Good morning from Cheltenham.

The sun is shining.

Here is a little quiz:

1. When was the last time both Bamford and Fulford played the Opens, but neither reached the final?

2. When was the last time when the Doubles Champions and the Singles finalists were the same two players?

I'll provide the answers shortly, shall we say during the first break of the Final.
Feel free to email me with your answers if you want a namecheck!

This is the 4th Open final for both Patel and Death.

Patel has never won: he lost to Fulford in 2008, to Bamford in 2013 and to Ben Rothman in 2016.

Death beat Bamford in both 2019 and 2022, but lost to Mark Avery last year.

Head to head: Death 24, Patel 19.
Their only Opens knockout match was in 2008: Patel won +14tp +26tp in the first round.
Their last match was this year's Men's Championship final.
Death won 3-2 in a 5 TP match, all one-sided games.
That match was played normal advanced.
The good news is that today the players have agreed to play superAdvanced.

They're just starting their warm-up.

The final is on lawn 8.

The front lawns have been mown this morning.

Here's another question for you.
You look at a distant lawn.
A player is about to play the 4th ball.
Black is on the east boundary some yards north of 4th corner.
Red is near hoop 6.
Blue is 8 yards west of 6.

What has happened?

I came up with:
L7G5T1 Death Black to E bdry.
T2 Higgins duffer
T3 Death shoots at duffer from near 3rd corner, hits hoop 6, ends up 8y W of 6.

What in fact occurred:
L7G5T1 Death Blue to E bdry.
T2 Higgins duffer
T3 Death Black hits Blue, rolls blue near 2 going to Red.
Ends up cross-wired from Red, retires back to east boundary.

Open Singles Final 2024: Smir Patel v James Death

Patel won the toss and starts.
G1T1 Patel Blue 9y N of IV.

Samir

Disappointingly early error.

G1T2 Death Yellow nr 2nd corner.
G1 T3 Patel Black at Blue. Misses to 1 yard north.

G1T4 Death Red makes target from B-baulk.Hits Black, cutting it off just N of Blue.

T4 Death Red makes 1 off Blue.
Rushes Blue near N bdry 10y W of 3rd corner.
Rolls Blue west south west going to Yellow.
Approaching 2 from 2nd corner.
5' 20 degree hoop.
Rejected.

Death calls for the hoop basher.
He's loosened hoop 2 already.

Hoop 2 is being reset.
It seems that Blue is the fattest ball on the lawn.
(Death chose Black and Blue.)

T5 Patel Blue has 4y "rush on Red,
Red finishes halfway between 1 and 5.
Red is sent to 2, as Blue goes to Yellow (near 3).
Taking off from 7y to get a rush on Black.
Short of ideal posi.
Cuts it near end of A-baulk.

T5 Patel Blue approaches 1 off Black.
Black is 7' west of 1.
Blue has 4' 15 degree hoop.
Hoop is failed.
Blue is in middle of hoop.

T6 Death Red at Yellow (20y).
Hits!

Red is for hoop 2.
Death Red rushes Black to 1st corner.
Stops it most of the way to 3.
Bit short of ideal on Blue, rushes it 5 yards SW of 2.
Red makes 2.

Some imprecision means Death is approaching 3 from 4 yards.
Has 1 yard hoop which he runs down to two balls at 4.
For one horrible moment he thinks he may have wired himself, but no he has a break.

James Hopgood got both questions right.
1. When was the last time both Bamford and Fulford played the Opens, but neither reached the final?
In 2009 Fulford and Bamford lost to Clarke and Rutger in the semis.
Sadly the final was unplayed owing to clarke's back injury.

2. When was the last time when the Doubles Champions and the Singles finalists were the same two players?.
Lots of people here thought Clarke and Fulford, and they did achieve this feat in 1991.
But the most recent was Bamford and Mulliner, 2000.

T6 Death Red has made 6 hoops (well 5 cos he started on 2).

Spread with rush for Yellow.

SuperAdvanced so Patel has a lift.

T7 Patel lifts Blue from near W bdry to near 3rd corner.
Hits Yellow (23y).

Blue is now for 2 as Death rush-POPped him on the way to 2.
Balck is v close to peg and won't rush to 2.

T7 Patel Blue rushes Red 4y SE of 2.
Makes hoop but not cleanly, so no rush.

Big croquet stroke from north bdry.
Red is sent to 4, while Blue goes to Black at the peg.
Black is rushed eastward, now needs 8y take-off to get rush on Yellow.
Rush is OK, approach is OK, hoop stroke is not.
Failed from 2 or 3' in front.

Blue is in middle of 3.
Yellow is 3y S of 3.
Black is 4y E of Yellow.
Red is 3y N of 4.

T8 Death Yellow hits Black, croquets it to 2 getting rush on Blue to Red.
Yellow makes 1 off Red.

After 1, Death tries to roll Red in front of 1-back going to Black at 2.
Pretty good.
Now trying 1-back peel after 2.

Red goes thru by around 8y.
Black is sent 2y NE of 2-back.
Death Yellow makes 3 off Blue.

In case I've been unclear, Death is attempting a sextuple peel.

Yellow's rush of Red to 2-back isn't great.
Peel is from 10' ~20 degrees.
He can play it straight.
Red hits near wire, bounces off in front.
Rush of Black to 4 yields 8y approach, 6' hoop, run to boundary.

After 4 Death Yellow rushes Black westward, sends it to 6, rush-peels Red thru 2-back.
Makes 5 off Blue.

After 5 Death Yellow rushes Blue near 4th corner, sends it to 1-back.
Fails to rush Red in front of 3-back.
Takes off to Black at 6.

After 6, Death Yellow rushes Black 2y W of Red near 3-back.
Stops Black 5y north.
Now trying 3-back peel going to Blue, which is 3y ESE of 1-back.
Red is peeled to 2y S of 4-back.

Death Yellow makes 1-back off Blue, rushes Blue halfway to 3rd corner.
Rolls Blue 2' W of 4-back, rushes Red South to beyond Black.
Stops Red to within 6" of Blue. West of Blue, which may prove tricky in a while.

Death advises spectators behind 2-back to move before he powers through.

After 2-back, Death Yellow sends Black to 2y SE of penult.
Red wasn't as bad as we thought.
Yellow peels red thru 4-back (just).
Not ideal rush to 3-back.
Cuts it to 3y W of hoop..
Makes it with forward rush.

Death is for 4-back having done 4 peels of a sextuple.

I think Death was hoping to jaws Red in penult before 4-back, but it bounces off one foot to the West.

After 4-back, Death Yellow croquets Black 2' W of the peg, going to Blue.
The little rush of Red to in front is short of ideal.
Death thinks.

It's too angled to irish.
Jawses Red.
I cannot tell how many inches there are between Yellow and Red.
Mark Suter is on to referee.

Much stalking.
This is difficult.

Not a fault but Yellow doesn't get thru.

Clips:Patel Blue 4, Black 1; Death Red rover, Yellow penult.

Patel has a lift to position.
ie he can pick up either ball and put it anywhere on the court.
He claims this is the first lift to position in an Open final.

T9 Patel has come up with something clever.
He elects to play Blue, then uses Yellow to promote Red to 4 as he goes to Black.
An instant 4-ball break.

T9 Patel Blue peels Red thru rover after 5.
I was not expecting that.
But then I am unsure what I was expecting.

I fear I have run out of experts to advise me on the more esoteric tactics.
In fact there's hardly anyone here.
There are 9 players still playing.
The 2 finalists on L8.
L2 Cumming v Goacher (Plate Draw final.
L7: Taylor v Duckworth Plate Process final.
L1 Z: Fuller v Hayes.

The Z knockout is a 3-player Block.
But Mangler, what happens when everyone gets one win?
Shrug.

Chris O'Byrne makes a salient point.
It wasn't lift to position.
I've checked with 2 players, they were useless.
Patel thought he had a lift to position.
I didn't see if he took it!

T9 Patel Blue pegs out Red.
He leaves Black v near if not in 4th corner, Blue in 1st corner.

Patel did realise he didn't have lift to position before he'd taken it!
Just a contact, as has Death now.

T10 Death Yellow sends Blue 3y WSW of peg.
Leaves an 8-yarder at Black.
Misses.

Clips: Patel Blue peg, Black 1; Death Red box, Yellow penult.

T11 Patel Black rolls out of 4th corner.
Both balls short of ideal.
Approaching 1 from 4y to the west.
Underhits, no chance of hoop.
Tries to hit Black to S bdry wired from Yellow.

Yellow has 13-yarder at Blue, but missing would lose the game.
T12 Death Yellow taps in front of penult (from ~4y).

T13 Patel Black hits Blue (8y).

Blue is now 11y N of 1st corner, a yard or so inlawn.

T13 Patel Black rolls Blue 2y W of 2, Black ends up west of Yellow.
Rushes Yellow of E bdry.
Croquets Yellow 3y ESE of 4.
Lags Black 8' W of Blue.

Yellow is wired from Blue, I am reliably informed.
If I can rely on someone who thought he had a lift to position.

Jamie Burch also spotted my (and Samir's) lift to posi error.
Nathaniel Healy's been in touch.
I'm afraid there's no livestreaming, just little old me.

T14 Death Yellow to 3rd corner.
T15 Patel Black has leave nr 1st corner.
T16 Death Yellow to 4th corner.

T17 Patel Black makes 1, then does well to make 2.
Now he's near end of B-baulk.
Rolls behind 3.

T18 Death Yellow to 2nd corner.

T19 Patel makes 3, rolls to 4 from 15y, takes on 5' hoop, makes it with rush to 5.

I hope Patel remembers that 4 is a lift hoop.
Patel didn't have as good a rush as I thought, but he plays good approach to 5.
Now approaching 6 from 3 or 4 y.
4' hoop, instant loss if he fails it.
Makes it (not cleanly), knocks Blue near end of B-baulk.

Patel rolls Blue 9y SW of 1-back, hits Yellow in 2nd corner.
Approach looks not too bad from here.
Fails 1-back (4', 10 degrees?).

Black is 1' east of 1-back.
Death remembers his lift.
T20 Death lifts Yellow to B-baulk.
Misses Black (8y).

Yellow is near Blue.

Probably nearer 9y.
Still an error.

T21 Patel Blue hits Yellow,
Sends it 9y ESE of peg.
Ah, he's going to try to peel Black, thus avoiding a lift.
Peels it by an inch or two.
Thinks.
Blue to 3rd corner.

Black is not in the jaws.

T22 Death Yellow at Black.
Misses to near 2nd corner.

T23 Patel Black at Blue (20y).
Misses.
Death may have more than a ball's target here.

T24 Death Yellow at Black / Blue. (26y).
Misses.

He missed on the right so no cannon.

T25 Patel ignores Yellow, rolls down to between hoop 1 and 1st corner.

T26 Death Yellow to just W of B-baulk.

T27 Patel Black makes 2-back, with more wire than expected.
He's now 2y E of A-baulk.
You'd think there may be some wired spots round there.

His last stroke moves half an inch rather than one inch.

Death can see something.
But it's not Black or Blue.
T28 Death attempts penult from N bdry.
Bounces off to 3y E of 1st corner.

T29 Patel Black makes 3-back but no rush.
Looking at wired places near B-baulk.
Decides to approach the hoop.
7' hoop.
Makes it!

T29 Patel Black plays good rush to penult.
Runs hoop beyond Blue.
Blue is now 3y SSE of penult.

Death correctly observes that he's getting another turn.
Patel croquets Blue near E bdry ~13y N of 4th corner, Black off in 2nd corner.

T30 Death lifts Yellow to B-baulk.
Hits Blue!
Bit of a dribbler, compared to Death's usual power.

Thick take-off puts Blue 7y S of rover,
Yellow hits Black.
Rolling to penult from 2nd corner...

Eight or nine foot penult...

Makes it!
BUT:
Yellow was sailing off S bdry behind Blue,
BUT the peg intervenes.

Death Yellow hits Blue (12y)
Black is near the peg.
Take-off to Black is good.
Rush is OK.
Approach is good.

Death runs rover off the S bdry and nearly into the table of trophies.

Death wins game 1 +3

(Best of 5).

None of the other 10am games has finished!

Death puts Patel in.
G2T1 Patel Yellow 6y E of 4.
T2 Death Blue near 2nd corner.
T3 Patel Red at Yellow from A-baulk.
Misses on the left.

T4 Death Black at Yellow from A-baulk.
Misses.

T5 Patel Yellow hits Black, promoting Red a couple of yards.
Rushes Red 8' past 1.
Leaves short 30 degree hoop.
Gets it.
Rushes Red behind 4, sends it to 3 getting 4' rush on Black.
Rushes Black into 2nd corner!

Patel has break.

Plate:
Taylor beat Duckworth +15tp

Nick Parish has been in touch.
I should have said that when Death ran penult and hit the peg, his ball then ricocheted somewhere NW of hoop 1, pretty much equidistant from Black / Blue.

Patel will be making 9.
He hasn't yet fully winkled the ball out of 2nd corner.

In fact the ball near 2nd corner is a good thing, as Patel can leave partner ball in 2nd corner after 1-back.

G2T5 Patel Yellow has made 9.

I was going to say it'll be the usual contact leave:
But having knocked Black near 4th corner, his take-off back to Blue was too short to let him rush Blue near 4th corner.
Blue is 6y N of 4th corner, which is fine I guess.
May well have been as planned.
Yellow into 3rd corner.

Red is 1' E of 2nd corner.

ERROR.
Both by me and by Patel.
Yellow is not in 3rd corner, instead it's to the south.
So Death can rush Yellow to Blue.

T6 Death Black fails hoop 1 off Blue.

T7 Patel Red misses Blue (21y).

T8 Death Black makes 1.

Some work required to pick up break.

Sorry I neglected to respond to some messages from Rob Edlin-White.
We are playing with Sunshiny balls (in the sunshine!) and quadway hoops.

T8 Death has made 3 and has break.
He did not have the opportunity to set up a standard TPO.

T8 Death Black tries to POP Red thru 1 before 5.
Does not do so.

T8 Death may be having a very optimistic rush-POP after 5.
Probably not.
He will be making 6 and having a leave.

Death makes diagonal spread with Red at the peg.

Clips: Patel Red 1, Yellow 4-back; Death Blue1, Black1-back.

Blue and Black are only about 7y N of 4th corner.

T9 Patel lifts Red to A-baulk.
Red hits Black.

If Patel can play a few competent strokes, he will have a standard TP ahead of him.

Patel Red makes 1 off Yellow.
90% chance of finishing, I'd say.

I'm sure all the players (and I) would wish to thank Cheltenham Croquet Club for the hosting of this event.
Farr too many volunteers to mention.
The catering is excellent: lunches, teas, and hot dogs in the evening.
The lawns have the best texture for a while, the balls run nicely.
(Be nice if they were quicker, but the weather precluded that.)
And of course the hoopsetters.
They carefully calibrated lawn 8 this morning, only for Death to have a huge thrash at hoop 2 early on, thus necessitating a reset!

Patel peeled 4-back after 3, gets nice rush after 4.
93% to finish now.

I'm tempted to type Patel +20tp and beat the queue for lunch.
But I won't.

Plate:
Goacher beat Cumming +17

Patel peels penult after 6.
95%

Patel peels rover before 3-back.
98% to finish!

Patel wins game 2 +20tp

1-1 ( best of 5)

Lunch!

We were about to restart, but were distracted by the end of the Z game.
Sarah Hayes has won by a well-known book title, and I don't mean "Expert Croquet Tactics".

Come on, I haven't used that joke for at least 5 years now.

G3T1 Patel Blue 7y N of IV
T2 Death Red just S of II.
T3 Patel Black hits Blue.

T3 Patel Black takes off to Red.
Red is rolled further south than usual,
Yellow has 14-yarder at Red from A-baulk.

T4 Death Yellow hits Red.

Death's rush to 1 is 3 or 4y short, but a good approach and you'd expect him to go round from here.
But how far round?

Rob E-W asks if Death had a pint with his lunch.
My answer would involve the Pope and the defecatory habits of bears.

T4 Death has made 6 and is having diagonal spread.
He leaves the rush for Red.

T5 Patel lifts Black from near the W bdry to B-baulk.
Shooting at Red (23y)...

... Patel misses to 4th corner.

T6 Death Red makes 1 off Blue, cuts it 3y shy of Black.
Takes off to get a rush to 3.
Yellow is waiting near 2.

T6 Death's Yellow is east of where he'd like for the 1-back peel.
Tries take off peel going to Blue.
Hits 6-yarder.

Now Death has left himself a 5-yarder at Black. Copes to make 3.
Blue is now2y NNE of rover.

We are unsure why Death has put Black where it is.. (Halfway between 1 and peg).
Maybe a bad shot.
Peels Yellow going to Blue.
Snicks Blue, so approaching 4 from near 5.
Runs 4 off boundary.

Blue is left 2y East of 2-back as Red goes to 1-back to collect Yellow.
Good shot sees Yellow rolled to a yard in front of 2-back as Red gets rush on Black.
Red makes 5 off Black.

Death is on a sextuple.
Five hoops, one peel.

Death Red peels Yellow thru 2-back before 6.

After 6, Blue is sent 2y SE of peg.
Red rushes Yellow from 2-back to 3-back.
Can he try the peel going to 1-back?
Apparently not.

Death Red makes 1-back off Black.
Black is now 7y S of 4-back.
Red peels Yellow thru 3-back before 2-back.

Death's rush to 2-back is poor.
Rolling up from 7y to the side.
Good recovery.

Death sextuple: 8 hoops, 3 peels.

Death lining up a 7 or 8y peel of 4-back, getting rush on Black to 3-back.

It's not thru, but it might be rush-peelable.

Death Red makes 3-back off Black.
Rolls Black to penult going to Yellow.
Rush-peels Yellow thru 4-back.
Blue (the 4-back pioneer) is 1y SE of penult.
Rolls Yellow near penult: it hits the near wire and is 9" to the east of the hoop.
Red makes 4-back off Blue.

Death needs straight double peel to complete sextuple.

Death Red irish peels Yellow thru penult.
Yellow finishes 1y west of rover.

Yellow is one foot in front of rover.

Death wins game 3 +26sxp

Death leads 2-1 (best of 5)

Smattering of applause. A dozen or so spectators only.

Death chooses Red and Yellow.
Patel puts him in.
G4T1 Death Yellow at hoop 5.
Hits it, bounces 1y NW of hoop.
That's how to do a superAdvanced supershot.

T2 Patel Blue 12y N of IV.
T3 Death Red at Blue from B-baulk.
Hits!

Good croquet stroke and Death has 3-ball break.

T3 Death Red puts out a ball to 1-back.
Is he making 9?
Nope.

T3 Death has made 6.
He leaves Blue 2' SW of 1-back (wired from B-baulk)
Yellow has rush on Red to 1-back from the west bdry just N of peg-high.

T4 Patel Black at Yellow from A-baulk (19y)...

... Patel misses.

Close.
Black is in 2nd corner.

If Death finishes this turn, he takes the peeling prize from Fulford.
As well as the Croquet Championship.

T5 Death Yellow rushes Red to 1-back, peels it getting rush on Blue to Black.
Except he rushes it 4y East of Black.
Good take-off to get rush to 1.
It's about 3y short of 1.
Takes off, runs it to north boundary.
(Red is about 7y south of 1-back.)

After 1, Death Yellow hits Blue, sends it toward 3.
Tries angled peel of 2-back before 2.
Peel fails, Red stays close to hoop.
Yellow makes 2 off Black.

I don't think Red is rush-peelable.

No, he leaves Black (the hoop 4 pioneer) 4' east of 2-back.
Takes off from Red to Blue.
Yellow makes 3 off Blue.

No forward rush after 3, so big roll required.
Not ideal on Red, so short angled peel needed.
Yellow jawses Red in 2-back before 4.

Sorry, Red must have been just thru 2-back.

Sextuple counter: 4 hoops, 2 peels.

Death can afford the luxury of having some pioneers in the vicinity of the relevant hoop.

Death Yellow peels Red well thru 3-back before 6.
No rush on hoop 6 pioneer so he's rolling up from 4 or 5y.
Runs 6 to boundary.

6 hoops, 3 peels.

The 2-back pioneer is at 4-back.

Might have been an attempt to peel 4-back before 1-back.

In fact the peel attempt before 1-back must have gone thru.
The spectators are unsure.

Death is lining up the penult peel before 4-back.

9 hoops, 5 peels.

A straight rover peel ahead.
If successful, Death is Croquet Champion.

irish peel...

Red goes thru.

But is Yellow thru too?
He doesn't want it to be....

Mallet in air.
Yellow is thru.
Can he hit Black?
I think he's trying to flick off the wire.

Howl of disappointment.

Patel 1 and 1 v Death peg and peg.

Death: "I'm a little bit annoyed."

T6 Patel Black picks up break.

Patel can't run 1-back else he concedes contact.

Either he goes to 4-back in 2 turns and hope Death misses 2 lifts.
Or he tries for a sextuple.

After 5 Patel Black leaves Red on the western wire of rover.
It won't rush to the peg but it will rush to 1.

Yellow is sent near 1-back.
Yellow is now put thru 1-back by a bit.
Blue has rush on Black into lawn, from 14y S of 2nd corner.

Patel thinks this should be a Patel leave, as it doesn't have a name yet.

T7 Death lifts Red to B-baulk.
Not sure exactly what he was aiming at, but he missed.

My expert spotted this earlier, Blue is misplaced.
Patel moved it taking off to Yellow, and forgot to replace it.

Death now realises this.
But his shot was so bad it wouldn't have mattered.

Yellow is half an inch south of 2.

T8 Patel Blue taps Red, rushes Black to 1-back.
Blue peels Black, but Yellow is not promoted where he wanted.
He now has a 20-yard take-off to 1!
Has to get this.
Good shot, 4 or 5' hoop.
Runs it...

... by one foot.

Ref is on.

Needs to hit a 20-yard sweep shot.

Patel misses.

T9 Death has 1y rush to the peg as they lay.
Not a bad try at the grievous...

Death wins game 4 +18.

James Death is Open Champion.

lie not lay

On lawn 1, David Goacher may be finishing a delayed TP to win the Plate.

The question now is can I get home this evening?
Apparently there is a game of football.

Goacher's messed up at rover, so won't finish this turn.

Cheers for now, Andrew