Westerby with first break, approaching h3 all over clips on H1. O'leary won the opening and made a leave, Westerby hit the 18 yarder

Westerby fails h3

O'Leary going round, approaching 2b

Good leave, NSL with Westerbys H1 ball at h4, Westerby lifts this and misses from c3 to c4.
Clips, 1 an 4b vs 1 an 3

O Leary doesn't get going, Westerby retires to c3, O'Leary misses 6 yarder on partner

Westerby in play... clip on h6 now an still has the innings

O Leary hits from c2 to c3

Doesn't get going, lays up b h5 with partner, Westerby misses from C3. Chance for O'Leary now

Westerby 4b an 2b vs O leary 4b an 1b with potential for a break.. fails 1b

Westerby hits with his 2b ball. good chance here

Clarke on his way to rover/peg. Currently approaching 2b

*Correction - Wrong commentary and not correct! Back to this one, Jenny will be taking over for me but will stay in the same commentary. Westerby peg an rover with a leave. Laid up in c4 with a oppo on E an W boundary peg high. O'Leary lifts Y from EB which is for penult, hits R on the WB

Hi folks, It's nice to be finished early for a change, and to have a chance to watch some of the other players in action. I just need to reorientate myself to this lawn, which is rotated from Chris's lawn to optimise the flatness of the east boundary.

Tim is in play with yellow, which is on rover. He will be rushing to rover from hoop 2 - copes nicely. Commentary team are wondering if we'll see black pegged out, yellow started this turn from penult, so no lift to concede.

Makes rover, so now yellow and black for peg, blue on rover, red clip on 1back.

Blue is a couple of yards in from corner 4, and Tim has croqueted red to just out of corner 2, now has a long rush on black pointing nearish the peg.

Totally different lawns today - heavy watering totally tamed the hill at penult that I spent about 4 hours trying to conquer, and the mound in front of hoop 3 on lawn 1 was also pretty much neutralised. Phew.

Back to lawn 6 where Tim has hit his longish roquet on black,and pegged it out - ending up about a foot short of embarrassment! He's now on his way up towards corner 2. I think this was a reasonable option, probably 50-50. He's looking at a spot on the north boundary a couple of yards from Red. This should be a great end game.

Oops - got distracted. Tim shot onto the north boundary, about 4 feet from partner, and has stopped for lunch (while the other game started!)

In case you're hitting the refresh button lots, they're having a loooong lunch at the moment. I'll be right back with you when they return.

Number 66 (Aussie Mac Representative number), Tim O'Leary, is back ready to continue now. No sign of Aaron yet.

The kiwi captain has returned and we're off again!

Aaron to corner 3

Tim has reset with a rush to hoop 2 from the west boundary, but has sat down with a sigh and said "I left red open". Good chance for Aaron now.
Declines the shot from corner 3 and goes about 6 inches west of corner 3.
Tim resets with the balls fully wired.
Aaron basically stays where he is.

Tim rushes to 1b, runs it with good control and has rushed to a foot from 2b.

Runs the hoop by a yard and now has a rush pointing at Aaron in corner 3. Well, he's powerful enough to take it on it he wants it. Nope... rushes yellow off just north of peg high on the east boundary. I have absolutely no idea what he's doing now!!

aah... croquets yellow to east boundary between 5 and peg, and will be taking off into corner 2 and crossing his fingers on this lift shot.

Red is shot off in the mirror position on the west boundary. Basically both balls are on maximum distance position.

Aaron has taken 1 yard position at rover. Tim misses with yellow across to the east boundary.

Aaron fails rover to an unrunnable spot.
Tim now has about a 10 yarder with red.

Misses. Still about 10 yards apart.

Aaron shooting at yellow on the west boundary...hits!

Checking out his options- is taking croquet from the west boundary, rolling yellow to south of rover, going to red in corner 1. I'm not sure if Tim's shot hilled off before - the boundary there is pretty steep.

Nice shot from Aaron. He'll be croqueting red to somewhere well north.

Croquets blue towards corner 2, but pulls up about a foot short of rover. Taking position in front of the hoop, wired from yellow.

Yellow shooting at red near corner 2. Misses by a long way.

Aaron is through rover to the middle of the south boundary. Is looking at options

Aaron's clip is on the peg and after some thought he is shooting at red or yellow.

Misses by a fair way to the left

Tim is playing his peg ball, will be looking to wire yellow from the peg and take possession of corner 4. Aaron's experience makes him favourite for this end game, but we'll see.

Tim rushes red down to the middle of the south boundary. Needs to leave Aaron a shot, but it will be a very long one.

Tim has laid up very tight on the south boundary behind 3b.

Aaron plays across to corner 3

Tim rushes to the hoop, approaches from a wee bit of distance, and fails 3b!! - he looks to be pretty much cross wired.

Aaron calling for an umpire. Now the entire crowd is calling for a referee! Lester appears to be having a post-lunch snooze at the top of lawn 3! Tony Hall comes across from his lawn 2 refereeing-and-commentary post.
Aaron withdraws his request and decides to shoot at yellow instead of the peg.

Shakes his head as blue goes by.
Tim's in all sorts of trouble now with red mid south boundary, red looking like it will go nowhere, and yellow north of 3b.

Referee is on the lawn...
Tim has run a very difficult 3b to a smattering of Aussie applause. Didn't like the style of stroke - lifted everything up as he hit it - very effective outcome though. Referee Ian Vincent is happy, and he's a tough ref. He has now taken over hoop-checking. (something he's also very good at), and Tim has approached 4b from miles away. Doesn't like it, and joins up on north boundary.

Meanwhile Ken Bald has stuck in 2b giving Greg at one yard lift with a ball at his hoop (hoop 2, black is for 4back), and Paddy is on his way to the peg with his second ball after Robbie ran 1 and missed the return roquet. Missed return roquets are proving costly all over the place.

Aaron to corner 2

Toby has first ball around in his game. and a defensive OSL.

Tim hits, rushing partner off the east boundary 2y south of corner 3. Is looking for a wired spot using 4b to wire him from blue in corner 2.

In case you've lost track, this is a very entertaining game ONE in this match.

Rolls down - looks like a decent yellow, but he didn't get enough action on red by a long shot, and how has a 2 yard dribble to wired position.

Has a referee to shoot off the boundary.
Referee kept in action as Aaron shoots at the peg. Missing this will give Tim a finish chance. Swinging... misses.
Tim has a nice rush to 4b, but needs to negotiate the middle hoops to win.

Poor start to the turn for Tim who has just nicked his rush to 4b. Approaches to get a longish hoop, but a perfect yellow. Looks about 3 feet. ..runs it with no wire.
Yellow wasn't quite perfect - he now has a rush to hoo p2.

Rushes it to hoop 2.

Tim has played a lovely stroke getting decent (short, but a little angled) position at penult and partner 2y north of the peg.
Runs penult too cleanly for no rush and is not taking croquet 3y north of the peg.

Much thought... Tim is taking off to blue in corner 4. I have no idea why he'd opt to do that, leaving yellow at the peg.
He knows why - he has a rush on blue to rover!
Needs a huge cut ... plays that well. Down the hill a bit, and has a two-foot hoop for game 1. Bit angled... tries to run it with control (would have had an 8 yard return)... bounces out

Aaron wins game 1 26-23.

Referees are having a fiddle with the hoops. Hoop 6 coming up and some newspaper going down the hole. I must say I prefer the use of hoop clamps - OakleyWoods croquet make excellent hoop clamps which have removed the need for any foreign bodies in the hoop holes. Hoop 2 coming up now.

GAME TWO: AARON (red/yellow) vs TIM (blue/black)

1. Tim lags blue a yard short of standard position on the east boundary (anti-duffer)

2. Aaron plays red to 6in south of corner 2

3. Tim shoots black at blue from near the end of B baulk, missing into corner 4.

4. Aaron misses blue from the end of A baulk. Looks like blue was a couple of yards into the lawn.
So after the opening, Tim has the innings, but no break prospects.

5. Can't believe Tim has that much energy after the last couple of days! - on a very slow lawn he has croqueted yellow from the middle of the east boundary to a few yards south of hoop 1 and gone to red in corner 2. I couldn't have successfully played that stroke there.
Has croqueted red in front of hoop 2, and shoots off 2 y north of partner in corner 2. Nice turn.

6. Aaron to corner 3 with yellow.
7. Tim has a 2 yarder pointing at corner 3, but would need a stunning shot to get up the boundary. Rushes blue 7y west of c3.

He has done it again! - takes off into corner 3 to get a rush to hoop 1! Rushes yellow about 4y SE of hoop 1. Has approached to give himself a 3.5ft hoop 1 - which he bounces out of to give Aaron a 5 yarder for a laid break.

8. Aaron hits and is through hoop 1 and off on a break. Rolls black shot of hoop 3, but good position with the striker's ball.

Rush to hoop 3 was short, as was the take-off... jump shot coming up... looks very angled. Big rejection. Might be lucky and wired from black. Might be unlucky and black have a wiring lift as it doesn't look like it has a backswing to hit red, and blue is hidden behind hoop 4.

9. No - Tim can see yellow, and hits this.

Good start to the break - good hoop 2 pioneer and a rush down to blue at hoop 4. Provided he can keep his nerve at hoop 1, Tim should be away. Rushes a couple of yards SE of the hoop...slightly angled 2 footer - nice stroke. Snicks blue.

Decent croquet stroke and Tim now takes croquet a foot south of hoop2, and has a pioneer SW of hoop 3 and red lurking a couple of yards NW of hoop 4.
(Applause as Robbie wins his game against Paddy Chapman, 26-21, and takes the match 2-0. NZ leads the test 5-1 at the moment).

Tim had to take off from that southerly pioneer to hoop 3 - runs the hoop completely cleanly down to hoop 4 - and misses a 4 yarder at his hoop 4 pioneer onto the middle of the west boundary.

10. Interesting position for Aaron now... red and yellow are cross-wired across hoop 5, black middle of west boundary, and blue is still up SW of hoop 3

Aaron is checking out his options.

shoots down to the south boundary guarding the shot from blue. He is now about 10 yards apart at Tim's hoop.
11. Tim shooting with black at blue, hoping to continue his break...

misses to a few yards S of c3

12. Aaron hits from south boundary at partner.

walk away for 5 minutes and it's all changing...
Aaron bounced out of hoop 3
13. Tim is off with his hoop 1 ball on a break. He has just run hoop 2 with all the balls.

Up to hoop 5 and looking rather rather more fluent now.

Meanwhile on lawn 2 Ken's battle with hoop 2 continues and this time he has overapproached the hoop. That lawn has a wet half and a dry half. Hoop 2 is on the dry half.

And we welcome Liz McLay to the gazebo, and thanks for the cuddle.

Tim sticks in an angled hoop 6. Didn't approach it well from a great position, and didn't seem to hit it quite hard enough. Getting the hoop checked. Good idea.

Declined.
14. Aaron has a 4 foot roquet with red (for hoop 1) with good pioneers at hoop 1 and hoop 2

Off on his own 4bb now

Rather hot out there now, and very little breeze. Lovely conditions, though lovelier under the gazebo shade with the slight breeze.

Aaron through 2 and hits the longish return roquet.

Runs 3 cleanly to his pivot. Red seemed to bounce a bit on its way through, but sailed through

hoop 6 pioneer is about 5 yards short, and doesn't get north of the pivot. I think the shot was played form south boundary. Cuts black north and west and will tidy that up a bit with the take-off down to a very nice hoop 5 pioneer

Aaron has tidied things up well here. Decides to put partner out as a deepish hoop 6 reception ball - good plan. Runs 6 to 2 yards past it.

Making 1b off blue, black as a northerly 2b pioneer. Safely through

Meanwhile on lawn 2, Ken and Greg are locked in an epic battle. Ken has the innings, Greg shooting again, ...Breeze getting up a bit and he's taking his time to set himself.

Greg hits red just about centre ball.

Rather handy for him as red and yellow were close to 2b, which is blue's hoop.

Back to Aaron and Tim... Aaron making 2b. Slightly ropey 3b pioneer, but he's good enough to cope. Black going west of 2b... runs the hoop carefully and has a rush pointing peg high.

Taps black, is now taking croquet from west of hoop 1. Thinks about it for a while.... and black is going to 4-back!!!

Dribbles through 3back... falls down the hill and to the right - Tim's feeling a little hard done by right now!

Looks to be making 4b but not penult as he has left blue nearish the peg and yellow about 7 y south of 4b

Makes 4b and rushes black (for hoop 4) to the middle of east boundary.
Rushes blue (for hoop 6) to just east of corner 2.

Leaves blue 4y in from corner 2 (remember this is a contact leave)

From NE of the peg looks to be trying to get to C1 and level with h6 on west boundary. Gets level with H1 and about level with H6

15. Tim has taken croquet from partner east of c2, plays a nice-looking croquet stroke going to red on the west boundary... and hills a mile to roll off the lawn (that's why they turned this lawn around for this test!!).

Chris reports his lawn started at about 8 seconds speed and has sped up to 10 seconds.

16. Aaron plays his penult ball (red), puts black north of hoop 4 (too far to the side to be interesting to run), and is taking croquet from blue , sending it to hoop 3 (yellow's hoop), going down to yellow level with h1 on the west boundary. Really nice croquet stroke that.

Lots of Aussies still camped around the lawn 5 shelter. On lawn 2 Greg is getting to know the corners well as Ken remains on 4 and 4b with the innings.
On lawn 3 Ian Dumergue is taking croquet and is for penult, with his other ball for 4b and Toby on 4b and 2. Ian appears to have hit a lot in this match.

Aaron has laid up in corner 1 and west of there.
(Greg has just missed from C2 to C3)

17. Not sure if Tim has a bit of a target here, but he has left blue at hoop 3 and is shooting from hoop 4 at red and yellow - hits both.

Tickled the front ball and went on to hit yellow. Takes croquet from red, but plays a tentative croquet stroke to try to get behind yellow in corner 1 (probably still concerned about that hill on that boundary). Cuts it to the west boundary level with hoop 1 and tries to play a big roll going to partner. Puts yellow within 6 inches of the north boundary behind hoop 2, and is well short of partner. He said earlier Adelaide lawns are usually 11-12 secs and that was a huge croquet stroke he tried to play.
Misses partner to the north boundary. He now has about a 7 yard join near Aaron's hoop.

(Lawn 3: Ian is in front of rover. Lawn 2: Ken has a very long backward take-off for hoop 5... great shot... runs the hoop to peg high ..doesn't have any other balls in the lawn, so might not make much progress)

18. Aaron shoots from north boundary at blue - misses.

19.Blue now has a 6 yarder at yellow or a 8ish yarder at black (looks longer than earlier reported 7), or about a 10 yarder black at yellow - that one's slightly interesting as Blue is the only non-boundary ball. Black at blue heads down towards red in corner 1, so not appealing.
Blue middles black in corner 3. Taking off to get a rush on yellow which is on the east boundary level with hoop 3. remember he's for hoop 6 with blue. Takes off short, rushes it onto the wire of hoop 4 and it bounces off to the west. Coming into corner 1 to bring out red

Tries to roll from corner 1 back towards black (or to position at hoop 6 - unclear - huge shot on this lawn anyway). Red ends up towards the west boundary level with hoop 2, and blue level with hoop 6 but east of it. Shoots off to give himself a 4yard join on the north boundary.

Blissful - John Prince is now shading your commentator with a big sun umbrella. It's getting hot out there!!)
Lawn update: Lawn 2 Greg has hit something long with Ken on hoop 6 and joined up in corner 4.
Lawn 3: Ian has some sort of failed vertical spread with blue open north-west of penult and black in front of rover and himself joined up in corner 4. Toby is lifting black (his hoop 2 ball) and basically has a duffer tice for the world. Bounces crazily before smacking centreball and rushing it to level with hoop 5.

18. Aaron sends yellow from hoop 4 into corner 1.

19. Tim rushes across from corner 3 to corner 2. Croquets blue out level with hoop 2 and a couple of yards east of it, and has a rush to a ball which Aaron confirms is in corner 1.
Plays a perfect rush... which hills off about 5 yards north of yellow.

Takes off into the corner!! But now he has a rush pointing at corner 2. Cuts it and it hits the side of hoop5.

Approaching hoop 4 from north of hoop 5... Gets a very long straightish hoop. Great hoop stroke, and he now has a rush to hoop 5. Rushes it 2 yards east of the hoop.

On lawn 3 Toby has overapproached hoop 2 and run away to corner 1. Blue was inlawn and about 8 yards from yellow, so he was rather forced to. I suspect Ian will shoot at partner, but will he want to join up at Toby's hoop??

Tim continues his break - runs 5, rushes back to south boundary, nice croquet stroke getting an early 2b pioneer and a rush I thought pointed at partner near 1b - but he has rushed it directly to hoop 6.

Unexpected line of play... rolls red north of 6, trying to get a rush on partner back to 6 - doing for the DPO I think - centre-balls 6 - now he's in a bit of trouble!

(Ian has joined up on the north boundary, and Toby misses to near corner 1)
Takes off back to a very long and very angled hoop 6. Bounces out of it about 4 yards back. Choice of 5-6 yarders for Aaron - shooting red at black...restalks...hits black, rushing it to north of hoop 5. This is his penult ball, so I expect he'll just reset.

(Meanwhile on lawn 2... Ken hit back in straight away and rushed to his hoop - 6 - and has called a ref to repair an old hoop hole. This club uses Wharton hoops (local manufacturer) which has a very large carrot at the top, so leave a bit of an imprint on the lawn when moved.)
(Lawn 3: Ian had a go at rushing to 4b - didn't like it, and has taken off to get a 7 yarder at Toby... solid contact.)

20. Aaron has put black south of 3 (yellow clip is on 3), blue at 4, and is taking some care to leave black a shot, as it is reasonably close to the hoop.

Looks to be wiring red and yellow from blue through hoop 1, is laid up on the west boundary about level with hoop 1.

(almost drama on lawn 3: Ian rushed blue towards 4b... picked up black and marched across ... but remembered just in time and went back to get yellow! Has a very long roll to 4b which slid to the east. Blue and red are quite close, so he'll have a crack.. about 45 deg and 5.5 feet... rejection straight back by about 7 yards.)

21. Tim shoots from hoop 3... hits! ??? He hasn't tried to do anything... croquets red NE of hoop 2, hits yellow, croquets that towards the WB (wired from red I think), and hits something very long at blue near hoop 4.

(Lawn 3: Toby hits red, takes off to yellow, cut rush, but it's well short of 4b, has to approach the hoop now - will be having red off if he gets it - someone probably doing a commentary here, so I really don't need to, but it passes the time...)

Tim has laid up well north west of C4 either wired from yellow or nearly so. Hmm... might be he left yellow where it was which could account for the 17 yarder on partner, so it might be wired from everything. Distracted by all the action sorry! Nope - spectators confirm he had played yellow to wire it from red.

22. Red to corner 3.

23. Rushes black to south boundary level with hoop 1, yellow is about 2 yards in from the boundary.

(Lawn 2: ken still in play, Lawn 3 Toby through rover, will be having red off now. Partner is in corner 1, so he has some work to do. rushes well into the corner. Red is adjacent to the peg, so he can rush black wherever he wants to and take off back to peg out red.)

Tim puts black well NW of 1b, and gets a rush pointing at corner 2. Cuts yellow north of hoop 2. Approaches to 2y position putting yellow down to hoop 4. Bounces back by about 2 yards from hoop 6.

(Toby has rushed black off the west boundary a bit south of hoop 2, and taken off back into red. No problems there. Ken has made 1b with no ball in the same quarter of the lawn as 2b)

Aaron looking playing yellow up to level with hoop 3 on the east boundary for a wide join (red's in corner 3 still)

Toby's blue is off in corner 4. I'll just check if there is another commentary stream still going. Jarrod took off a wee while ago...

25. Tim misses partner, flicking hoop 2 on the way. Now three yards apart, and Aaron is shooting at his 6 yarder with his hoop 4 ball. Gets a thick edge.

(that included turn 26)
26 ctd. Aaron is taking off from red to blue near corner 2 - didn't move that in much.

Croquets blue well south of hoop 2 and has rushed perfectly to hoop 3 (erm, yellow is, in fact, still on hoop 3, sorry!)

Approaches 3 - looked like getting 6 inch position, and it rolls back down the hill to give him two foot position. Tries to run it with control as there's nothing near hoop 4 ... bounces out of the hoop. Tim will just about need to run the hoop to hit yellow.

27. Calls for a ref.. blacks at an angle, and yellow is well back... hits it rushing it off the north boundary. Tim still 6 and 6.

Croquets yellow to north of hoop 4, hits his 5 yarder back at red. Blue is in lawn a bit, and he has taken off to get a rush on it towards hoop 2.

Rushes blue south of hoop 2 - will have another go at approaching hoop 6... 2.5 foot hoop - nice shot - blue is north of 1b

Bounces back off hoop 6 by about 3 yards.

28. Aaron looking at having that wide join again - this time looking at a 10 yard join. Red is about 2 yards south of C3.

Joins about 8 yards apart on the east boundary

29. Tim misses from in front of 6 to partner which was 3-4 yards north of hoop 2.

30. Aaron hits. we seem to be repeating turn 26.

Rushes to 3, puts reception ball deep - runs 3 well to that ball, approaches 4 - bit of length there, but plays a really fluent hoop stroke, running 4 to the boundary. Now has a longish return rush towards 5. Red is still in corner 3, and black is a bit north of peg high near the west boundary.
Not a great rush, he is now 2y NE of hoop 5.
Decides to roll blue towards corner 2 and try to get a rush on black. Great rush... but the breeze assists blue to sail out near corner 2.
Quick reminder: Aaron has yellow on hoop 5 and red on penult. Tim is battling hoop 6 with both balls.

31. Tim plays another big shot and croquets yellow to directly in front of hoop 5 (!!) (ok maybe a little west) and gently nudges the timberwork between the lawns, going off next to red.

32. Aaron rushes black to EB level with hoop 6, leaves blue in corner 2, and has joined up tight in corner 1.

33. Tim shooting from east boundary back to partner in corner 2 - misses.

The lovely Malcolm Fletcher has come over to offer Tim sustenance - and is off to get me a can of fanta. Thank you :-)

34. Aaron has rushed to 5, made it and rushed up to near corner 2. Takes off to Tim's balls. Needs to make sure of hoop 6 now as red and black are 4y apart. Great rush to hoop6 - will be approaching from 4ft SSE

Runs hoop 6 off the north boundary, he will now have about a 6 yard return.

Looks closer to 7 actually.

Clips an outside edge.

Croquets blue inlawn and leaves about a 5 yarder on black in the corner. Hits ... sends it just north of peg high between 1 and 2. That's the 2b pioneer. Good control at 1b though.

Grovels through 1b, and Ian Vincent is on the lawn - no problems. Red is now a good 3b pioneer. Has a 1 foot rush to 2b. Rushes it a bit past 2b, but nothing major. Through 2b smoothly... gets the extra 2foot6 - looks very hampered - looked like he needed to get some relief there as he was very close to the fence. Copes well though with his 6 yarder. Swapping pioneers over. Won't be peeling anything, but this is a very strong lead.
Good approach to 3b, pioneer looks ok for 4b.

Partner to penult... maybe?

He has been watching Chris, and is putting out a deep ball to run 4b to. I like this - very safe.
(goodness - Ian Dumergue has just rejected off penult back to just about on the north boundary.

Aaron approaches 4b well, gets a lot of wire and runs it to south of black. Plenty of room to get a rover pioneer. I wonder if we'll see him have a go at the peel.

Red is now about a foot out from penult. He's definitely tempted.... nope - good captain's decision - keeping it under control.

Rushing to rover now - through rover now.

Rushes black to the middle of the east boundary. Taking off to blue...

Rushes blue into corner 2. He'll be taking red and yellow into corner 4. Really good turn this. Can't complain about the company from Tim either :)

Rolls red into corner 4 and yellow is about 3 feet north. Red for penult, yellow for peg, Blue and black determinedly remaining on hoop 6. Tim told me his plan for if he'd run hoop 6 earlier. Hmm.

Lifts black from the middle of east boundary and is shooting into corner 4. (Interesting to note that Malcolm Fletcher yesterday and today spent a lot of his practice 15 mins shooting into corner 2 - and nailed every shot into that corner in both matches yesterday and today.).

Tim hits red from the end of A baulk.

Rushes yellow to within a foot of corner 2 - a very good rush. Still has to content with hoop 6...

Penned in - waiting for Greg to shoot at Ken from corner 2 on his lawn, and has Ian Dumurgue shooting from hoop 5 towards the middle of the north boundary - misses, Greg hits.

Takes croquet from yellow, has to go up-wind, but a bit of down hill to get into the corner. Greg's hit-in was game-saving.

This is turn 35. Takes off well, Aaron reminds him to line in yellow, and a rush to a yard ish to the west of hoop 6. Ball just about in corner 2 is his 1b pioneer if he gets through this.
Take off runs on a bit but he has now run hoop 6 with black. Cuts blue to 4y north of 1b.

Croquets blue well south of 1b and is approaching the hoop sending yellow towards 2b.
The wind wins that battle, and 1b is unrunnable.

Looks at taking positoin at 1b, but leaving a bit of width for a pick-off if Aaron shoots at him.

Takes 1y position at 1b.

36. Aaron shoots yellow to corner 3. Red is still a few yards north of C4

goes about 2 feet south of corner 3.

37. Tim wanders on, mallet in the air... wants an old hoop hole repaired.

casting... runs 1b by about a foot. Worst possible result - I think I'd be shooting at yellow in corner 3 here. Don't believe he has a shot on blue, which is about 7 yards away. Sweeping... clean... but misses blue. Aaron how has a lift, yellow just out of corner 3, and blue and black between 1 and 2, blue level with penult, black level with rover.

38. Cuts yellow to 2.5y south of rover, taking off to black. Nice shot - puts yellow next to rover, rushes black into blue - has a 1 foot croquet stroke to get a rush to penult.

Greg pegs out - 7-1 to NZ at the moment, with two singles matches still in play, and two doubles matches unfinished.

Aaron's rush to penult was pointing a bit north, and he didn't cut it well. Lovely approach to penult now, has an 18 inch hoop, with blue near the peg. Wind gets up. Walks off - this is the most wind we've had all day. Toby takes on his hoop shot in the wind, but bounces off. Aaron stalking again...

Runs it well, by about 3 yards, has a 4-5 yarder at blue... middles it - nice stroke. Taking croquet 2.5 yards north of rover, partner next to rover. Sends blue deep, would still have a 4 yarder or so if he crashes through. Taking croquet 8in north of rover...

Makes sure of the hoop. Misses blue on the way through. Hits blue, now taking croquet a yard south of yellow, 18in rush to the peg, 3foot pegout. Great effort from Aaron ... 8-1 New Zealand.