Death Blue 2-back, Black 4.

T12 Avery yellow taps blue toward west bdry, takes off to red, knocks it toward 4th corner.

T12 Avery takes off to black, rushes it ...
... into 4-back!

I don't think Avery wants to make 4-back!
He's OK it's not quite in the jaws.
Thick take-off puts Black 3y N of 6.
Yellow goes off S bdry 1y W of Red.
It looks like Blue is wired from Red / Yellow.

Lunch!

While lunch is in progress, my dear readers, the news from the plate action on lawn 7 is that Patel is on a standard TP to win game 2.

He is currently through 4 with one peel done.

Hoop 5 successfully negotiated.

Slightly long shot to place peelee at penult approaching 6.

He plays it well and now has a 1.5 m peel attempt of penult with the receiver ball 1.5 m south of 6.

He judges the pull perfectly and should finish from here.

2b made, peelee in front of rover but 3b pioneer very north.

He's setting up for the Wylie rover peel after 3b.

Rush to rover hasn't worked, so it will be a straight rover peel when he gets there.

The rover peel went very wrong.

Samir has set a reverse OSL and Kevin will get at least one more shot.

Kevin lifts red to the end of B baulk and shots at Samir's ball in C2....

... misses into C2.

Samir seems to have failed to get a rush to rover from the middle of west boundary.

He's taking off to rover from 3 m south of it.

Take off looks good.

He grovels through rover with no rush to another ball.

He cuts receiver somewhere near H1 and will take off to partnerabout 4 m away.

Decent take off.

Good rush to peg.

Samir pegs out to win the plate 2--0.

No sign of the players in the main event yet.

The Z final will start shortly on lawn 8 between long-time Nottingham adversaries Joel Taylor and Omied Hallam.

Thanks to Joel for commenting on Plate etc during lunch.
I hope he's said nothing rude.

The final will resume shortly.

Reminder:
Clips: Avery Red 1, Yellow 4-back; Death Blue 2-back, Black 4.

T13 Death Blue at Black (23y).
Centre-ball! Rushes it off North boundary.

Two hoops and a leave I guess.
An expert expects cross-wire at 4.

T13 Death Blue takes off to Red, rushes Yellow to 2-back, makes hoop.

My expert is wrong about the leave.
After 2-back Death Blue rushes Yellow near Black, croquets Yellow North of 2.
Takes off from Black to Red at 3-back.
Three foot hoop, he's through.
Red is between hoop 4 and corner.
Take off to Yellow.
Yellow is sent W of 2.
Blue Black lay up near 3rd corner.

T14 Avery Red misses Black (30y)

T15 Death Black croquets Red to 1y W of 4-back, rushes Blue near 2nd corner.
Croquets Blue 3y W of peg..
Fair rush to 4, makes it.

After 4 Death Black rushes Yellow to 6.
Looks to roll to Red, changes his mind, take-off to Blue.
Making 5 off Blue.
Will he get rush for the 4-back peel before 6?

Yes he can!
Within a foot of the hoop, angled peel, gets it!

Death Black makes 6 off Yellow. Yellow is rushed east, then sent back to penult.
Blue will be the 2-back pioneer.

After 2-back, Death Black rushes Blue to penult, not quite on the right line for an immediate peel.
Death makes 3-back off Red.

Death Black jawses Blue in penult before 4-back.

Three foot hoop at 4-back - rejected!

T16 Avery Red rushes Blue out of penult, takes off to Black, rushes Yellow near 1, three or four foot hoop, failed.

Is this interactive enough for you?

T17 Death Blue hits Black (13y)

Death Blue will be making two hoops and having a leave.

Or not.

Little take-off to rover is short.

The last stroke may have been intended as a scatter. Blue is 7y N of 1st corner.

T18 Avery Red has 4y "rush" of Yellow to N bdry.
Thick take-off to Black by 3, take-off to Blue.
Avery is approaching 1 from 6 yards to the side.
Doesn't get position.
Taps Red in front.

T19 Death Blue can see Red!
Death roquets Red, takes off to Yellow.

Yellow is just south of 2nd corner.
Death takes off toBlack, not trying for rush to rover.
Lays up east of 4-back, presumably wired from Red and Yellow.

T20 Avery Red at Yellow (30y).
Misses.

T21 Death Black makes 4-back off Blue, rushes Blue into Red.
Has he got a cannon?
Don't think he has, he's thinking.

We can't see how blue gets to rover for the peel and finish.

Blue is sent into lawn.
Red is left near 2nd corner.
Black rushes Yellow to penult, makes it, rushes Yellow near Red.

Black stops Yellow 8y S of 2nd corner.
Rushes Red behind Blue.
Sends Blue 3y NNE of peg.
Rushes Blue 4' SW of rover.
Again it's a poor approach.
About 45 degrees.
Nice firm jump, makes hoop, roquets Blue in hoop stroke.

Death is rolling both balls off lawn.
Blue is 1y N of 4th corner, Black 3y N of Blue.

T22 Avery lifts Red to A-baulk.
Hits Blue (13y)

Avery Red croquets Blue into lawn, rushes Black 4y N of Yellow.
His rush of Yellow to 1 is 2 yards shy.
Take-off approach, he's thru with a rush.

Avery should get standard TP from here.

Ref is on. I think Avery's yellow is in an old hoop-hole. He's about to play a little approach to 3 putting yellow in peeling position.

T22 Avery Red seems surprised to miss Yellow in the hoop stroke.
Daren't hit 2 yard return roquet too gently in case of hill, so yellow will not be peeled after 3.
He manages to leave it in front of hoop.

T22 Avery Red rushes north after 4.
He's examining Yellow's exact position.
He decides against trying rush-peel..
Takes off from Yellow to Blue at 5.
Overhits by 3y.
Now needs backwards take-off.

T22 Avery Red makes 5, no rush.
He now requires roll loading 1-back going to Yellow.
Not sure exactly what he was going for there, but Yellow is now on east bdry.
Black (the hoop 6 pioneer) is 3y W of 4-back.
Rush necessitates another backward take-off.

T22 Avery Red makes 6.
Hands on hips, thinking.
Can he rescue TP?
Should he even try?

After 6, Red rushes Yellow to 3y S of 4-back.
Square split peel attempt, missed 4-back entirely.

Would need straight triple peel to finish this turn.

No attempt at STP.

T22 After 4-back, Avery Red is lining up posthumous peel on Yellow thru 4-back.
Jawses it.

T22 after penult, Red rushes Blue past Yellow, croquets Blue to the peg, rush-peels Yellow thru 4-back.

Nobody's quite sure what Avery is planning here.

T22 Avery Red makes rover off Black.

Black is croqueted 7y W of peg.
Blue is left 1' E of peg.
Yellow has rush on Red to peg from E bdry.
ie an almost horizontal diagonal spread.

Clips: Avery Red peg, Yellow penult; Death Blue rover, Black peg.

T23 Death lifts Blue to B-baulk.
Shooting at Yellow (18y)...

... Death re-stalks...

... Death misses.

T24 Avery Yellow rushes Red 4y SW of Black.
Rushes Black to 3y NW of penult.
OK approach.
Runs it to near rover.
Snicks 5-yarder at Red.
Black is 2y ESE of peg.
Take-off to Black is good.

Avery wins game 3 +3

Avery leads 2-1 (best of 5)

G4T1 Avery Blue 3y NNW of 5.
T2 Death Red lags 4y E of Blue.

T3 Avery Black misses Red from A-baulk.
Finishes 11y from B-baulk,

T4 Death Yellow at Black from B-baulk, with Red in the background.
Yellow hits Black.

T4 Death has first break.

Safely through 1b with a DSL coming up.

James' 3back pioneer was a bit average, 2 yards west of 3b, and he rushed is sideways resulting in no rush out of 3back, but coped very well playing a good croquet stroke putting blue towards the west boundary south of 2 and black tight at the peg. James now on 1 and 4b in game 4.

T5 Mark lifts black from the peg and shoots from the end of A baulk at red... misses.

T6 James chips black out, rushes yellow tight onto blue and has rushed to 4 feet in front of hoop 1. Plays a slightly awkward-looking approach to 1, runs it comfortably, and let's see if he can get through this turn without anything inconvenient happening.

Two balls over to hoop 3, one 2 feet west of the hoop, and the other a couple of yards SSE of hoop 3 - excellent placement as he's making 2 off partner. Can he get the rush across?...no, but he cuts it a decent amount towards hoop 3 and can easily place a peelee getting to the westerly ball and put that to hoop 4 setting up for a standard TP

Puts partner a little more angled and further from the hoop than he wants, but he should cope. Decent hoop 4 pioneer, makes the hoop - decides to concentrate on the peel - which lands in the jaws, and he has a cut rush down the lawn a bit. Copes well with that, rushes dead in front of hoop 4. Will he go back to that peelee? - the hoop 5 pioneer is somewhat to the east of the hoop for the takeoff back - but this isn't lawn 1, which is a bit of a hilly nightmare around hoop 5.

Rushes up, considers the bombard and he doesn't really have room to put black to 1back - instead plays for a Wylie peel... black north of the hoop, rushes yellow across and puts it just off line of 6. Makes the hoop off blue putting that blue ball north-east of the hoop.

Runs the hoop, rushes black to the north boundary, plays quite a bad croquet stroke sending black only just south of the peg (and between hoops 1 and 2), but gets the peel and rushes blue to 1back.

Having made 1back, James puts out a very short 3b pioneer, but gets a rush on Ee to black to safely make 2back. Peeler is now for rover and is 3y NW of rover.

This turn would be so much easier with "proper" Dawson's, rather than these now softer "Humpty" Dawson's (made in Humpty Doo (!))

Blue is a bit north as a 3b pioneer, so James sets to rush partner across and peel it after 3 back...does this well, and he'll leave the peelee there for now.

Coors with the last couple of hoops...

James Death wins game 4 +26TP, match tied at 2-2

Game 5

T1: James supershot with black

T2 Mark shoots gently with yellow, hits! Some applause from the crowd. Croquets black north east of 4 and goes into corner 4 (well, most likely just out of, so James missing would give a double)

T3 James shoots at the ball near corner 4...nails it!

Croquet yellow towards hoop 2, calls on blue to "sit" and has a nice rush pointing towards hoop 1, which he underhits with a bit of a "Humpty contact". Very good approach to hoop 1, but he runs the slightly angled hoop by the worst possible distance and decides against taking on a difficult hampered shot (might well have had zero chance). Plays blue into corner 4. One of the rare occasions where James looks genuinely annoyed.

T4 Mark makes a double from the south boundary of black (2-3y NNE of one) and yellow (SE of two)...and misses

Actually, James played blue to a foot north of corner 4

T5 James shoots at partner...misses into corner 4

T6 Mark shoots from north boundary at partner..hits!..rushing it onto the west boundary. Croquets it to hoop two finishing very very short of James' balls...but hits the northerly ball and then nudges the corner ball along the south boundary in a useful rebound. (Was that the ball he was aiming at?...there was a gap between the two balls from where Mark was shooting.)

Anyways, Mark is now through hoop 2 and has a break. Blue is reasonably near corner 4 still, but that shouldn't be a bother

Doesn't rush at all well to hoop 3, but a good backward takeoff gets him out of trouble there. He needs a long takeoff to bearish that corner 4 ball now...

...no, doesn't fancy that at all, and he croquet black north east of 5 going to partner at hoop 4

After hoop 4 he left yellow behind to take bloke up to six, and now after 5 the recovery is complete

It looks like Mark will have an MSL...no, partner and black going to 3back

Now that things are a bit more standard, a couple of thoughts...
James' ooold Jackson mallet is back...the endface is replaced, the bit broken off the other end face has been replaced as per James' request...and Richard White has done an absolutely stunning and thoughtful job of it. The endfaces have a lovely texture, the sides of the mallet are beautifully refurbished and the top is untouched "I thought I should leave it as that's what he's used to seeing, and he's used to using that white line". Richard is a furniture restorer, and has was clearly the perfect man for this job...James is certainly delighted with the result, though also very grateful for the season long loan of the mallet he is using here and in the forthcoming world champs.

Meanwhile,

T4 Mark has taken all the balls to 3back, made the hoop, placed black in the traditional position NE of 4, stops blue (which is for hoop 2) 6 yards south of hoop 2 and he's laying up near the east boundary in max distance position. A very tidy New Standard Leave

...with a twist...Mark has given himself a rush to hoop 1. That ball south of 2 will service as a very decent hoop 2 pioneer

James lifts black from hoop 4, lining up the long shot into corner 4...misses well left this time, but does reach the corner

T6: Mark rushes directly to hoop 1. James "it's on his mallet".

Lovely croquet stroke sending partner to hoop 3...the big roll out of corner 4 will give him a standard tp.
Plays an awful rush to 2, but recovers well and has rushed near the east boundary just north of hoop 4. Takes off sending blue next to hoop 4.

James rueing that he has had excellent chances in all five games. Still life in this one though

Big roll...length is ok, but he's a bit narrow. Approaches 3 well and he's through with a choice of peeling straight or getting a rush on the escape ball...Plays a fairly wibbly straight peel into the jaws and can hit his escape ball

Ends up with a wee sidey takeoff to hoop 4 but again plays this well and rushed back up the lawn. Croquets blue to hoop 6, nudges peelee through, takes off bringing it west a little and runs 5 with a forward rush...he should be ok now

This final is being played between two of the absolutely nicest guys in croquet. James is so well thought of that Bob Thompson is waiting to take James back to Cheltenham tonight...despite the fact he's playing at Budleigh first thing tomorrow (lots of very nice guys here, then)

Meanwhile, Mark has peeled penult from close range after making hoop 6...peelee sails though down to the peg

Very tight pioneers at 2b and 3b, and he keeps the peg out of play to get to partner. Leaves it in front of rover, taking off to the 2b pioneer

Mark has a go at the peel before 3b...plants it onto the wire of rover, but it'll just be an easy straight rover peel for the title...he's playing really nicely here, but has had some trouble dealing with pull of these balls

Takes off leaving peelee 4 inches in front of rover and runs into his 4b pioneer, but no problem as it was very close to 4b.

Making penult, hits black, blue is a couple of yards from yellow.

Sounds like Robbie Fletcher may have won the peeling prize...biggest peel in the event is a quadruple peel, equalled by Joel, but I'm not sure the Z event counts

Mark gentle nudges partner, straight short peel coming up. Mark won't be the oldest winner...Hope Rotheram won it at age 66 in 1960...butt this is likely the largest gaps between Opens wins...1987 to 2023

Irish peels, taps his side ball, black is a three yard deep ball. Still needs to rush to the peg...

Dr Pre was 59 when he won. Apps was 60, and Cotter 58, so Mark is a youngun

Pegging out from 2 feet...Mark wins game 5, and the match +25TP