Welcome to United croquet club for the 4th (5th?) under 21 golf croquet world championships. It's a slightly overcast day, and play started at 9am. Forecast for a top of 32 degrees. Cicadas singing happily. 20 kiwis, 2 Aussies, 2 Brits (top and fourth seed), 4 Egyptians.

Ok, lawn 4, where I am scorer we have Australia's top junior, Ned Wilson against the Egyptian number 2 Nadine El Menoufi.

Ned had an impressive start on typically firm United hoops, running a slightly angled hoop 1 from the boundary, a very good long hoop 5 and hitting a LOT of clearances. He was hitting the ball a lot straighter than Nadine, and Nadine's typical Egyptian powerful hoop stroke was being firmly rejected by the Atkins Quadway hoops. As the game progressed, Nadine's tactics started to change as she adapted to the conditions, but Ned was always in control, winning the first 7-5.

Game 2 is a completely different story with Nadine playing a much better positional game, opting to take good position rather than thrash at long hoops. Ned is still taking on the long clearances, which both are hitting too hard, and is starting to miss. Nadine is currently all over this game, 5-1.

It's starting to get a bit roasty outside, and the shelter is retreating. Will be very hot today.

Really good to see the young Egyptian adapt so quickly to the conditions and change her tactics. This should signal Nadine as a strong contender for this event.

Meanwhile, hopefully I'll soon work how to make things bold to do announcements like...

John-Paul Moberly (eng) v Felix Webby (nz)... The kiwi has started well, beating the number 4 seed in the first game of their match, 7-4.

JP and Felix up on lawn 3...it's still early and there is a little shade up there, and on the east half of lawn 3 with some big trees that way. Things should get interesting around 2pm. This could be a really long day with most of the matches being reasonably competitive.

Nadine is now 6-2 up in the second, seeking to level the match. Marwan and Karim are the first two match winners.

Game all now on lawn 1. Improved positional play and much less shooting have worked well for Nadine.

George coulter has now beaten Liam Reeves. Nice angled attempt at a jump shot for 13 from Liam got into the jaws and was good enough to take the first game. George is a very intelligent player who should do well in these conditions.

Good start from Ned in the decider. He ran a confident 2y hoop 1, had a rejection from a very decent shot at 2, and has started shooting better. If he can keep his concentration this could be a very competitive game. If he resorts to thrashing at everything, Nadine will win easily.

The lawns have significant yellow patches and there's some bare areas on lawn four where the grooving marks from so,e time ago are very evident. Position taking is really difficult here, and long hoops are very low percentage to run... A great combination!

There's probably a couple of dozen spectators...including parents and other family, officials, real spectators and the Egyptian supporters, including world croquet federation president Amir Ramsis and three-time golf croquet world champion and Egyptian coach, Khaled Younis.

It was great to go out with some of the players last night - 3 kiwis, an Aussie and one of the Englishmen, and see the really friendly banter, Facebook friendships and other social media connections and bodes well for this to be a really friendly tournament. The quality of the play is very impressive so far.

Remember that as well as playing for WCF medals for this world championship, they top performers will get invitations to the open event in my maunganui next week, as well as consolation trophies being awaredded in the plate, bowl and shield events.

It looks like Edmund Fordyce, the second youngest player in this tournament (after 13yo Hannah Brown from Nelson) has completed his first match. He has sped up considerably since the GC nationals, and we faulted at one point for playing while a ball was still moving - reasonably easy to do in these conditions where the lawns are probably 12 seconds already.

Meanwhile, a long battle for hoop 3 continues. This has been good quality with decent position-taking and generally very good shooting with both players having a lot of central clearances,
Ned has just missed a clearance from about 8 yards, but only needs a 7 yarder to stay well in the hoop.

Ned's just run a 2.5 yard slightly angled hoop three down to almost into the jaws of four ...it then rolled on a little to allow Nadine to get wired position, and his effort to roll back through the jaws has left yellow somewhere on the back of the hoop.

He's still hitting too many clearances fair too hard ...these lawns are quick and, while he's clearing Nadine, he is also stopping miles from the hoop himself, even with relatively central clearances. Still, he is shooting generally very well here.

4-1 and a. Very good clearance from Ned, putting Nadine in the middle of the west boundary and getting within 2 yards of hoop 7. Great reply from Nadine who clears red from right in front of hoop 6.

We've just seen a very good example of how tricky these conditions are.. From the north boundary, Ned's approach to hoop six ended up at the peg, while Nadine's approach from South of the hoop overran to unrunnable position. She now has two balls in front of six and we'll be seeing another big shot from a boundary...

Bit unlucky there... Shooting at something of a double Ned cleas black to corner two, leaving blue a shot at the hoop.

Not a bad response from Nadine who has chosen to tek good position...but is cleaed towards corner 1 by Ned, shooting fromthenorth boundary. . Ned's ball is off a boundary too, and Nadine's approach to hoop six with black is good.

Approaches the hoop with yellow from the north boundary...that's next to the peg too. ..perfect approach from Nadine to about 8 inches dead in front o the hoop, and Ned misses...Good chance for a comeback here.

Good clearance with black, Nadine clears yellow to the middle of the South boundary...might even have some wire in play here... Ned shoots hard (as usual), but immediately steps backward... Usually a bad sign, and the ball jumps a bit before missing narrowly

The flow is changing a bit now, with Nadine running 6, getting in front of 7 with both balls, Ned cleared one, but Nadine ran a really nice hoop 7 from the north boundary down 8.

Didn't agree with Ned thrashing at hoop 8 from down at hoop 7, and this was followed by a miss from the south boundary and Nadine running a very good hoop 8 to level the scores at 4-4

Ned got slightly challengingly position at 9 (bit long, bit angled), but it's a critical hoop and Nadine did well to clear him form 8.
Has a very long go at 9, but misses the hoop completely...a very good comeback from Nadine, and Ned is looking a lot less bouncy and playing too quickly now.

The shot with yellow was an attempted jump, with black 2 inches in front of 9, sand Nadine has now run 9 to take a 5-4 lead, having won the last 4 hoops.

9 was run to 4 yards shot of 10. Ned overshoots faith his approach from the west boundary, Nadine plays blue u tpo also 4 yards short. Red joins blue and black and is stunned away. I fancy Ned taking position here rather than thrashing...good lad ..he's still in this.

Nadine runs a very good four yard hoop. Match point.

Super shot sees Ned get into the jaws of 11 from a horribly wide angle. Nadine has played sensibly from the north boundary towards the peg, so yellow is clearly right in the middle of the jaws. She overshoots and will be offside when Ned runs this.

Ned's cleaance put him on the north boundary, Nadine went well to the peg, so Ned just played back to a few inches in front of hoop 11. Nadine plays her offside ball back ,Ned tries to get to the peg, but overshoots and is also over halfway. Nadine had a go at running black through thhoop...wa pretty lucky to bounce three yards back towards the peg ,and Ned runs 11 to a couple of yards SE of 12.

Blue to perfect wired (but not really runnable) position, red has a wild thrash and misses. Yellow in front, black clears yellow. Blue dribbles well into the jaws...should be over...

No...excellent clearance from the boundary. Gets himself a 10 yard go at hoop 12 to level the game, but bounces off to the south boundary near corner 1. Nadine now has two balls in front. Red misses...

Black was closest, but Nadine hits the outside of the left hand wire and bounces away to peg high and 4 yards East.
Thrash at blue is unsuccessful. Nadine will take good position here

Nope..she's close enough..

Bounces 5 yards back and Ned is well back in this match. With both his Basil's on boundaries I really fancied taking close position, blocking from the ball on the north boundary.

Ned takes ok position, Nadine takes perfect position, Ned taking position from the east boundary level with hoop 3. Expect Nadine to clear here...

Oops...didn't get that last message sent... Red is probably wired from black. That was an excellent clearance..didn't take much time over another powerful shot... 1 foot straight hoop to win the match...well played both.

++Hemi McLaren v Mahetab Abu El Soud++

Rats...formatting...

Hemi McLaren v Mahetab Abu El Soud

We join this exciting match at 4-3 to Hemi in game 1. Playing on lawn 5. Lovely breeze under the tree..packed with spectators enjoying the shade. Patches of very fast lawns out there...Chris is talking about watering tonight!

I have only seen a little of Mahetab in play...she looks very strong. Hemi has emerged as one of a NZ's top players.

Quite a strong attendance watching this match... Chris Clarke as referee, Duncan Dixon scorer, Ed Cunningham, a very strong Irish player now resident in NZ has arrived, and Khaled is keeping an eye on his protege.

Mahetab got yellow lodged in 8 from about the south boundary, Hemi takes on an angled jump stroke. I haven't yet seen a jump stroke go through! Still haven't.
Mahetab takes tight position...Hemi clears from the east boundary level with hoop 3!

Elsewhere, I was sent to the exciting distant lawn 7 to write some comments on Brit John-Paul, who was in a little trouble after an upset 2-0 loss to kiwi Felix Webby. No internet connection there, but john-Paul was well in control, 6-1 up in game 1 when I left. He is the first player I've seen hitting the ball at a relatively gentle pace, and he has been getting full benefit from central clearances.

The draw has every player having two matches today. It is looking like a rather late finish...we are up to about the start of round 3 of 4.

Mahetab has just had a thrash from the north boundary at Hemi whohas two long balls at hoop 8... She probably had a double though, in which case that was a reasonable option.

Haha...Chris has reluctantly approached the lawn to watch someone play a jump stroke. This was enforced at the nz gc nationals, but is not common practice ...Chris isn't keen to be doing this for every jump!

I have just explained to Duncan Dixon that it's to check if the ball has run the hoop, not looking for faults. Priceless expression if disbelief from him!

Meanwhile we are still competing for the eighth hoop on lawn 5, with lots of very good very central clearances from both players. Shame my battery won't survive this match (maybe not even this game!)

Moats of the kiwis have some sort of name on the back of their shirts...the majority have opted for surnames, while Hemi has "Boris", and George Coutler has "slushy". Giles Lusty has something entertaining... "The hustler"!
The kiwis are all in black shirts, looking quite smart. The Aussies turned up to the opening ceremony last night looking very smart in Blazers, and today the Egyptians are in their traditional long sleeved smart playing kit, and the Aussies and English also looking very tidy in whites.

Ok, have now had a chat withthe scorers and we can read the scores. Bit more easily. Cracking game on lawn 1... One of the best talents in women's croquet, Laura Whittaker is leading the most promising youth player in nz, 14yo Edmund Fordyce. Laura has just taken the first game 7-3

Oops...blink and you miss it!...5-4 to Hemi. Mahetab is in front of hoop ten, and has cleared hemi to a short boundary...

Like the look of Hemi...plays a lovely gentle clearance...red stops an inch short of the boundary, blue is three yards from the hoop...but Mahetab hits anyway...very good quality match this.

NZ under 21 winner cantabrian josh freeth appears to be digging in for the long haul against fellow kiwi Giles Lusty...josh leads 5-3, and is playing very defensively. He is an excellent shot, and is very patient. Josh is building a strong reputation for himself among the kiwi youth.

Really good spirit here, and good mixing of players from the four nations. Josh was offering to give the Egyptian lads a tour of christchurch, however it looks like we'll have some rather long days here to content with first!

Great to see there have been some readers of this rather intermittent commentary...hi to Ned's grandmother. He looks a good player and is a very nice chap also.

Hemi wins a long battle to take a 6-4 lead, but his shot with black to hoop eleven is over hit badly. Hard to keep that concentration in difficult lawns. Mahetab puts two good balls in, Hemi misses and Mahetab is clearing black to the boundary also, leaving yellow nicely in front.

(Out to run out of juice on my iPad, but phone can do a bit before it surrenders)

Hemi clears from the side boundary. Mahetab overhits her approach.

Meanwhile a jump shot at last...Laura, 3-0 up, played into the jaws of 4, and Edmund has jumped it well to get back into the game. Laura has played solidly, though apparently isn't clearing well from distance.

Laura takes position, Edmund takes position, Laura plays back out of hoop 4, Edmund clears her to the boundary level with hoop 2. Laura sensibly plays back, but is short, and it is now 3-2. A good hoop stroke from Edmund, but it ran on to near the north boundary, and Laura has played another good positional stroke.

Hemi clearing. Ball that is well north of hoop 11... Has a wee whinge about the shot...then hits two thirds of it and looks embarrassed!

Bit unlucky...Mahetab has just played a wrong ball at 6-4 down..using hemi's black to clear her yellow. Hemi sensibly plays blue in, , leaves the gate open, but Mahetab bounces off her ten yarder. Hemi plays a poor hoop stroke to end up in the jaws...great result for him. Should be the end of game .

Yup...Hemi wins the first.

Aargh...can't see the scoreboards properly..l Edmund is all over this match...up 5-1...sorry viewers.

Day 1 at the Under 21 World Championships - summary

The WCF Under 21 World Championships started this weekend, with the Referees’ and Players’ briefing and Opening Ceremony where WCF President, Amir Ramsis declared the event open. Today play started and friendships continued to grow.

The standard of play today was generally excellent, and the sportsmanship was great with good shots being applauded and very good conduct all around.

The lawns were lightning fast, up to 14 seconds later in the day, and the hoops very unforgiving. With lots of hard-hitting youngsters, there were a lot of balls bouncing out many yards away from failed hoops. The hoops were relatively easy to get out of the ground at the end of the day, and several had got quite loose during the day. Another excellent day for the hoop-setters though – tightly-set hoops and nothing jammed.

Lots of upsets, which is not surprising given the conditions that none of the players will have faced before (apart from Felix Webby and Edmund Fordyce who played at United in the NZ AC Open a couple of weeks ago, and local player Josh Freeth), the nerves of playing in a World Championship and the rapid improvements of ability these youngsters are going through.

There are 28 players, in 4 blocks of 7, currently playing for 16 places in the knockout. This means the top 4 from each block go through, with ties on match wins for qualifying separated by single-game playoffs on Tuesday afternoon (block positions among qualifiers are sorted by matches, net games, net points, who-beat-whom). Each player has two matches a day, with the draw organised to have fairly well-matched opponents for players on each day, so early rounds have seen the number 2s play the number 3s, in matches which could be significant if other results go against seeding.

Despite a few upsets, at the end of day 1 the top 4 seeded players in each block look favourite to qualify.

Let’s check out some of the blocks:

Block A has English and event top seed Harry Dodge, but also some very strong talent in the Egyptian youngster Marwan El Sabarouti who beat block number 3 Lachlan Hughes in straight games. Both Harry and Marwan should feature late in the KO stages, though Lachy can’t be discounted, and the 4th place in the KO is likely to be taken by the winner of the Jasmine Rule v George Redpath match. Jasmine played in the unofficial U21 worlds in Cairo, and recently played well in the Women’s Worlds, which was also in Cairo, so that experience should be very helpful.

In Block B the first round saw two very competitive matches with a change in tactics in game 2, and some excellent catch-up play in game 3 seeing top-ranked Egyptian Nadine El Menoufi adjust well to the conditions to avoid an upset against powerful Australian 16 year old Ned Wilson. Ned bounced back well to win his second match against Sean Pearless, playing particularly well in the first, while Nadine completed a tough day for Sean with a 2-0 win. Number 2 in the block George Coulter had some early challenges, having to come back from a game down against number 5 Liam Reeves, then losing 2-0 to local star Josh Freeth after a 5 hour wait between matches. George is playing well and very positive which makes him still a very strong favourite to qualify for the next stages, along with Nadine, Josh and the winner of the match between Ned and Liam. While Ned isn’t helping himself by taking on too many clearances and hitting many of them far too hard on this quick surface, you can’t argue with much of his accuracy (though this did desert him a little under pressure) and his hoop running ability in tough conditions. He’s also a really nice chap, and his father Richard has been an absolute star helping with hoop setting, packing up at the end of the day, and being a great support during the event. Ned’s looking to pick up AC next, and should be well supported in Adelaide with the likes of Tim O’Leary, Simon Hockey and Greg Fletcher as mentors.

Karim Gamri, top of Block C, has arguably made the best impression of the tournament so far with two crunching wins. He’s a very intelligent and patient player – the same can be said of number 2 in the block Edmund Fordyce who had a couple of hiccups on his way to two wins. One of those was against Laura Gannaway (nee Whittaker) who made a welcome return to croquet this week. Fourth spot in this block is anyone’s, but it likely to be taken by the winner of Shaun Theobald and Aussie Jack Williams. Jack has been shooting well, but this hasn’t transferred into effective hoop-running. Shaun should have the edge in experience, having recently won the Plate event in the NZ Under 21 champs and played in the NZ GC Nationals. Rounding out that block Hannah Brown and Hayden Kilpatrick have both been winless, though Hayden made both Jack and Laura work for their victories.

Block D is looking the most clear-cut block at the moment, though of course upsets can happen. In the biggest upset of the day, handicap 3 Felix Webby beat tournament number 4 seed John-Paul Moberly (a player who has a match win against Reg Bamford in his croquet CV!). With handicap cards surprisingly not in use, J-P will be slightly relieved to be holding on to about 34 index points, and the rest of NZ will have to look out for Felix as he’s another very positive player with a lot of talent. Among my top players so far from this tournament are the number 2 and 3 of this block, Hemi McLaren and Egyptian Mahetab Abu El Soud. Mahetab looked excellent in her first match with several long hoops and confident clearances. The match between Hemi and Mahetab was one of the best quality matches of the day, and Hemi played really well to win their match 7-4, 7-5. Both are strong contenders for the later stages of the tournament.

It is great to see so many really supportive parents, siblings and other relatives at the event, as well as local players and a few folks who wandered in for a look. Each lawn has had a scorer, with some family members helping out, and many local players, and referees are on call for every 2-3 lawns. The event is also supported by an army of caterers, and the daily 4pm barbecue looks set to be a popular feature. Manager Gordon Smith is very well prepared and this showed in the smooth running of the day.

Apologies for the rather intermittent commentary on croquetscores.com. It was good to be able to entertain Ned’s mum, and follow another couple of games before my ipad gave out. I’m back to work tomorrow, but hopefully someone will be able to write a few words on the event as the race for the knockout starts to become clearer. Chris is taking lots of video which should be compiled and up shortly after the open worlds - a great chance to see some future World Champions in action.