11th WCF Golf Croquet World Championship

Welcome back - and we're about to start the quarter finals at the Mount croquet club.

Can't quite believe all four quarter finals are being played at once.

Well, i can actually, but that's because i'd been told a rumour that they were to be best-of-five. They're not. They're best of three. And all at once. Crazy.

On lawn 2 we have Chris Clarke (NZ) v Shoukry Aziz (Egypt). Lawn 1 is the all Egyptian clash of Hamy Erian, current world #1 v Salah Hassan, the current Over 50's world champion.

I'm in a shelter to keep my computer cool, so I'm sorry for fans of Reg, Ahmed Nasr, Stephen and Mahdi. If Chris wins 2-0, i'll turn around!

And they're off... Chris won the toss and plays in first with blue - there's a brownish patch south of hoop 1, and he skates by halfway to the boundary.

Shoukry plays red well south. Black takes good position, but red's open on the hoop and, more importantly, has a relatively safe clearance.

Still warming up on lawn 1 - i'll follow a bit of that.

yellow nudges black as it plays in tight. Black still in front, and I expect Chris will clear yellow. no - plays for the block - decent shot - he has blocked red on the hoop i think

Very very hard to tell which direction Shoukry is shooting here - bits pointing in various places.

Clears black, but it hits yellow and clears that too - all quite gentle so we're near the hoop still. Red has gone north, wired from blue

Black plays back - yellow clears it well. Black to middle of south boundary, yellow a few yards north of it.

Blue at the hoop - bounces out of a 4 yarer. Ntohing near hoop 1 now, and blue is west, so in good clearing position

Red plays to 6 inches north of the boundary - good choice that. These hoops sound nice and firm here. Not sure if they moved them, or just did a really good job of setting them today

Black plays in well - not blocking, but pretty straight, 1.5 yards back.

Shoukry plays yellow in - blue clears it.

Difficult choice - clear or go for the hoop from nearly 7 yards. These hoops make the game a lot more tactical, and require a high level of skill to get through long hoops.

Hoop being banged down... casting...

Red hits the righthand wire. Chris has a relatively easy hoop 1..

Black runs hoop 1 from 2 yards to about halfway up the lawn. i'm in a shelter with kiwi supporters who are very pleased. As am I. Chris leads 1-0

Shoukry plays a lovely approach to hoop 2 from the east boundary. Evan commented earlier that Shoukry has found a new gear to his game in recent times.

Blue plays up to good position. Black will have a target possibly, or just a hack at yellow

Red comes up short of blocking...

Black hits yellow - nearly rush-peels it - aargh! - bounces off the hoop, and Shoukry has a 4 yard clearance.

Doesn't hit blue well, but it's cleared, and yellow is well on the way to hoop 3.

Blue plays in - but goes too far and is adjacent to hoop 2 or maybe just horribly angled. Red with a 5 yard go at 2...bounces off the outside of the right-hand wire. Yellow will have to come back over now. I think Blue might be runnable too actually...

Black takes position, yellow clears blue. Blue back into position - looks like it's in teh same spot - it does look pretty runnable actually - south-west of the hoop

Red shoots at gentle pace from the north boundary .. missed

Chris runs hoop 2 by 6 inches while I'm typing - lots of applause. Crowd appreciate the gentle stroke. I think the hard stuff intimidates some.

Lovely approach from yellow to hoop 3 Chris leads 2-0

Blue clears yellow - hits it in the middle

Both balls how on the east boundary

Red approaching three from the middle of the west boundary - decent position - longish and west - safe-ish place to be with blue in corner 3

black plays in deep and straight

Yellow plays in - black hits the middle of this

Good start for Chris - bit of work to do yet though.

Red turns around and clears black - only seemed to add about 3 feet to the shot though, and still pretty straight

black makes a good approach - might be blocking red.

Yellow not clearing from 7 yards! - takes position - doesn't hide behind black, and blue will clear this

Nearly blocks red with the clearance - good early pressure here.

To set the scene - it's warm, there's a bit of a breeze blowing west-to-east across the lawns - which is the direction of the general slope also, but nothing troubling - just nice and cooling.

Bit of cloud, but again just keeping conditions pleasant.

Red clears black well.

Looks lke Chris overhit black playing back in, and yellow has an easy clearance to stay in hoop-running position.

Chris runs hoop 3 from the north boundary!! Chris leads 3-0

Next door Hamy leads 4-0

Red takes good position at 4, black plays in closer to the hoop, but a bit angled. Yellow plays down to good position - but is it blocking red at the hoop and at black??? Chris is off for a look. Can't really tell for sure from here

Here? - south boundary of lawn 2 - great spot - view of the impressive two-leveled clubhouse.

Great to see Amir Ramses back and smiling here - he is a true gentleman and despite the huge bruise he's looking great.

Rats - looked away .. Chris checks things out - has a shot... runs hoop 4!!!

spectator "He's even better than last night" - last night he said he played his best match ever to best Mohamed Nasr.

Chris leads 4-0

Well fans - you might get quite a bit of Reg and/or Stephen's matches after all!

Red plays in to 5 - well short - unrunnable. Black plays in. Yellow is inside this.

Blue misses the clearance from the south boundary - first shot Chris has missed today

Good clearance from red. Black is near corner 1, yellow and red both easily runnable.

Really nice of Shoukry to come over and say hello before the game started today - the Egyptians have been really nice to me :-)

Black plays back in very gently - hits the middle of yellow, but can be cleared by yellow holding position - perhaps hit it a bit too gently.

No - yellow takes position in front of the hoop

Chris plays blue back into the frame gently - just misses yellow and takes longish position

Red clears black - but failed to get it to the massive wired area that was available.

Fully concentrating on this commentary lark today, so questions/comments/feedback to [email protected] and I'll try to help.

Black shoots at medium pace from high on the west boundary - misses by some way

Shoukry runs hoop 5 to in front of hoop 6. 4-1 to chris

Chris shoots with blue... bounces off the left-hand wire - good effort that. (yes, i am completely biased, though Shoukry is a lovely chap)

Red takes position. Black takes on the target - bounces off the left wire of hoop 6 to off-side position. Yellow is through Chris leads 4-2

Chris takes decent position at 2 with blue. Shoukry looks like he's lining up a clearance shot...

Clears blue to the north boundary directly north of hoop 7.

Black playing in from the eastern penalty spot... gets ok position north-west of 7.

Quick update around the lawns (yes, it's a spoiler, but i don't think there's anywhere else to get into if you're not here... Hami leads Salah 5-2, Stephen is 1-1, Reg is 2-1 up.

missed that - so did the lady I was learning past to check other scores (sorry!)... Looks like yelow took position, blue cleared, ending up south of the hoop, red overcooked getting position, and black bounced off a gentle dribble at the hoop.

Yellow plays back in deep, blue clears red getting to the north boundary in front of hoop 7

red has a target from about 40 degrees at black and the hoop... looked like it might have run the hoop - the hoop is definitely soggy now, and Chris getting it banged down

Noone claiming the hoop - lady near me exclaims charmingly 'goody-goody' - must have hit the near wire. Red now on the south boundary. Black going for the jaws i think - it's about 42 degrees

Runs the hoop wtih black to 3 yards north of hoop 8 Chris leads 5-1

red and black are open... but red is offside! - moved to penalty spot.

yellow plays down to north-east of black - that's a dangerous position to be in, offering a 4 foot clearance to maximum distance.

Blue plays in to 4 inch position - beautiful shot.

Technically, red has a chance for an in-off from the east penalty spot - plays in gently and it drifts harmlessly past.

Plenty of wiring positions to clear yellow to... Black hits yellow in the middle, it ricochets off the peg to the eastern penalty spot.

Shoukry needs this in-off to stay in the game now

Misses by about 3 balls on the right Chris leads 6-1

Hamy Erian has just beaten Salah 7-2 in the first

Red takes slightly angled position about 5 feet back of 9. Black plays to 5 yards south of the hoop. Yellow takes position

Blue plays in - almost got to hide behind yellow, but it drifts past

Chris imploring it to stop, but to no avail

Shoukry going for the angled hoop- blue is stopping black from hitting yellow (well, he could go for teh promotoin clearance)

Red plays into the jaws. Chris plays teh promotion and blue is now north of the hoop

_Jared Keeman has just returned after beating American Sherif Abdelwahab 7-1 7-6 in the shield. Just 4 competitors in this now we think - lots of amazing matches on, so about half the field is choosing to watch

Red runs hoop 9 6-3

Black takes position, yellow takes better position - hilled in front of the hoop at the last minute. Blue plays in

Red shooting from just over halfway - clears well - Chris has maybe got a quarter ball to shoot at - should be 6-4 after this. Good come-back from Shoukry -time to cut that out

Shoukry offers to get a ref with the proximity of blue to yellow - tells him to play it. Chris leads 6-4

Takes position close and a bit angled - appears to have blocked red - great shot. Red plays in

Takes good position

Reg leads Mahdi 4-1 - Mahdi has a 10 yarder - misses - should be 5-1 now**

Khaled Tharwat asked me yesterday if i have 7 eyes to watch all these games - well, yes, kind of - I have some good friends -Jared is a great reporter

Black takes excellent position blocking red. Red shoots at blue - misses. Blue clears red - black is between red and the hoop. misses to his right again

Chris wins game 1 7-4

The ref (Muray McNae) has crept onto the lawn to check the hoops as play starts straight away.

Yellow is short, and unrunnable

Stephen Mulliner leads Ahmed Nasr 4-3

Blue is short

Reg Bamford leads El Mahdi 4-2 - guess that 5-1 was a bit of an early predition!

red plays in, bit of interaction when I was distracted - black gets first go at the hoop, but fails a 4.5 yard 20 degree hoop

yellow clears blue, red can get into the jaws - might be runnable - blue takes position - red plays into the jaws. Black can see something... lovely shot - clears red to the south boundary from just about level with the hoop. Lovely stuff

Got about as much of that as he could.

Yellow clearing blue.

red is directly south of the hoop on the boundary

yellow takes position, blue clears it - red goes a bit far taking position

black's back in front (remember Chris is blue and black)

Yellow plays back from corner 2 - dribbles through the jaws!

Blue clears yellow. Red plays in front of black

Not exactly in front! - Chris runs hoop 1 up to the north boundary Chris leads 1-0

Yellow takes good position, open on black

blue plays up, so does red.

Black shooting.. clears yellow - not central - moves it about 15 yards, black is on the east boundary

yellow shooting... needs this to avoid going 2-0 down

Misses to the left - big twist as he makes contact with the ball

Blue stops red away to the middle of the north boundary

Red misses the clearance - I think yellow can't see blue!!

Black shoots off the north boundary on the onside side

Yellow dribbles up - doesn't get any sort of friendly hill.

Chris runs hoop 2 by an inch. Got lots of wire and looks like it's blocking yellow from going anywhere

Chris leads 2-0

Shoukry is short approaching 3. Black takes deep position, Yellow takes very deep position

Blue plays in deep

red clears black which comes back in.

Yellow takes on the hoop - bounces out!

Blue runs a long, slightly angled hoop down off the south boundary Chris leads 3-0

Much easier to follow REg's matches - chris is far too fast for me!

red plays down. black gets inside this - both straight. yellow plays down - has it blocked red at black?? - yes!. But it can see the hoop

Blue plays up well short. Red takes on the hoop - runs it well. Chris leads 3-1

Black takes position

it's a bit angled, and yellow plays to north of that.

Blue tries to promote black - misses

Stephen is 6-5 ahead - ran 11 down to 12, not runnable though

Red doesn't think black can run the hoop, and plays in. Black dribbles into the jaws.

Red might be able to jump - I haven't seen Shoukry jump before. Yellow clears black to the east boundary

Blue shooting - nudges red to about level with 5 - not a dreadful result

Good shot by Shoukry clears Chris, but red is off the west boundary

Black plays in .

Hamy leads 2-1 in game 2

yellow clears black, but both go a fair distance away.

Chris plays blue back in, black has a 7 yarder on yellow, yellow ha a 6 yarder on blue.

red playing back in from the west boundary -nice shot

Chris shooting at yellow...

Nails it - the peg or black must be blocking this clearance

Lining up something - he seems to be pointing at me!! - goodness - misses right - about 5 yards right of where I thought he was pointing. Josh reports he had a foot either side of black and the peg.

Chris runs hoop 5 off the north boundary! Chris leads 4-1

It's great how the players have to waive to the scorers - looks like Chris is raising his hands in acknowledgement of the crowd when he scores :)

Red plays up - tries to get tight, but overdoes it, and red's east of the hoop - might be runnable though - should be visible to blue.

Black plays up and goes a bit left, but runnable - yellow plays in well

Blue shooting...

Has a powerful hack at that - misses - bounces off hoop 4

Red clearing black - surprising.

Clears black towards corner 1

Chris lining up what must be a bit of a target - gentle stroke - it's in front of the hoop, but not blocking anything

Keeps it near hoop 7 as well for the next hoop

Yellow runs hoop 6 4-2

Blue goes off the north boundary in line with hoop 7.

Red plays in - blue's open on the hoop though

Black plays in - goes a bit far

yellow shooting at black - wristy shot misses - possibly to the right again

blue clears red - flies across the face of the hoop

Red clears black - great shot

Chris takes position - perfect - blocking red and right into the hoop. Yellow's on the west boundary - has to shoot

no - plays in - and has blocked himself!!

Also looks like yellow is the likely landing point of a bouncy jump from the boundary.

Blue plays in onto that line also - from the east boundary

Calls the referee

playing a jump stroke. maybe he just wanted the hoop knocked down - the ref stood to the side of the hoo p- can't see anything there!

Not a great jump stroke, - misses towards corner 4. IT was very very difficult.

Chris runs hoop 7 5-2

Only through by 4 yards

Yellow takes great position, blue plays in. red looks like it has blocked black...

No - black clears yellow - he's playing wonderfully :-)

Yellow on south boundary... shooting....

Hits blue in the middle.

One of our top officials predicted the three kiwis most likely to win the event. All three went out in the first round. How could Chris not be at the top of that list??!

blue on the north boundary - has a target.. probably with a bit of a gap - just in the gap next to the hoop

red with a 5 foot hoop...

Stephen won game 1 7-5

stephen and ahmed nasr 1-1 in the second

Red bounces out!!! it's unrunnable, but a few yards from the hoop

black plays up - hills around a bit to be in decent position

Yellow is about 10 yards straight - he's looking at the hoop... takes position

blue has a 10 yarder on red...

if he hits this well yellow will protect black

doesn't hit all of it, but it's peg high and east of the line of 1 and 2

red clears black - good shot - both balls onto the boundaries.

Just a reminder - this is best of THREE for quarters

black clears yellow, but not far. Yellow back in front

blue shooting from middle of west boundary - hits yellow half-ball - nearly has the in-off!!

Red approaching the hoop from the south boundary - goes a bit deep, but it's probably wired from blue, which is #1 priority

black plays in - not blocking, but runnable

yellow plays in.. drifts past. Chris can see all of red with a gap on either side. Thanks Josh - great spotter

Hits! - clears red to the middle of the west boundary.

Shoukry's feet looked like he was lining up the hoop, but i think he was wanting to hit black - goes through the middle.

Chris leads 6-2 - 4 match points!!!

Yellow tries to go tight to hoop 9 - he's short!

blue plays down - east and about 5 yards south - good position with yellow there

red plays along the boundary and hills off almost directly south of hoop 9

Black takes position a bit west - clearable by yellow, but I think he's just trying to distract Shoukry

Shoukry plays yellow at the hoop - bounces back a bit - good position

Jumping...second prize - clears yellow. Not a great shot. Shoukry taking the hoop on? yes.. from the boundary ... missing this should be the match...

Runs it very cleanly off the north boundary!!

Chris leads 6-3

In case you're wondering, yes, I'm still nervous - the match is never over till someone has 7 points (in sensible-length versions of this game!)

Black takes deepish position. yellow plays up but is very angled.

Chris comes up for a look, as there is a LOT of "bravo-ing" from the Egyptians behind me -we'll hopefully be there soon!

Blue takes good position - not quite blocking

Red clears black - good shot

Salah is up 6-4 in game 2

Black shooting - hits 1/3rd ball - completely wires yellow from blue??

Josh checks "couldn't get any more perfect"

dribbles at the jaws - gets 70% through.

Chris has a 1 yard jump for a medal!!

Yusss. Chris wins 7-3, and is into the semi finals... 7-4 7-3

Chris is all smiles - "I played almost as well as yesterday"

Ok, I've managed to squeeze in next to Lachy who's sitting with George - we've got Stephen v Ahmed Nasr in another quarter final. It's game -all in Salah v Hamy, and I can now see Stephen v Ahmed and Reg v Mahdi. Will start a new commentary thread for that now.