Lawn 1 - Maugham v Patel. Patel is having first break on the fifth turn. He has just run h6 with partner as his 1b pioneer. He will probably stop at 3b.
Lawn 8 - Chapman v Rothman. Rothman has had first break and is making his contact leave. He has gone to 4b with yellow.

I am in play this morning so won't be as up to date as yesterday morning.

Lawn 8 - Chapman lifts his ball from the south boundary by c4 and rolls yellow out from c3 towards h1. Not a good shot by anyones standard, strikers ball goes off the east boundary around peg high.

Lawn 1 - Patel has gone to 4b with the usual contact leave.

Lawn 8 - Rothman shots with yellow at partner just out of corner 2, misses but leaves a rush for red along the north boundary.

Lawn 1 - Maugham played the same croquet stroke out of c3, managed to keep strikers ball on the lawn but had a 6 yarder at partner which he then hit, He is now over near c2 having a look at blue

Lawn 8 - Chapman shot from c4 at partner but missed to c3, Rothman rushes to it and has chances to dig the balls out for a break

Lawn 1 - Maugham just lays up in c4 with a rush, its either going to point at h1 or c2, not sure which

Lawn 8 - Rothman has rushed to the ball on the east boundary and then tried to rush that to h1, very short but a good backward takeoff and he has a 4 or 5 'forward rush' for which he calls a ref

Lawn 1 - Patel moved his 4b ball from near h1 to just south of c3

Lawn 8 - Rothman wanted a ref to knock the hoop down as well as watch the hampered shot which he hit
Lawn 1 - Maugham rushes partner to h1, makes it and now has croquet near the peg with the other balls in c2 & c3

Lawn 1 - Maugham played a good pass roll putting partner to h3 going to c3, now taking off to c2

Lawn 8 - Rothman then took off the lawn by Chapmans ball near middle of east bounday
Lawn 1 - Maugham must have approached h2 from c2 but boundary off to west boundary

Lawn 8 - Chapman has established a break and is maybe looking for a TPO
Lawn 1 - Patel is doing something

Lawn 1 - Patel took the first by finishing his tp so i think that must have been 25tp

Lawn 8 - Chapman finished his TPO and he is now approaching hoop 1 off Rothmans ball with partner in c4

I have seen the Americans going 2 or 3 or 4 yards out of corners a lot in pegged out endings in the last couple of weeks. Rothman decided to go couple yards north of c4 while Chapman was joined up in with a rush to c4 along the south boundary.

Lawn 8 - Chapman has made h2 and is moving the balls in to positions that look like a 3 ball break

Lawn 8 - Chapman rushed well short towards h3 from h4, backward take off hit the eastern upright of h3 and so is not in position to attempt the hoop

James Death will now be providing commentary on another page of the Patel v Maugham match

Lawn 8 - Chapman went to c4 with partner 3 yards east of h4, while ben was 3 yards behind h3

Rothman is for h2, he has gone to the north boundary behind h2

Chapman plays his peg ball, hits partner and leaves a rush in c4 pointing at red

James is struggling with internet connection

Rothman goes a foot or two south of c2

Chapman looking for a wired sport a few yards north of c4

Chapman leaves a dolly rush to h3, Rothman deems

Chapman hits the rush along a good line but a yard or so short, takes off and runs the hoop expecting hoop & roquet but does not make the roquet

Chapmans peg ball is right behind h3 and he has about a 6 yard return if he fancies it

Looks at going to c4 but then realises he couldnt play black to join up from behind 3 in a subsequent turn

Blue goes in to c1

Rothman takes long position in front f h2

Chapman moves black to a yard or to east of c1

Rothman runs h2 and goes to just south of c3

Chapman rushes along the south boundary just past the end of A baulk. Seems to have found a wired spot behind h4

Rothman goes 8 yards south of c3?!

Chapman rushes to east boundary south of Rothmans red, takes off to get a rush to h4

Runs 4 and now has a rush pointing just north of c4, cuts it up to the east boundary level with h5. Now aother take off along the yard line to get a rush on partner to h5

Either a bad shot or a wobbly boundary and he has called a ref to decide if its off the lawn!

Its off!

Rothman has about a 5 yarder at Chapmans balls which are a foot apart

Rothman is playing along the same strech of boundary as Chapman was, he is a lot more careful, not going to far inside the yard line, gets a rush to h3

Runs the hoop & has a 3 yard backward return roquet. If he can find a good croquet stroke then he will have a 3 ball break

Sends out an ok h5 piooner but its well north, gets a rush pointing a few yards north of c4

Takes off to a yard in front of h4, runs it to the boundary. If he can find a good croquet stroke then he will have a 3 ball break.

Has got a hoop 6 pioneer, makes h5 but no forward rush

1b pioneer is level with hoop 6, he makes 6 and then rushs out a 2b pioneer and has to take off to his 1b pioneer, 4 yarder which he rushes well past 1b

This isn't a textbook 3 ball break.

James Hopgood says that even his 3 ball breaks aren't this bad

Rothman has run 1b but is now hampered

He is waiting for the hoop to be bashed in a bit

Rothman wonders over to h6 to practice a sweep shot, spectators ask if thats allowed

Jeff Soo has knocked the hoop down a bit, stays there to referee the sweep shot, looked easy as he hit it centre ball

James Hopgood & Samir Patel are talking about croquetscores.com

Rothman has made 2b without a forward rush again

Makes 4b and now has a 7 yarder at his recpetion ball

There hasnt been much control in this turn

Rothman hit it but now has his rover pioneer north of the peg

Good rush to rover though and thats game 1 to Rothman

Clips all back on h1 and they are starting game 2 straight away

Chapman plays black to east boundary, Rothman plays a duffer level with h6 which Chapman hits

Chapman plays a thick take off pushing yellow towards the peg and leaves a rush to it for black from the east boundary

I went to get my lunch, Chapman is now in play with black and it looks like Rothman missed the short shot

Paddy will be pleased, there is pork pie available for lunch

He made h1 off of yellow and popper it through h1

James Hopgood has now gone to sit cross legged on a bench between lawns 8 & 9, I dont think he enjoyed the banter.

Chapman decide that he doesnt need a h4 pioneer, instead rushing close to yellow so he can they rush it north and have a go at popping it through h2 going to h3

I dont think he got the oeel, he has left it there so i assume he will try again before h6

He made h3 and rushed red to the south boundary in front of h1, he attempted a pop but it missed h1 completely

He has made h4 and now rushed up behind h6

He is setting up to pop yellow through h2 before h6 as expected

He hasnt managed to get yellow very close in front of h2 though

Rushes to h5, runs it past the peg and ended up cross pegged from his reception ball, his hands go on top of his head

Walks up and hits the 7 yarder at yellow.........good job it wasnt close to h2! perhaps he knew what he was doing!?

David Wise is asking loudly from lawn 10 whether he has a lift or a contact, he is (still) having trouble with the super advanced laws

Paddy has made h6 and has the balls back under control, he will be sending parter down to 2b as the pioneer there

After 1b he manages to get the 2nd pop on yellow