Good morning from Cheltenham.

We've had some rain overnight. It was ominously cloudy as i walked to the Club, and 5 minutes ago the heavens opened. Let's hope it's a short sharp shower.

A few players here. The Mangler's just arrived. He'll have been unhappy about last night's Y doubles, as Polhill beat R.Smith in their 1-ball ending. Polhill is a blocker, being still in the Plate.

Wifi's a bit in and out at the minute.

Here is Chris Clarke's Final preview:

2014 Opens Final Preview
The two best players of the past 25 years will face each other once again in today’s final. They have played each other 108 times with Fulford holding a 58-50 lead. Since the start of 2008 they have played 13 times with Reg holding a narrow 7-6 lead. Perhaps surprisingly, they have only played two matches against each other since the start of 2009 – both wins for Bamford. If Bamford wins today, he will beat John Solomon’s record of 10 Open Championships, but if Fulford wins, he will join Solomon and Bamford on 10.
Yesterday’s 3-0 win over Death elevated Reg to world number 1. A 3-1 win or better today will make that position official whilst a 3-2 win will be close. I regularly criticise Regs’ tactical choices, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to comment on what I thought was a good tactical choice he made yesterday. Game up, having failed a sextuple in the first and with the hoops putting up more resistance, Reg chose to make a leave to take his 1-b ball to 4-b rather than going for another sextuple. I thought this was really sound tactics and put extra pressure on James who was struggling a bit.
I mentioned the substantial change in hoop difficulty above and this certainly had an effect on the Fulford/Chapman match which had several errors. Why has it taken until to semi-finals of this event to use some hoops that actually present a challenge?
Robert shot well, albeit not perfectly, yesterday. He will need to shoot at least as well today in addition to reducing his error count. He has the advantage of playing the final on the same lawn as his semi-final, which I always regard as significant and try to avoid if I’m managing an event.
Tactically, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rob go second and try and generate some sort of 11 yarder 4th turn, but he may just put out a hoop 5 ball first turn. I think that he will either go to 3-b popping to 1+3 or 4-b popping to 3+3 at the start of the match first break. If he hits the lift, I think we'll just see a ball to 3-b with 2 pops. If he feels that the hoops are easier than yesterday, I would expect to see sextuple tactics in later games. To win this match, Rob will need to win the majority of openings.
We need some improvement from the 20 – 35 year olds to avoid these 45ish year olds continuing to dominate.
I can’t decide between 3-0 and 3-1 to Reg, but I’m going for 3-1 on the basis that Rob is shooting well and playing on the same lawn as yesterday. I hope it is an interesting final.

The rain has eased significantly, somewhere between light rain and drizzle. It's meant to brighten up later.

Rob practising on lawn 11. No sign of Reg yet.

The consensus in the pub last nght was also Reg 3-1. My expert analyst reckoned that playing Reg you know what his tactics will be: for example he expected the play from 3 and 1-back which Chris commented on. Rob's tactics perhaps more tailored to the situation? I don't mean any criticism of Reg; one could argue that if you don't have to think too much on what to do, you can concentrate on doing it very well indeed.

Reg has showed up, but he's still in the hut near 4th corner. My laptop says it's ten o'clock.

Players still practising. There's probably an unofficial rule that you can practise till the Manager has printed off the Order of Play.

Reg is finding the lawn slower than he expects, judging from his practice routine.

In the Plate we have Tibble v Polhill on lawn 10.

Reg wins the toss and elects to start.

G1T1 Reg Black 9yN of IV
G1T2 Rob Red lags 2y E of II. It's on the yardline.
G1T3 Reg Blue at Red from B-baulk. Rushes it just S of II. Pass roll croquets Red 14yN of I and in a bit. Black about 7y short of Black, lags for a 4' rush pointing to II-ish.

G1T4 Rob Yellow at Red from A-baulk. Hits, rushing it into lawn. Take-off to Black. Rush to 1 finishes 2'N of hoop. Not directly North. Makes 1.

G1T4 Rob Yellow doesn't have the ideal rush after 1, but a good croquet stroke sets up the break.

Z draw:
Goacher v Trimmer
Berthouze v Rothman
Wilkinson v Brown
Taylor v Cumming

G1T4 Rob is making 4 off Red. Blue and Black both near 5.

Plate Process: Dawson v (Tibble or Polhill)

Last night Giraud beat Tibble in the Draw final.

And the Y Doubles final will be between Mulliner & Ormerod and Higgins & Polhill

G1T4 After 5 Rob sends Black as an early 2-back pioneer. No attempt at a POP yet.

Still slightly raining.

So a fairly conservative sort of turn from Rob..Good to get into the match, i guess.

After 1-back Rob rushes Red to 2yE of 2nd corner. Blue is going to 3-back so it's looking like 9 hoops. Reg rarely does TPOs

So, 9 hoops, no POPs.

Contact leave: Red 2yE of II, Blue in IV, Black 7y N of IV, Yellow in III.

Tibble is 1 and 4-back (in 2 turns) v Polhill 1 and 2. Polhill misses lift.

G1T5 Reg picks up Blue, knocks Yellow out of 3rd corner. Take-off to Red. Knocks it into II. Big roll coming up. Red to 9yN of I and in a bit. Blue near 4. Decides against taking on 7-yarder. Goes off 1y S of Black.

Reg's mother is just behind me taking a keen interest.

G1T6 Rob Red at Blue. Misses to the South.

The brollies are down so I guess the rain has stopped.

G1T7 Reg plays Black. Rushes Red to 1yS of 1. Makes hoop. Rushes Red to Blue. Yellow still just out of III.

G1T7 Reg Black rushes Blue to 2. Again an excellent rush.Makes hoop, rushes Blue to Red (near 4). Rushes Red to Yellow. Stops to think. Is he contemplating the TPO?

My expert analyst is voting for 6 hoops and a spread.

G1T7 Reg makes 3 off Yellow. .It Is a TPO. Black peels Yellow thru 4-back.

Ha ha analyst was wrong..

Reg's rare TPOs: he did 2 last year, against Dawson in the Opens, and Chapman in the worlds. His last OTP was Robert Fletcher in the 2009 Worlds.

G1T7 Reg Black peels Yellow thru penult after 6. Yellow ends up halfway between peg and rover,

Quite a few spectators along W bdry blocking my view. Assuming we get a 3-ball ending, and it's not raining, I think I shall go alfresco in a bit.

G1T7 Reg Black peels Yellow thru rover before 3-back.

G1T7 Reg only just makes 3-back. Calls on ref but just as a formality.

Am outside now.

Question from DaveTrimmer: 8 sxps in the quarter-finals. Is this a record?

G1T7 Reg Black POPs Red thru 1 before penult. Finishes 5y short of his penult pioneer. Misses it!

Rob now has lift to position. Stattoo tells me with pride that he himself was the first player to receive a lift to position (v Kibble)

G1T8 Rob seems to have forgotten his lift to position. And indeed his contact. Takes lift, hits 4-yarder at Black. Ends up taking off to 2 from 4 yards. (at least he remembered he'd been POPped)
He copes. Now has 4-ball break for the game.

Crowd still murmuring about Rob's oversight. Crowd numbering about 30 at present. Might as well move back inside now, don't want to waste battery on a 4-ball break.

Rob has reached hoop 5 in full control.

On lawn 10 Tibble has reached 2-back and peg. Polhill is 1 and 1-back with the innings.

Rob has just run 2-back.

Rob wins Game 1 +16

Back outside for opening of Game 2.

The sun is breaking through.

G2T1 Reg Blue 9yN of IV
G2T2 Rob Red 8'E of II. In the lawn a bit this time.
G2T3 Reg Black at Red. Takes time preparing. Spectator wanders across line so restalks. Misses.

G2T4 Rob Yellow hits Red to N of Black. Rushes Black to Blue. Actually into Blue, bit unlucky. Pretty good rush to 1. Makes hoop.

Tibble and Polhill are deep in conversation. Wrong ball by Tibble maybe? No it's a hoop question. Hoopsetters at 3-back.

G2T4 Rob Yellow has picked up break.

Hopgood takes issue with Clarke. "You talk about 45-year-olds, about 20-35 year-olds. What about 40-year-olds" "Are you 40, James?" "39" he says coyly. Apparently Samir is also 40 this year.

Tibble gets a replay at 3-back. Fails hoop.

Chris reminds me: "Reg's OTP v Fletcher in the 09 worlds was the spectacular tactical decision to tpo vs 3-b.".

The crowd expects 6 hoops and a leave. The crowd is wrong, Rob puts out a 1-back pioneer.

it's started to drizzle so I'm back inside.

Chris has belatedly provided me with his correct score odds before final

Bamford
3-0 5-2
3-1 9-4
3-2 9-2
2-3 5-1
1-3 13-2
0-3 9-1

Before the final, note, he's not currently taking bets. Though he might give you more generous odds on Reg winning 3-0!

Rob is making 2-back, having left Red 2'E of II.

G2T4 Rob is making just the 8 hoops this time, no POPs.

Contact leave: Red 2'E of II, Black in IV, Blue 7yN of IV, Yellow in III

G2T5 Reg Black repeats his play from last time: he lifts Black to Yellow, takes off to Red. Rolls Red 7yN of I, in a bit. Hits Blue (5y). He's checked that Red and yellow are open, and is attempting to lay rush wired (by 4) from Red. He's coming back to squint at Red /Yellow. Blue and Black are wired from Red (i happen to be right on the line.)

G2T6 Rob Red shooting at Yellow (35y). Misses into III.

Reg is visiting the pavilion.

Z; Rothman bt Berthouze 25tp; Brown bt Wilkinson 26.

Reg returns with a drink.

G2T7 Reg blue rushes Black to 1 well. Makes 1, cuts Black to 4. Takes off, rushes Yellow into III for a 3rd corner cannon. At least I think it was a cannon, but he just plays to get a rush on Red. Good rush to 2. Makes 2. Rushes Red to Black. Rushes Black 3yS of Yellow. Makes 3 off Yellow.

Tibble beats Polhill in the Plate.

G2T7 Reg Blue runs 3, rushes Yellow back nr III. Red is the pioneer at 4. Yellow stopped into the lawn. Makes 4 off Red. After 4 rushes Red 1y more or less in front of 1. Attempts POP going to Yellow which s ~6ySE of 3. POP fails, no rush on Yellow. Yellow is croqueted to 6, makes 5 off Black. Rushes Black nr I. Black croqueted near peg, Blue a bit short, manages to rushPOP Red thru 1. Looks like 6 hoops and a spread.

G2T7 Reg Blue croquets Red near peg, makes 6 off Yellow. Yellow is put very close to the peg, maybe an inch. It won't rush to 2, or indeed anywhere in that quarter of the lawn. Will rush to 1.
Red is 6ySSW of 2, Black has a rush on Blue toward 1, from 12y N of IV.

Clips: Rob: Red 2, Yellow 3-back; Reg Blue 1-back, Black 1.

Still cloudy out there, mild rather than warm.

G2T8 Rob lifts Red to A-baulk. Shooting at Yellow. Hits it, rushing it to between 3 and 6.

G2T8 Rob Red is rolling Yellow to 4 (for the quad). Hits Black. Stops Black toward 4. Rushes Blue to 3y in front of 2. Runs hoop off the lawn. Misses 4-yard return.

Z Cumming bt Taylor +11

G2T9 Reg Black rushes Yellow off S bdry, about 7 yards E of Red. Good take-off. Rushes Red to 1, makes hoop. Rushes Red off S bdry, 6yW of Yellow. Another good take-off. Rushes Yellow 10yS ii, doesn't seem impressed by that shot. Yellow to 3. Makes 2 off Blue. Now trying 1-back peel gong to Red which is near end of A-baulk. Peel goes about 4y through, Black within 2y of Red. Take-off to Yellow.

When I post a comment there's a worrying 5 seconds before it re-appears on the screen. Only occasionally does it vanish into the ether.

G2T9 After 3, Reg rushes Yellow behind 2. Yellow is croqueted 2ySE of 1. Black rushes Blue 3yNW 2-back. Take-off to get.good rush of Red to 4. After 4 rushes Red near 6. Take-off to Blue. 1y peel goes 2/3 of the way thru. Makes 5 off Yellow. After 5 rushes Yellow near 1st corner. Croquets Yellow to 1yS of 1-back. Rush-peels blue thru 2-back. Rolls Blue to 3-back going to Red at 6. Blue looks pretty good from here.

G2T9 After 6 Reg Black rushes Red off S bdry. Red is croqueted 5y SE of peg. 3-back peel is 2 or 3 feet, slightly angled. Blue bounces back, Black is OK for Yellow at 1-back. Reg runs 1-back but drifts into Yellow for hoop and roquet (ie no rush). Good roll puts Y 2yW of 4-back, Black close enough to Blue. Now attempting 3-back peel going to Red. Peel goes thru, finishes within 1' of 4-back. Black has 5-yard "rush" on Red. Red might have hit 5, anyway he's rolling up to 2-back from 8 yards. 4' hoop, hit hard, only goes 1 yard thru so no rush on Red.

G2T9 Reg has big roll from behind 2-back. Red between 4-back and penult, Black 4 or 5 yards from Blue. Hoping for Blue to hit the hoop, but snicks it so no peel before 3-back. It'll need a straight triple peel to finish. Rush to 3-back stops 1' NE of hoop, so no rush after hoop. Another big roll: Yellow 1' SW of penult, Black hits Red, Red goes deep (1y in from N bdry). Peel is from best part of a yard. Blue goes 3/4 way thru hoop, Good half-jump and Reg still might finish.

G2T9 Reg Black is looking to bombard Blue across with Red. Overcooks it, Blue is more than 2 yards West of penult. Black rushes Yellow West, croquets it back East. Rushes Blue, maybe 1y in front. Irish peel. Blue goes well through, but Black hits wire and bounces off to the side. Scatters Yellow nr IV.

Clips Reg: Black penult, Blue rover; Rob Red 3, Yellow 3-back.

G2T10 Rob remembers his contact. Red into contact with Yellow. Black is what 9y SSE of 3. Blue is croqueted to 4, Red has 3y rush on Blue. Underhits it, 4y take-off, makes hoop. A standard quad is ahead of him.

Just got back from the hedge and Ian Vincent is on the lawn by hoop 4. Rob has got a hampered shot and the carrots are protruding. Ian duly bashes hoop in, and then checks the setting. He consults the cribsheet which gives the largest-diametered ball for each lawn. Sensible players might attempt to acquire this cribsheet before choosing colours!

G2T10 Rob Red peels yellow thru 3-back after 4.

Another email from Chris;

"17 turns in 3hrs 30 mins
Will they finish before the world cup final starts?" [at 8pm BST]

My last train to get home tonight leaves at 8pm,

G2T10 Rob Red peels yellow thru 4-back before 1-back. His 2-back pioneer is at 4-back just in case that peel had gone wrong. Rob copes with 2-back.

G2T10 Rob Red gets forward rush out of 3-back which will help with the delayed double. Penult peel goes well. Just needs straight rover peel now.

Have ventured back outside.

G2 T10 Rob Red sends out nice deep ball (Black). Just a dolly rush to the hoop now. Best part of a yard and in front. Takes a while lining it up. Sometimes they just won't go right. Now he's ready. Nice shot, Yellow goes 1y through. Red decides to jump over Yellow, does so well. Able to promote Yellow from behind rover.

Rob wins +5qp and leads 2-0.

I think they'll be resuming shortly.

The Y Doubles final is on lawn 3.
Tibble v Dawson is on lawn 5.

Z; Trimmer beat Goacher +7tpo

Rob is back, we await Reg. He's coming now.

The sun is trying hard to shine. Rob's still got a sweater on, but not Reg.

G3T1 Reg Blue 9yN of IV.
G3T2 Rob Red 3yE of II, a bit in lawn.
G3T3 Reg Black at Red. Hits, rushing it 3yS of II. Thin take-off to Blue. Rolls to 12yN of IV. Leaves rush for Blue to Red.

G3T4 Rob Yellow at Red (13y) Misses.

Rob has done something slightly foolish. Yellow is in contact with Red, which is 1cm or 2 in lawn. Rob puts Yellow N of Red, which gives Reg the chance to promote Red well toward hoop 1.

G3T5 Reg Blue spots this possibility, and duly picks up break. Reg is now making 2 off Black, with Yellow at 3 and Red back at 1.

G3T5 Reg is taking off from Red by 1 to Yellow at 3. Blue smacks in to the peg. Misses his 12-yarder at Yellow.

G3T6 Rob Yellow hits Blue (8y).

No doubt some POPping of Black is on Rob's mind.

G3T6 Rob POPs Black thru 1 after 1. Black is only just through. Rob extracts it after 3. One more POP, 8 hoops and a contact leave? Or just 6 hoops and make Reg hit something?

G3T6 Rob will be conceding contact. Red is his 2-back pioneer. He POPs Black thru 2 after 1-back. 8 hoops or 9?

G3T6 After 2-back Rob Yellow rushes Red 3yS of II. Takes off to Black. Blue is at 3-back if he wants to make it. Rushes Black off 5yN of IV. Take-off to Blue. Rushes Blue off S bdry.

Clips: Reg: Blue 3, Black 3; Rob Red 1, Yellow 3-back.

Balls Red 3yS II Yellow in I. Blue 5yW of IV, Black 5yN of IV.

Tibble beat Dawson and is now playing Giraud in the Plate play-off.

G3T7 Reg picks up Black. Croquets Yellow 4yE of 3 going to Blue. Leaves rush nr IV..

G3T7 Rob Yellow into 1st corner.

sorry that was G3T8

G3T9 Reg Blue rushes Black 8'S of Red. Take-off for a rush. Poor rush to 6y NE of hoop. After hoop rushes Red 6y S of Black. Overhits take-off slightly. Good rush to 4. After 4 his rush sees Blue jump slightly, meaning Black goes 5y SW of 5 (rather than to Red i think.) Approaches 5, short, 4' hoop. Copes. Rushes Black off to 6y E of Yellow in 1st corner. Take-off to Yellow. He needs to make 6 as he's already conceding a lift. Take-off to Red is good. Undercuts rush, has to roll up from 4 yards. Puts Red deep. Runs 1-yard hoop to boundary. Has rush to 1-back if he wants it.

G3T9 After 6 Reg Blue rushes Red off W bdry. Takes off to Yellow. Croquets Yellow 3y NNW of 5. (Presumably short of intention.) Rushes Black off 5y N of IV. Leaves rush for Black to Yellow.

G3T10 Rob lifts Red to A-baulk. Trundling the ball around A-baulk deciding whence to shoot. Goes for shortest shot at Yellow (12y). Moves boundary board. Rethinks. Mioves Red to 1y E of 1st corner.
Shoots at Yellow (16y). Centre-ball. Rushes Yellow 3yS of 3.

G3T10 Thick take-off sends Yellow 4y NW of peg. Red 6y short. Rushes Black into IV. Stops Black out, Red goes a bit far. Rushes Blue to S bdry more or less in front of 1. 4' hoop. Runs it too far beyond Blue, so hits Yellow. Take -off back to Blue. Needs a good shot now to get rush on Black to 2. Christs it off. Black is 7y E of peg. Excellent approach from there to leave 4' hoop garners some applause. Fails hoop.

G3T11 Reg Black has 4-yarder at Red, though not all of Red as it's on the wire. Black hits the wire and misses Red.
Red can't see Black.
G3T12 Rob Red has 8-yarder at Yellow. Hits. Take-off to Blue. Rushes Blue a bit too close to Black. Croquets Blue most of the wat to 3. Rushes Black to 2.
Yellow is 6y NNW of 4. This could be the finishing turn.

G3T12 A big split shot from the W bdry puts Yellow to 4 going to get a rush on Blue to 3. Has all the balls now.

Reg is in the hut by 4th corner affecting to read. Susan Fulford is just outside the hut. The rest of us are along the West boundary, maybe a crowd of 40.

G3T12 After 4 Rob Red peels Yellow thru 3-back to about peg-high. Now going for 2y peel of 4-back before 6. It's through.

Z Cumming bt Brown +11.

Someone has asked when Reg last lost a match 0-3. I'm going to guess it was here in the year that Aiton was seeded 1, and Rob beat Reg in the semi when Reg didn't take croquet. On this very lawn, though maybe it was oriented differently then. (2008?)

G3T12 Rob Red attempts to peel Yellow thru penult before 1-back. Yellow bounces off to the side. The 2-back pioneer is 3y NW of 5. Not got position for peel attempt going to Blue so it's a take-off.

Z Trimmer beats Rothman.

G3T12 Rob Red is looking at a death-roll peel of penult before 3-back. He plays it well. Yellow is 1yN of peg, his 4-back pioneer (Blue) is 3y SE of penult. (in case peel hadn't gone thru)..
Rob makes 3-back, sends Black to penult. Yellow is croqueted to rover, rushes Blue to 4-back. Just the straight rover peel needed.

The trophies are gleaming on a table between lawns 6 and 7 (ie just behind me).

I've been outside for a while now. Hope my battery doesn't give up.

G3T12 Rob Red makes penult off Black. Now has both Black and blue just South of rover. Peeling from 1' in front. Yellow goes thru almost to the yardline, Red stays in the jaws.
So all he has to do is to rush to the peg from the S bdry.

Polhill & Higgins have won the Y Doubles final (v Mulliner & Ormerod).

G3T12 Rob Red rushes Yellow more than 4y beyond the peg.

G3T12 Yellow hits the centre of the peg.

Rob wins game 3 +18qp and the match 3-0.

On lawn 4 in the Plate play-off Tibble is 1 & 4-back, Giraud 6 & break (4 at the moment).

The Z final (Trimmer v Cumming) has just started on lawn 11.

I've just checked and 2008 Opens semi was indeed Reg's last 0-3 loss.

I can get an earlier train now!

Not sure when the presentation will be. Everyone's having tea at the moment. I shall join them.

Trimmer has played the wrong ball in the Z final.

Giraud has reached 1-back & 4-back. Tibble is still 1 & 4-back, but has just hit a long lift shot.

Mangler is deciding whether to wait for the Plate to finish before the presentation. Seems to have decided on 5pm unless Plate is about to finish. That's a little late for my train, so I shall love you and leave you. Thanks for following my commentary, if you have been able to.

Cheers, Andrew