Good morning from Nottingham. After constant light rain yesterday, we have a pleasant morning today around 17 degrees. The lawns are in good condition, cut to 4mm and the grass quality is better than usual thanks to regular mowing.
Playing conditions are about as easy as you could get, with the lawns running around 9.5 to 10 seconds and Hopewell hoops being used.
I started today watching the Rachel Rowe v Anne Quinn match in lawn 7 which I thought might be one of the more interesting games. Anne is an improving player and good hoop runner, whilst Rachel is trying to improve her AC game so she can become the first woman to win both AC and GC Worlds.
Anne had most of the innings for the first 40 minutes, but made little headway. Eventually, she ran a 3 yard hoop 2 and a5 foot hoop 3 before failing hoop 4 from a couple of yards. Rachel misapproached hoop 3 and failed a jump. This game is still scrappy and neither player has made it very far. Time limits are 3.25 hrs for the block stages.
The first game to finish was Jenny Clarke beating Kathleen Colclough on lawn 1 +26tp. From memory, there were zero tps in the 1st Women's worlds, so the fact that we've had 1 in the first game this year should give you an idea of how easy playing conditions are.

The Nottingham club have put a huge amount of effort into hosting this event. We have all the countries flags up on flagpoles sponsored by the top ranked player from each country - may thanks to them. I also know that two club members have made substantial donations and that there are about 8 companies who have sponsored the events. Publicity has also been excellent and I know David Brydon has been responsible for this area. The nibbles provided at last nights opening function were also impressive both in quantity and quality. In fact, if it weren't for the slightly sub-standard gents toilets, everything would have been perfectly prepared.
For those who haven't visited Nottingham, they have 8 croquet lawns laid out side by side. Lawn 1 is in front of the clubhouse and the 2-5 go further right. Lawns 6-8 are the old bowling greens and are on the other side of the entrance. Therefore, it can be quite difficult to watch more than 2 or 3 at a time due to distance.
The weather forecast for the next 3 days is poor, so the players had better make the most of today.

Rosemary Newsham played a very good early break against Silvia Dreyer. Alison Sharpe has just beaen Nina Mayard Husson +23tp. So that's both last time's finalists off to fast starts. I was particularly impressed that the Aussies have come over early and played in other competitions - they will form a strong group and I expect about half the KO to be Aussies.
Some people have criticised the existence of this event. From my perspective, it acts as a huge incentive for women to improve their game. You only have at look at the entry to CA events this season to see how many women are trying to achieve peak performance - and succeeding. I am often critical of the CA and their coaching for players, so I take this opportunity to highlight that their recent introduction of coaching PODs is working well and that there has also been women's coaching specifically targeted at this event, which was well attended. Well done to the CA for making this happen.

On lawn 1, Pat Long is playing Jane Morrison. We're almost 2 hrs into the game and Pat is on 4 and 5 against Jane on 2 and 2-b, so 7-8. There were some people who suggested not having time limits for this event and I thought that was absolutely bonkers!!

The other thing I wanted to mentions was the quantity of players who have come from distance - many thanks to all the Aussies, Kiwis, Springboks and Yanks for making that extra effort - it really makes the event a world event. The first event had 3 countries represented whereas today I think we have 12.

On lawn 3, Annabel McDiarmid is approaching penult on a potential finishing turn against Alwen Bowker. She makes penult and gets a rush to rover and needs to apprpach from a yard to the side. It's difficult to make errors in these conditions. Annabel wins +24

Just had a quick chat with Alison sharp who described the lawns as "perfect", but the hoops as "too easy". Ali is a nice tight break player and will be one of the leading contenders to medal again

The other game on lawn 3 is Sue Beattie on 3-b and 4-b v Mary Knapp on 2 and 4-b. They have an hour left.

I hope that's given a flavour of the play.