Good morning from Mt Maunganui. The sun is shining - it's going to be a very warm day, but presently there's a cool breeze, which hopefully won't get too exciting.

Today is crunch day for qualifying: we have a final round of block matches, including the conclusion of the mini-block with 3,4,5,6 in the blocks, and the single-game playoffs for people who are tied for qualifying spots on match wins. Once we have the qualifiers we go back to matches - net games - net hoops as the first criteria for ordering block finishers

On lawn 4 we have the kiwi legend, Bob Jackson, one of the best ever players in the game, and my first ever doubles partner as a New Zealand representative (Trans Tasman 2006, I think). Bob's opponent is kiwi-born Australian former captain Pete Landrebe. Pete's already through with 6 wins, but will be wanting to continue to hone his game.

Next door we have Mike Crashley (NZ) v Patsy Fitzgerald (Ire). Patsy had an awful time getting used to the Atkins hoops and is not a fan of their firmness. He has had some good later results, though not enough to force his way into the playoffs.

It Mike wins, and Bob loses, the two will play off in a single game for the fourth qualification spot in the block. Any other combination of outcomes sees Bob through automatically.

Bob Jackson v Pete Landrebe##

and a bit of Mike Crashley v Patsy Fitzgerald

Bob's playing red and yellow. The game started a bit late as Bob and Mary were held up by traffic following an earlier accident, but not too late.

We kicked off with an almighty battle for hoop 1, which was eventually won by Bob who ran the hoop with red all the way up to hoop 2. Bob leads 1-0

Pete had a couple of shots at hoop 2/red, but missed both and Bob ran hoop 2 with red also Bob leads 2-0

The next hoop was more competitive, but that red ball is as determined as Bob, and in excellent hoop-running position, Pete was unlucky enough to rush red through hoop 3! Bob leads 3-0

Hoop 4 was a lot more competitive, with Pete generally having more control there, and he eventually won his first hoop Bob leads 3-1

Now some live action...

At hoop 5 we have 4 balls tightly clustered around. Yellow is in hoop-running position, and red has just cleared black to the south boundary. That red ball is starting strongly!

Black has a choice of yellow or the hoop - bit of a gap between. Gets a bad outcome - black nicks off yellow up over the north boundary (and through the safety boards - the scorer is off in pursuit!)

Yellow clears blue, but ends up well south of hoop 4 - not a great result.

Blue takes angled position.

Red takes good position. Black has been recovered and plays down just short of being fantastic. It's blocking blue's angled go at hoop 5 from there, but i think blue will be wanting to clear red anyway.

Bob's lining something up... he has a 11 yarder with yellow - hits black. That was in the middle of a wide target of blue-black-hoop

Blue clears red with a good stun, but is only 8 yards from yellow

Red's back. Speaking of red, Bob's taking advantage of his legendary status in his beige shorts, red cap and purple jumper. I got a complaint (from a kiwi!!!) at the 2007 women's GC worlds for wearing black shorts with my white top as being non-uniform! Things are more sane nowadays.

red takes position, so does black, but it's kind of short .Yellow clears blue, which plays back up. The hoops look rather firm, and there were a few failed attempts at hoop 1 before we really got going.

(Meanwhile Crash is doing his bit on lawn 3 Mike Crashley leads Patsy Fitzgerald 6-3, and has run hoop 9 to about 7 yards from 10)

Bit more clearing in front of me - black is tight in front of 5, red has a 4 yarder, and yellow is north of hoop 1. Blue has played in short. The mowing looks to have been a nice job overnight.

Red clears black, but is now on the south boundary - Pete well in control of the hoop now, but Bob has a 7 yarder to tidy things a little

Smack! - yellow clears black. Blue now needs to take position blocking red, otherwise red will have a 10.6 yarder at the hoop - I think he has left it completely open! Blue is right in front of the hoop, but red is off-centre

red takes position an inch or two south-east of blue. Yellow's shot is going to have to be pretty precise from 8 yards!

I fancied him taking on the double.

Yellow cleared blue, however blue cleared red, which wandered back up, and black has run hoop 5 to level with the peg. Bob leads 3-2

Bob approaches 6 with yellow but is short and very angled. Blue takes perfect position. Red comes up to the right and is in a decent spot. Black will try to clear yellow now...

Great shot - yellow cleared to the north boundary completely wired from blue, and black is within 3 yards of hoop 7 - this is a significant turnaround.

Bob plays to the halfway point

6 people spectating at this match - not many spectators elsewhere.

Blue runs 6 3-3

Red takes deep position, black puts in a perfect block, but yellow has that in its sights...clears it centrally to the west boundary.

Up on court 6 Chris has won the first game against Carl Uhlman, but appears to be 2-0 down in the second. He needs to win the match 2-0 to guarantee coming first in his match.

Just a reminder that the Plate and the other consolation events are in the distance venues. Bob won't be playing in the outer places, prefering to watch from whichever stage he exits the main event. i'll be doing the same, as will many others here. The hour+ drives each morning are a bit off-putting, while there will be some great action on show here in the main event.

Meanwhile Pete continues to be a bit unlucky, and his clearance of yellow at 7 nearly peels it, and leaves it in front of the hoop - that's the value of putting in a really tight blocking ball!

Bob runs 7 with yellow. Gets about half-way down. He is preferring to take position than clearing. I can't see that approach getting him far through the KO, but he is a very cunning player.

Bob leads 4-3
Yellow took good position as the last ball down to the hoop - cleared by blue - both balls off boundaries.

Bob lines up a clearance with red (not in front) on black (in front) - restalks as the wind gets up - good clearance, but red travels a bit. Omar tells me the hard Egyptian balls are much more agreeable to stop-shot clearances from reasonably big distances.Black plays in front of red, yellow takes great position - blue misses a clearance - good chance for Bob to take control here!

Red clears black to the south boundary. It can see yellow - and nudges it away from the hoop. blue and black are now by the peg red and yellow are quite close to hoop 1

Yellow back to 14 inch straight position

blue hides behind yellow, but rather angled.

Not that hidden! Red nudges it gently further back Black needs to hit yellow from north of the peg.. .misses. Bob Jackson leads 5-3

(On lawn 3, Crashley won the first 7-3, and has taken a 1-0 lead and is in front of hoop 2)

Blue plays to excellent position at hoop 9. Red tries to get even tighter and ends up just on the north side of the hoop. Almost in the jaws!

Blue might need to jump this, and yellow is just playing up to position

(On lawn 6 Chris has got back to evens with Carl... 2-2)

Blinked and missed Pete's shot sorry...aah - Mary confirms Pete tried to jump hoop 9 bounces back. Red plays through the hoop to 3 yard position. Black clears yellow, and the stubborn thing comes back (not far enough though).

Black and yellow look a bit hard to run the hoop - would be trivial at Rotorua, but the hoops here seem to be made of sterner stuff. The chaps tell me Katikati hoops are very easy in the afternoon. I have a 1pm match there - rats.

Blue plays deep. Red has a go at a black, but clears the yellow which was adjacent to it. Nearly cleared it into the jaws!

Black plays solidly into the far wire, and is now an inch in front of hoop 9. Red is next to the hoop, so yellow puts in a block to prevent black clearing red. Fails to get the block and red's off to the middle of the east boundary. Bob can't see much here, and will likely be playing to the half-way point - a reasonably easy thing to do given that he's playing it from halfway up the boundary!

Red plays to halfway

(Patsy is now leading on lawn 3 2-1)

Black runs hoop 9, clips red on the way up to hoop 10, but still has reasonable 4 yard position. Bob leads 5-4

Yellow takes good position. Blue takes better position. Red might fancy a go at the 9 yarder on black, as otherwise he's in trouble.

Clears black to in front of hoop 11 - that's ok, as it has to come back. Red's on the north boundary. Blue might be blocking the shot at yellow here!

Misses

Yellow runs hoop 10 to take things to game point Bob leads 6-4

I'm sitting in a shelter here, but that wind is cold :-(

Pete takes perfect position at 11.

Bob has managed to run hoop 10 to about 6 inches in front of red, so rushes red towards hoop 11 - bit short, and angled, but at least he can clear blue. Might have a shot at an in-off

Black plays in - but is angled - looks challenging to get into the jaws. Yellow clears black, and goes a couple of yards to the side. Blue's back with another precision shot.

Red clears blue from near the north boundary. Another reasonable central clearance

Blue's back, but deep, yellow and black are on either side of the hoop

Hoop 10 is proving quite competitive, So is hoop 4 on lawn 3 - some good clearances in both places. Good chance to catch up some emails...

Welcome to double-figures of readers. It has been a fun week so far. I still maintain golf croquet is wretched when you can't hit a ball straight though.

Back on lawn 4 in our feature match, we have Pete trying to clear yellow with black, but he has hit blue.. yellow for the game.. Bob Jackson wins game 1 7-4

And they're off again. Pete takes good position with blue first ball, and runs hoop 1 with his first opportunity. Pete leads 1-0

He has run it pretty well up towards hoop 2, and now we have black in front of the hoop, blue has just been cleared and pulls up short (probably deliberately) on its return.

I've had an enquiry if Chris is offering odds on the critical Khaled Tharwat v Hisham Abdelgawad final-round match. Hisham is out, Khaled needs to win. I've talked to Khaled a lot, and don't believe anything dodgy is going to happen. He's also clearly playing better than Hisham as he's the one in contention.

Equally open for fiddling is my final-round match. .. I'm definitely second in my block, Hemi needs to win to qualify. I'm quite keen to win, and after the masses of emails I got with accusations after leaving the GC Nationals early to attend to a work emergency earlier this year, I'm sure there'll be more gossip if I don't win. Some folks need to get on with their own lives!!

On the bright side, the University of Canterbury Bachelor of Sports Coaching, the only dedicated Sport Coaching degree in NZ, has had nearly a third more applications this year, and is likely to have an intake double 2014 (as the chaps who have applied are actually coming rather than choosing between several options). We're looking at introducing a "certificate in sport coaching", also available for distance/correspondence learners, which would be lovely to have some croquet coaches enrolling in. I've had enormous fun introducing more athlete-centred approaches to my croquet coaching this year, with the players involved picking up lots of new tactics and really seeming to get an understanding for the game.

Meanwhile Pete's got a 2-0 lead against Bob. He failed his first long, angled go at hoop 2. The hoops seem pretty reasonable from a distance. Pete's also got the initiative at hoop 3.

(on lawn 3, Patsy leads 4-3, but Mike's well in control of hoop 8)

Checking around a few new results...American Stephen Morgan has beaten Aussie Ross Marshall to take the final qualification spot in block G.
The final ordering isn't totally defined, but Phillip Drew (NZ) has won all his matches to win the block well.

Right - Pete's 3-0 up. Yellow blocked a clearance on red and Pete's attempt to block the shot at the hoop came up short - red to get on the board... Pete leads 3-1

(4-4 on Crash's lawn)

Pete takes position with black, yellow clears it, but yellow ends up further away, blue comes in, red hits it, but it's still runnable. Black plays in. Yellow shooting...

misses.

Blue clears red, black has much better position. Red misses from the west boundary

If this goes to a decider I'm going to need my jumper.

Pete fails a firm shot into the front of the jaws. Pretty good result for him really

Bob takes position - goes a little far, but it's ok. Red will have a full-ball shot on black from the east boundary

Looks like Bob hit the side of the hoop. Black runs 5 .. Pete leads 4-1

Black has gone up to north of the line of hoop 6 and west. Yellow plays to wired? position on the other side. Must have been open to black, as after blue takes position, red has cleared it with a nice central shot.

Black's going to clear red.

Distracted by Chris's fantasy competition. blue misses - Red has a go at the hoop - just through. Bob still in this ... Pete leads 4-2

(Crash having a longish go at hoop 9 - still 4-4 there)

Black takes long angled position at 7

yellow plays east of the hoop

Nice hoop stroke from pete Pete leads 5-2

Yellow plays down to decent position at hoop 8

Blue nudges it closer, slightly hampered backswing, but nothing that would bother Bob

Red plays in - ends up drifting a bit west, so not protecting anything

Black plays down to a foot dead in front of the hoop. Yellow's having none of it, and clears blue with a sharp stun shot.

Not sure im' supposed to be clapping good shots by Pete in this kiwi shelter!

Blue plays back down

red decides to clear black, but now both of the balls are gone - red 4 yards SSW, and black on the boundary about south of hoop 5

Black plays back in, but hasn't blocked yellow. straight 3 yarder to close the gap again....

Nope - clears blue, but doesn't claim the hoop as yellow finishes 2 yards directly south of hoop 8

Blue plays back deep, but straight - about where i thought Bob would run the hoop from

red plays south - black can only really get into the jaws easily. Black bounces out.

Yellow is clearing black .This isn't like what i've een watching the last few days! - he has left pete a 3 yarder - turns out there are some Aussies right of our shelter "Yay, Pete" Pete leads 6-2

Bob takes 5 foot position - "aww, nice shot"

Black clears it to quiet applause

yellow to decent position

blue plays in - black's on the short boundary

Red plays in in front of blue. Black clears yellow to hoop 1

yellow's coming back -it's short and too angly to get into the hoop from there

blue clears red and is now straight in front of the hoop.

Bad news for the Under 21 World Champion Joshua Freeth, who has been beaten in straight games by Egyptian Hisham Yassin to go out of the tournament.

Not sure if red bounced off the hoop or nudged black a bit, but black has now cleared yellow which nudges blue to twice the distance. 2 yarder for the game..

Pete run hoop 9, wins 7-2, and we'll have a decider

Spectator explaining to Bob that Pete was hitting lots of long shots. He was indeed.

Block C is interesting - we still get a potential "play-off" - Anne Quinn is on 4 wins, but has a match in hand AND needs to play the third against Hisham.

Gosh - that was a short break - Bob has taken good position with yellow. Pete misses.

Red covers yellow. Pete misses

Bob bounces out of hoop1. I fancied the spectator's option of putting yellow into the jaws, as it was too angled to get up to hoop 2. Instead he went hard and has bounced off in front of red (which isn't runnable). Probably too close and angled to be rushed back in front too, but if it can be done, Bob will do it.

I shoudl clarify block C... Anne (4) plays Hamish this morning. Hisham has just beaten Josh to get to 4. Anne v Hisham is 1-1. In that block we have Reg, Mohamed Karem and Hamish through. Anne winning 2-0 against Hamish (maybe 2-1), and winning the decider against Hisham could put her third in the block. Reg and Karem have easier opponents, and Reg should win the block.

oo - Crash is at match-point against Patsy. Crashley leads 6-4

Patsy is in front of hoop 11 though, and takes improved position, wired from blue.

Pete and Bob are still fighting over hoop 1

I wonder if, now that play in the main event has concluded at Whakatane, the lovely Whakatane people might share their big, readable, printed-on-paper numbers with Mt Maunganui club - the numbers here are really hard to see more than a lawn away.

Mostafa Eissa has beaten Dallas Cooke,and i think takes second spot in block C - I believe it's matches - net games - net points. Will has won more games in total, but has had heaps of 7-6 or 6-7 results.

Getting distracted wtih incoming results and some setup for Chris's fantasy update for tonight. Pete has won hoop 1, but Bob is in front of hoop 2 now. blue takes decent position, but red can easily clear it.

Black shoots, and seems to have nudged both red and blue - yellow has a clear shot at the hoop, and it's 1-1

I'm off in 45 mins, so we're not going to get teh finish of this match probably!

Excitement on lawn 3 - Patsy has drawn level, and mike's first approach to hoop 13 is very deep, but straight

Lovely 4th ball into hoop 3 by Bob blocks black. Blue is having a longish go at the hoop from the first ball up there... runs it well down to 3 yards in front of hoop 4 Pete leads 2-1

Blue takes excellent position in front of 4 - red clears. Red now on south boundary. Black takes position wired from red. Yellow has some sort of double... hits black in the middle

Applaud and shake-hands time - Mike Crashley is now on 5 match wins, and is putting pressure on Bob for a playoff

Hoop 4 is a bit competitive with clearances, and Bob clears blue - red's in front, yellow is now 6 yards west of hoop 5

Black plays to 3 inches in front of 4

bit more moving, black now an inch in front of 4, red 14 inches directly south, and yellow has cleared blue. Great shooting here!

Blue comes in too far, red clears black - but only by 3 yards, Black's back in front, and blue has a 3 yarder on red pointing at corner 2

Yellow shooting - goes through the gap between hoop and black.

Much applause and "ooo"s as red clears black, staying next to the hoop

Black takes wired position

well, not wired - on the other side of the hoop from red - neither remotely runnable

Bob clears blue - nearly putting it through.

Pete has a long go at what was probably a target - bounces off the wide of the hoop .Yellow has a 6 footer and blue is off-side

Red's south of the hoop, but will be looking to clear black. Blue misses - great chance for Bob!

red clears black... ends up 4 yards west of hoop 4 - he'll be disappointed he didn't get closer to hoop 5

Yellow's only 40% the way through the hoop, and black is in corner 1- this looks incredibly difficult. - only a sliver showing

Blue takes very good position - red is clearing.... rush-peels blue - disaster! Pete leads 3-2

Pete takes longish position at 6, yellow plays up to level with hoop 6. Pete calling for a referee to play a sweep from hoop 5 as blue wasn't through by far. No markers in use today!

Pete takes on his hoop - bounces out. Yellow plays to protect a very good red.. Pete plays a wee hop and clears red to applause from the distance Aussie supporters

Time to go soon, and my computer is getting too hot - it's th only thing in the sun. Time to find shade, methinks.

Turn back to see Pete smoothly run hoop 6 from about 5 yards off the north boundary. Pete leads 4-2

Yellow to angled position, blue to decent 2.5 yard position, red's short, black's perfect - Pete's position taking has been excellent here

Cold in the windy shade. but the laptop is happier

Bob runs a rather angled hoop 7 by 2 yards. Pete leads 4-3

blue plays down, red gets in front of it. Black was blocked by hoop 7, so plays in just south of the peg, lovely yellow

Pete trying the jump with blue - only nudges red away and blue's on the south boundary

Pete has to have a go at the hoop from distance - bounces off the wire. Yellow's through! 4-4

Never count out Bob Jackson.

Chris must be done, as Stephen is striding quickly across lawn 6. Too far away to read the teeny numbers though.

Pete put in a couple of very good balls at 9, and has now taken a 5-4 lead

Black's in front of hoop 10, blue plays to block a 4 yarder red has at black... yellow is off to the side. Bob's not liking the wind for this crucial shot

Nice to see Salah Hassan come by to say hello - I haven't really spoken to him this time around, Really really nice man. Beat me 10-8 in block play in 2006 - very enjoyable game - I remember clearing when I could see a half-ball at hoop 7 from 20 yards and being quite pleased.

Bob gets his clearance, and has just nailed the middle of black from 7 yards. He'll have a possible shot at hoop 10 with yellow, but it's long and a bit angled - he might choose to keep clearing - yes.. blue's on it's away away

In block C, Hamish McIntosh has beaten Anne Quinn, so he's third, and Anne has that final game to play against Hisham which is now effective a playoff for 4th spot

It's still 5-4 to Pete, and Rachel's leaving for Katikati in 10 minutes - Doesn't look good for a conclusion here. Like watching a movie where the DVD jams with 10 minutes to go when the killer is about to be revealed!

Disaster - Bob shoots at black, but instead clears his yellow ball. The crowd are confused. I suspect Bob is just a bit annoyed. Pete runs a 5 foot hoop Pete Landrebe leads 6-4

Bob's in front of hoop 11. Blue sounds like it had a go at the hoop - distracted by an email , so not sure if tiwas a jump. Red clears blue, Black moves yellow back a couple of yards shooting gently from the boundary, and yellow plays back in.

Blue is on the middle of the east boundary... nails another very gentle-paced shot - clears yellow 3 yards. Red clearing blue - both balls go miles - Pete is now in charge of this hoop.

Black plays in long, Yellow takes good, tight position (not blocking)

Blue plays in

Oh dear - Pete has blocked his clearance of yellow - he'll need to take on a long hoop - about 4-5 yards i think.

Bob plays red in - can he block that too - no - he's short. Pete for the hoop and match

bounces off

Bob fails a relatively straight-forward hoop. He's in front of the jaws, but Pete has a reasonably easy straight jump for the match with blue...

Pete wins game 3, and the match, 4-7 7-2 7-4

Rachel leaving for Katikati in two minutes - time to go!!

Bob has a playoff with Mike for spot 4