CA North Of England Championship

Qfinal

It's raining and I 'm getting wet on the balcony. Lines had first opportunity but stuck in h3 with K and U reception. Y pioneer at h4 missed pivot R at peg to S of C2

K has rush to C2

I've now moved to the lawn 3 hut as rain is harder. Conditions are very easy here now.

3 ball break now tight

Looks like this is normal advanced, two balls tight at 1b, going to be a MSL/Nsl

Partner U going to 2b

Ran 1 b strong but not get past reception ball rushed to a diagonal spread position, taking off behind R which is now going to 3b on wide split not great but well executed

Y 2.5 yds off west boundary level with H6 R in good position behind h4 will rush to h1. U rushed to E boundary level with h5, moved to max distance flattish rush of 1yd pointing slightly to h1

Y taking the shot from A baulk at UK.

No looking at u's rush again.

Now taking shot down line to c4 and misses

U rushing to H1 bad rush to 6yds north right behind, taking off to c4 ball signal rubbish in the shed so going batch a now sunny balcony

Not get going.

Y 2yd ne of h2 r 5yd off e boundary level with peg

U has rush to h1 west of h1

Y shots at U misses to near c1

U has failed to get going. Doing another leave. Y now se of h2. UK joined at h1 with starting rush. Lines wants the triple.

Y shoots at U and misses

U will stop shot Y to h2 for a standard TP

Gets in front by about 5 ft. Sticks in hoop. Y has 14 yd shot, aims at K but hits outside of h1 sends it to directly behind rover on boundary.

Lines has lift on yellow! Hoop moved his ball in the hoop slightly lifted to rush Y to e boundary

sending to H2 going to tidy R up. Simple standard TP here. That was v bad luck for Maugham hitting the hoop. One to be aware of. I'd never think of the wiring lift in that situation!

So lines playing U has break under control for standard TP approaching h 3

Peeled after h3 rush back after h 4croqueted right to perfect spot behind h6

Take off to r at h5 slightly awkward as a result. Had to send wide. Rushed r in front. May not get forward rush here though. Doesnt

Everything fine after roll. R at 1b.

Y sent wide to side of h6. K rushed back in front of h6 but bad stroke not place well behind for peeling. Now rather angled peel.tries to jaws but not in hoop awkward rush peel angle

2b pioneer slack 2yds e

This lawn 3 is very interesting plenty of hills. Had lines still been a member here I figure that pioneer would have been bang on

Rush ne out of 1b not cut goes to n boundary. Needs to get right on top of K to rush peel but may not bother

Going for it

Not as bad an angle as it looked from here. Slammed it. Pops out a foot or so, take off to 2b pioneer

Nice weight to rush line but then under hits rush angled approach. V close hoop but 40 degrees

Got through but looks like hampered

Can see an edge. But now big croquet stroke. Chose to go to peelee rather than ignore and has run behind the hoop wiring himself. Unbelievable managed to run the hoop but not request K in process

Roquet K in process. That was.

R has lift. Double made out of u and K. Hits K.

Maugham playing R has all the balls in lawn and should be taking k off

Thinking hard about break commencement. Will be attempting h1 off partner. Long rush from 4b to h 1 is 3yds adrift

Nice croquet well in front. K is mid lawn towards h2 u is at h 3

Little work to do to get h2

Taking off to U

U pushed away from h3 to maximise chance of rush to h2

Rushed nicely. Setting up rush s to pick up Y

Runs h2 has rush. Now just has to get rush on U back to h3 from 6/7 yds sw. Right on top of it.

Pioneer for h4 now wanting though 6 yds w

sent u to h6 early rushed y to h5 will be running h4 with k. Should be able to get peel done after h5 as has good position now at h4

Rush to h5 with k has cannoned y pioneer. K not going to be peeled after h5

Sent k well west of h5 to enable tight 2b pioneer to be laid after h5. K to 1b. When is he going to peel K?

Standard 4ball break leading to ....

mSL coming up

I'm surprised at that line of play. Maybe thinking lines not the hottest shot. One shot this way versus many in a 3ball ending

K is behind w wire of h 2 and won't rush to u's hoop 3b

R running 3b u in acceptable position before hoop run so escaping immediately to e boundary at max distance horizontal rush laid slightly pointing to h1

Lines forced to lift K here?

No. He's choosing to lift U forcing a delayed TP if he misses down the line

Dodgy boundary this e one on lawn 3. But either Lines has already seen it pulls left or his bad shot hilled on....he's hit Y

Would rather have had one off personally, but easy to say now!

Lines trying to 3ball from these two balls to get 3b as k no use. Has wide 4b pioneer. Rush to 3b finished wheel wide. Had hoop attempt but stuck in hoop.

R has shot and hitsU in hoop

Leave coming up. U left at its hoop with a maniacs hoop attempt se of hoop 3/4yds. y into c2. K rushed out placing in c1area, r back to y. Rush line to h2/u at 3b

k shooting at U from 20yds. Missed

Natural line of play would be peelee at h2 here

Maugham trying a different line. r sent up to c4. Pushed k to corner to improve stop shot ratio out. Still k only reaches just past peg for h2 pioneer

In front of h1 with U

Work to do here

Runs too hard no rush to c4

r is couple of yards out of c4

NW that is

Taking off behind. Has gone off. Not terrible u or k has no double and min 18yd shot. Though u can win easy from a hit with both oppo balls at its hoop

U shot at RY and missed

Maugham has standard TP for game 1 with peelee at h3 and pioneer already at h4 as approaches h2 with backward take off

Scrambles barely through. Fortunately can hit K

K is n of h4 as escape should be ok. Tight peel

R peeled. Angled rush S on k good

H5 run

R behind h6 on a slight angle. Y close at hoop but angled. Shortish roquet makes peel more angled nearing 40/45 degrees

Clean through.

U sent to 2b. Terrible shot. Finished 6yds n of hoop

Run 1b. K good position at 3b for rover peel attempt before 3b.. R at hoop take off to u good. Back in full control again

Maugham expletive at placement of 4b pioneer barely went past peg

Peel is assured though a foot in front

All peels done. One good rush to 4 b will secure the game