Croquet England AC Eights
President's Cup round 9 by Andrew Gregory
Good morning from Hurlingham.
07 Sep 2024 9:36AM (Tournament); 7 Readers
Lawn 2 is the first to see practice. David Goacher v Stephen Mulliner.
07 Sep 2024 9:37AM (Tournament); 7 Readers
Lawn 3 is James Death v Harry Fisher.
07 Sep 2024 9:38AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
Lawn 1 is Samir Patel v Gabrielle Higgins.
07 Sep 2024 9:39AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
Which means lawn 4 is leader in the clubhouse Robin Brown v Debbie Lines.
But as that's on video I shall be ignoring it.
07 Sep 2024 9:41AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
This is Mulliner's 46th Pres.
He has now won 100 games more than anyone else.
07 Sep 2024 9:43AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L2T1 Mulliner Blue 12y N of IV.
This game is SuperAdvanced.
07 Sep 2024 9:44AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L2T2 Goacher Yellow 9" S of II.
L2T3 Mulliner hits partner from A-baulk.
07 Sep 2024 9:45AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L3 has balls in middle of lawn.
Not sure what happened; Death has first break.
07 Sep 2024 9:47AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L1 is another corner 2 opening.
Higgins hit 3rd turn but has taken off into hoop 2
07 Sep 2024 9:49AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
Peacock on lawn 2.
That's not some new croquet jargon, it is a bird.
07 Sep 2024 9:50AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L2T4 Goacher Red hits Black from B-baulk.
07 Sep 2024 9:51AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L1T3 Higgins decides all she can do is tap Black a foot south of hoop 2.
T4 Patel Red misses Black from B-baulk.
07 Sep 2024 9:53AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L2T4 Goacher takes off off the lawn.
T5 Mulliner picks up break.
07 Sep 2024 9:55AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
L3 Death has made 9. NSL.
Lawns 1 and 3 are normal advanced.
07 Sep 2024 9:57AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
L1T5 Higgins Black back to Blue.
T6 Patel Yellow misses red into 1st corner.
T7 Higgins ends up failing to approach 1 with a drive from 1st corner.
07 Sep 2024 10:00AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
L2T8 Patel misses 18-yarder.
07 Sep 2024 10:01AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
Sorry that was L1.
L1T9 Higgins has break.
07 Sep 2024 10:01AM (Tournament); 9 Readers
L3 Fisher lifted the ball at 4, and missed. It looks like he hit hoop 4 from A-baulk. Or he may have taken the long shot.
Death has a standard tp ahead of him
I doubt that lawn will be interesting.
07 Sep 2024 10:04AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
L2T5 Mulliner Blue makes 6 off Black, then rushes it off the west boundary 9y S of II.
He then takes off to Red and yellow near the peg.
Cross-peg coming up.
07 Sep 2024 10:06AM (Tournament); 13 Readers
L3 Death has gravelled thru 1-back. The ref is on.
07 Sep 2024 10:08AM (Tournament); 13 Readers
With the last stroke of his turn, Mulliner lags back to partner, slightly overhit I think.
L2T6 Goacher Red hits Blue from A-baulk (23y).
07 Sep 2024 10:11AM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Death failed to hit anything after 1-back.
Fisher is presented a 4-ball break.
07 Sep 2024 10:12AM (Tournament); 13 Readers
I may have missed a couple of turns on L1. Anyhow Higgins has first break.
07 Sep 2024 10:13AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
L2 Goacher's rush to 1 isn't great.
Short angled hoop, he's through.
Needs a big croquet stroke now for the break.
07 Sep 2024 10:15AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Goacher fails to get rush on ball near peg.
He croquets it near 1 going to ball near West boundary. Now has to approach 2 from boundary.
07 Sep 2024 10:18AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Pretty good approach from Goacher. He has a four foot hoop....
07 Sep 2024 10:19AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
Nicely run.
Goacher should have break now.
07 Sep 2024 10:20AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L1 Higgins' clip is on 2-back.
Must have bobbed hoop.
Patel hits 6-yarder.
07 Sep 2024 10:22AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
Patel, Fisher, Goacher: each has 4-ball break.
07 Sep 2024 10:24AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L3 clips: Death red rover, yellow 2-back; Fisher blue 4-back black 1.
07 Sep 2024 10:26AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Fisher leaves an NSL with yellow at 4.
07 Sep 2024 10:27AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L3 Death lifts Yellow to B-baulk.
Hits Black (23y), rushing it off behind hoop 4.
07 Sep 2024 10:29AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L2 Goacher will be making 1-back, thus conceding contact.
07 Sep 2024 10:30AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Death has made 2-back.
07 Sep 2024 10:31AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L3 Death has made 3-back.
You'd expect him to finish now but that was true last turn.
07 Sep 2024 10:33AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L2 After 1-back Goacher Yellow leaves Blue 4' S of II. I thought you were meant to leave partner ball there?
07 Sep 2024 10:37AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
L2 Goacher's putative 3-back pioneer hits hoop 5 and stops there.
07 Sep 2024 10:38AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
James Death beats Harry Fisher +17.
07 Sep 2024 10:38AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L2 clips: Mulliner Blue 1-back Black 1; Goacher red 1 yellow 3-back.
07 Sep 2024 10:41AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L2 contact leave blue 4' S of II, black 10y N of I, red 4' W of IV, yellow in III.
07 Sep 2024 10:43AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
L1 Patel made 9, slightly defensive leave.
Higgins missed 13-yarder.
07 Sep 2024 10:44AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
Mulliner lifts Black.to yellow.
Croquets yellow near 1, maybe 2y NW of hoop.
Black hits Blue.
Looking to leave rush wired from yellow.
Blue is open.
07 Sep 2024 10:48AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Patel is picking up standard tp.
07 Sep 2024 10:48AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Goacher Yellow at Red (21y).
Hits!
07 Sep 2024 10:49AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Goacher Yellow takes off to Black/ Blue.
Taps Black.
Now rushing blue to 3-back.
Blue hits hoop 6.
07 Sep 2024 10:53AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L1 Patel jawses 4-back peel after 3.
07 Sep 2024 10:54AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
L2 Blue is sent 3y NE of I.
Yellow lags to 4' shy of red.
07 Sep 2024 10:55AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
L2 Mulliner Blue misses red (23y).
Goacher decides to play yellow.
07 Sep 2024 11:02AM (Tournament); 14 Readers
L1 Patel jawses rover peel before 2-back.
07 Sep 2024 11:02AM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Goacher makes one hoop and has a leave.
Mulliner misses long shot.
Chance of standard tp for Goacher.
07 Sep 2024 11:11AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Samir Patel beats Gabrielle Higgins +19tp.
07 Sep 2024 11:12AM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Goacher red jawses yellow in 4-back after 3.
07 Sep 2024 11:22AM (Tournament); 10 Readers
There are still a couple of pegged down games, which ideally would be completed this evening.
Personally I think the first game we saw on lawn 4 on Thursday should have been pegged down after Goacher had pegged out Debbie Lines, then the next round could have started an hour earlier.
But then we spectators would have missed the delightful 3-ball ending.
07 Sep 2024 11:27AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Goacher red rush-peels yellow thru 4-back before 5.
07 Sep 2024 11:27AM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Goacher doesn't get forward rush after 5 and the subsequent roll sends blue 4y beyond 1-back.
Hrs still going for penult peel after 6.
07 Sep 2024 11:32AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Penult peel goes through nicely to near the peg.
Can he cope despite the poor 1-back pioneer?
07 Sep 2024 11:34AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Goacher is playing croquet stroke from end of B-baulk. Black is 7y or so north of 2-back, but importantly red has rush on blue.
07 Sep 2024 11:37AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Good croquet stroke after 1-back and balls are almost under control.
07 Sep 2024 11:39AM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Gentle rain has started.
07 Sep 2024 11:40AM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Goacher is thru 2-back and may get chance of rover peel before 3-back.
07 Sep 2024 11:41AM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Rover peel hits both wires and bounces to the side. Goacher will need a straight rover peel to finish.
07 Sep 2024 11:46AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Things going slightly awry. The croquet stroke after 3-back left him 3 yards from partner, sonit got knocked a few yards from rover.
Then no rush after 4-back, so big roll required.
That went OK but he's now taking off to penult with the peg in play.
07 Sep 2024 11:53AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
I still expect Goacher to finish.
07 Sep 2024 11:54AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Goacher has made penult with a useful rush.
Peelee about two foot from ideal.
07 Sep 2024 11:56AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Here comes the little rush to in front of rover...
07 Sep 2024 11:57AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
...that should be good enough. May be too far to irish? There's a deep ball and a side ball.
07 Sep 2024 11:59AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Goacher does try to irish but doesn't hit it straight. Red bounces to the side.
Red tries to scatter, but hits yellow too full, red ends up near blue.
07 Sep 2024 12:02PM (Tournament); 10 Readers
Clips mulliner blue 1-back black 1; Goacher red rover yellow peg.
07 Sep 2024 12:04PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Mulliner has misapproached 1-back. Short angled hoop. Ref is on. Hoop is run.
07 Sep 2024 12:07PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Mulliner has made 3 hoops. (So he's now 1 and 4-back. )
NSL with yellow at 4.
07 Sep 2024 12:13PM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Everyone else is lunching.
Lawn 3 has been measured at 12.1 plummers, if you like to know that sort of thing.
07 Sep 2024 12:14PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
In sending red deep, Mulliner croqueted it off the lawn. So the rush is not pointing where it should, rather at hoop 4.
This does "force" oppo to lift yellow.
07 Sep 2024 12:17PM (Tournament); 15 Readers
Goacher lifts Yellow to B-baulk and aims at blue (the inlawn ball).
Hits it centre ball!
07 Sep 2024 12:18PM (Tournament); 15 Readers
That's 4 out of 4 shooting for Goacher today.
07 Sep 2024 12:19PM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Goacher makes a leave.
He has a rush from B-baulk, pretty much wired from both blue and black.
07 Sep 2024 12:24PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
But not wired enough!
Blue hits yellow centre ball (32y).
07 Sep 2024 12:25PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Blue is for 4-back, so no hoops, just a leave.
07 Sep 2024 12:27PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Goacher finesses red near 4th corner.
07 Sep 2024 12:31PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Mulliner black makes 1 off blue.
The yellow is 5y east of 3.
Mulliner marches down to see where he wants to rush blue. Marches back, rushes blue near 3 rather than off east boundary. Good takeoff yields rush to 2.
07 Sep 2024 12:35PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Mulliner needs delayed tp to snatch game from Goacher.
07 Sep 2024 12:38PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
I suspect I misled you re Patel v Higgins earlier. I see the score has been entered +17. So I think Higgins must have stopped at 3 for some reason, then got in with the hoop 1 ball, eventually failing 2-back.
This would certainly explain Patel's leave.
07 Sep 2024 12:42PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Mulliner black peels Blue thru 4-back before 6.
Leaves a cut rush to 6, undercut.
Reasonable approach, but fails the hoop.
07 Sep 2024 12:45PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
It's SuperAdvanced, so Goacher has a lift.
Red hits blue (4y).
07 Sep 2024 12:46PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Goacher red rushes yellow about 3 yards beyond rover. Take-off approach. Angled hoop. Runs it to due west of partner.
07 Sep 2024 12:52PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Goacher undercuts rush to 7y east of peg.
To my surprise he doesn't attempt pegout going to black or blue.
Yellow is left 2 or 3y east of peg.
Black is near 2nd corner, not wired from yellow.
Blue is in A-baulk, wired from yellow.
Red is pegged out.
07 Sep 2024 12:57PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Mulliner Black hits yellow.
Black is now for 1-back, having been peeled last turn.
07 Sep 2024 12:59PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Mulliner plays thick takeoff to blue. Rolls northwards but blue goes off north boundary. Black is 7y short of boundary.
Yellow is 3y SE of 4.
07 Sep 2024 1:02PM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Goacher Yellow misses peg into 2nd corner.
07 Sep 2024 1:02PM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Mulliner Blue hits yellow.
Blue makes two hoops.
Mulliner 1-back and peg v Goacher peg alone.
07 Sep 2024 1:06PM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Yellow is left near 4th corner, not wired from peg.
Black / blue near 2nd corner.
07 Sep 2024 1:12PM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Goacher yellow to 3rd corner.
07 Sep 2024 1:13PM (Tournament); 14 Readers
Mangler is on.
This game is being pegged down.
Probably should have done this sooner.
07 Sep 2024 1:15PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
I'm going to start a new thread for the next round of games.
If this game is resumed later, I shall add it to this thread.
07 Sep 2024 1:16PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Goacher v Mulliner was completed on Sunday.
Mulliner won +1.
08 Sep 2024 4:49PM (Tournament); 1 Readers
At 08 Oct 2025 7:42AM (Tournament) there are 3 people reading commentaries.