Morning all. Sorry for the late start with the commentary, but I'll be here for the rest of the event.

The weather is still dry here in Bowdon, but the forecast is grim. We're expecting heavy rain for the rest of the day.

There are three doubles matches in progress.

Lawn 1 has Maugham and Wicks (ENG) vs Maloof and Rothman (USA). Maloof and Rothman lead +25TP (Maloof)
On Lawn 3 Mulliner and Ormerod have +21TP(Mulliner) vs Soo and Lawrence.
Patel and Walters beat Essick and Hurst on Lawn 4 + 24TP (Patel).

Thanks to Colin Irwin for acting as a human easel, and standing in front of me with the results board.

Lawn 1: Maugham has just run Hoop 1, and is taking croquet from Yellow on the North boundary near Hoop 3. Black is level with Hoop 4 on the East boundary, and he's just taken off to Blue which is in a sort of supershottish position. He's now rolling off Hoop2.

Yellow and Black are on boundaries near Hoops 3 & 4, and he's rushed Blue off 8 yards north of Black.

Blue is a good H4 pioneer, and he's got a rush to nowhere. He's rolled Black out midway between H1 & 2, scooped off his hoop and run it from close in front. All the hard work done.

Soo has just failed Hoop 1 off partner. Blue is SE of Hoop 3 and Black is deep behind H2. Ormerod (Black) is shooting at Blue.

Meanwhile, Walters is round to 4b with Red. He's laid an NSL, and Hurst is lifting Black. Black is for 3, and he's missed the shot from A-baulk.

So, Patel is for 1 and 4b. He's got three balls together and oppo's blue ready to rush from H4 to H1.

Wixy tells me Blue only rushes to H5.

Meanwhile, back on Lawn 1, Maugham is through 1b and has jammed a ball behind H2 for the leave. A Maugham Standard Leave, would you believe.

I'm sitting in a tent here, and have a restricted view of much of the play. Beyond the small huddle of spectators, Ormerod has got back in somehow. He's just run H1 with Black and seems to be off. Mulliner has his hands in his pockets and is smiling.

Maloof and Rothman are on the lawn looking at the damage. They've opted for lifting the H4 ball (Maloof's Blue). He's shot into corner 4 and missed. Wicks has taken the rush to H1 and two yards beyond.

Take off to the hoop, and he's rolling to H2 &3 from near H1.

Here in the grandstand we like what he's done with that, and he's through H2.

A rush towards corner 4 slams midpeg, and he's got an ugly thick takeoff back to partner at H3.

All looking OK. He's left Red at 4b, and he's bringing Blue into play from corner 4. Black is a foot from H4.

Patel has jawsed Red in 4b and is having an umpire on to check that his rush peel is clean. He's got a loose Blue at 1b, he's rolled Red somewhere near penult, and he's got Black down to 2b.

Ormerod, in the narrow chink of Lawn 3 that's visible, is running 2b with Black. Everything else in on H1. Assume that's a diagonal spread unless I tell you otherwise.

Patel (Yellow) has jawsed Red going to his shallow 1b pioneer (Blue), revisited Red after 1b, and rush peeled it down to Rover. It's now a couple of feet south of rover, and he's carrying on nicely.

Wixy's not taken the clip off 4b, but he's peeled it on the way to H6.

Patel has jawsed Red in Rover going to 3b, and everything looks easy. That's looking kinda terminal for the Americans.

Wixy has a rough old 2b pioneer with Black, about 8yds north of the hoop. He's going for some sort of death roll through penult.

The peel is through, but he's had a long roquet on Black, which he's rushed off the line of the hoop. He's rolled up from the side and blasted through.

Red is a bit north of the peg, and Blue (the 3b pioneer) is a couple of yards wide of Rover.

Applause as Patel pegs out. That's +23TP (P), to take the first match.

Wixy's rover peel pulls a lot and gets full outside wire of the hoop. The clip is still misplaced.

Wicks has a tidy looking straight rover peel coming up. Blue deep, Black level, Red bang in front of the hoop.

Red's through and Yellow is mid jaws. He's eyeing up whether to promote Red away from the hoop. He's decided he's got a clear enough line to rush to the peg, and he's done it.

That's game 2 - Maugham and Wicks +26TP(Wicks)

Just one game still in progress, and Colin has unzipped the side of the tent so I can see something. Lawrence hit that diagonal spread, and has been going round. He's now at 1back

One of my non-croquet Facebook friends has just said "This is amazing. It's like snooker commentary without the pictures".

Lunch is being taken by two thirds of the players, and Stuart Lawrence is just laying his leave. There are a lot of balls around the peg, so no surprises for guessing it's a diagonal spread.

Ooooooh

His ball on the west boundary has gone much closer to the edge than you'd normally want.

Jeff Soo is stood by the boundary ball waiting to check the perfect alignment of the four balls.

They're making a lot of discussion about the placement of the balls for the rush. More discussion, arguably, than Mulliner would have required. Within seconds he's on the lawn lifting Blue from the peg.

Blue shoots at Red and Yellow from A-baulk and finds the gap.

Jeff Soo is about to start a break, so that seems to be a good time for me to have lunch.

Jeff Soo is about to start a break, so that seems to be a good time for me to have lunch.

Oh no. He's dug that out and then clanged H1. Black (Ormerod) has a half ball target from not very close. He's joining with Blue at H4.

Yellow (Soo, at H1) may have a shot at Red (Lawrence) at H2, but it's a bit dead on the wire.

Soo has been on the ground to see the line, and has taken the shot. It's a miss. Mulliner has a 6-yarder at Black. He hits and takes off to Yellow near corner 2

Mulliner is on the move, and has shuffled around the balls. He's placing the peelee as his H3 pioneer and is running H2.

The Lawn 1 match has resumed. Maugham and Wicks once again playing Red and Yellow, so as not to confuse the spectators.

Maugham has taken Corner 2. Wicks centred the Black on Turn4, and has blobbed H1 off Blue.

Maloof joins back up on the East boundary. It's uncertain whether Yellow is runnable.

Mulliner has two clips in his pocket. He's running H4

Back in the Wixy game, Wicks (Yellow) runs H1, shoots across at Blue and Black, skimming H5 and deflecting to a few inches outside corner 4. Almost as if he meant to do that.

Maloof runs H1 with Blue. Red is in corner 2 and Yellow in corner 4.

He rolls both his balls to H2, and is having a stop shot approach from C2.

Red's a couple of yards deep at H3, but he's spanked the Blue through H2. An ugly split now from H2 to the far side of Red.

I'll give him 9.5 out of 10 for that.

He's leaving the pickup of Yellow in corner 4 until after H4.

Meanwhile - oh my GOSH - Mulliner has peeled penult and then missed the roquet on his 1b pioneer. That's Jeff's H1 ball.

So - we have Mulliner (blue) on 1b; Ormerod (black) on Rover; Lawrence (red) on 4b and Soo (yellow) approaching H2. Red is near H3 and it's a controlled break.

Maloof hasn't got tidy control yet against Maugham and Wicks, as he runs hoop 5 more cleanly than he expected. His H6 pioneer now is sort of near H5

It's still not raining.

For those who aren't local, Manchester's weather is binary - raining or not raining. We're expecting the current situation to reverse soon.

Soo has his peelee in the jaws of 4b as he heads towards H4.

Looking back at the Maloof game, it's hard to tell what hoop he's for. As soon as he dug that corner 4 ball out, he whizzed through a hoop too hard and had to rebuild.

A couple of shots later, and he's got perfect control at 1b

Soo is carrying on with his triple. Stuart Lawrence and Stephen Mulliner are chatting on a bench by the lawn, and Mark Ormerod is on the next bench chatting to one of the local spectators.

The rain has arrived. Bowdon now has a retractable glass roof which will allow play to continue in the dry.

(That's not true)

Mulliner has retreated to the tent, and the other players are donning waterproofs.

...but I think the rain may now have stopped.

Two peels done by Soo. Maloof is laying his diagonal spread. Red (Maugham for 1) is an inch from the peg, Yellow (Wixy for 2) is almost horizontal somewhere off the west boundary.

Maugham has lifted the peg ball and is shooting down the east boundary at black.

Not happy, and it's missed to a foot north of corner 4.

David Maloof has just entered the tent and said to one of the club members that the weather is "a wee bit nippy".

Soo is on his way to 3b, and pondering whether to go for an angled rover peel. It looks like a waste of effort but - !!!! - it sails through.

Ormerod and Mulliner look dead and buried in that game. Soo is on rover and peg.

Rothman is on the lawn. He's on H3 with Black, but sending Blue (for 4b) down to H4. Red is still in corner 4.

That's Soo and Lawrence vs Mulliner and Ormerod +9TP (S).

I'm going for lunch

Back at the lawn.

Rothman tickled blue into peeling position at 4b on the way to H6. He's now for 3b, and he's setting up for a delayed double.

Red is a bit deep at 3b, and his take off back to it has gone into the yardline area. No worries, and he's approaching 3b with Blue and Yellow at penult.

Bowdon's catering team have provided a bean curry, and a selection of cold salads. I'm pleased to see a large bowl of beetroot salad, so it's a shame that the players haven't entertained the spectators by spilling their lunch all over their white trousers.

Rothman has four balls around penult, he's gone for the peel on blue, but glued it straight to the left wire.

He's having the straight double, with a peel from dead in front of penult. Yellow is wide of the peg and red is at penult.

The peel soars through and blue sits two foot to the right of rover.

He's got no rush on yellow by the peg, so it's a split roll to rush blue into position

I think that's a couple of feet dead in front

He plays that gently rather than having the Irish peel. He calls Colin Irwin on to referee his jump through the hoop, and he gets a nice sideways flick off the wire. Straight through to the boundary.

He's down on the ground lining up his peg out. About 3 yds, and it's centre peg.

Rothmam & Maloof +25TP (R)

Three empty lawns, so I've gone back for more food. I've taken the last of the Summer Pudding. Arctic Roll would have been more appropriate.

Play's now resuming. We now have:

Patel and Walters vs Maloof and Rothman

Maugham and Wicks vs Soo and Lawrence

No sign yet of the other match, which is going on on Lawn 1.

Hang on

Someone replaced the clips on H1 in the wrong order. All fixed now.

Light rain again.

Rothman's had a corner 2 opening with Black. Maloof is shooting down the east boundary at Red and Yellow.

Maloof's shot waggled indecisively between the two targets before missing.

On the far lawn, Maugham had a corner 2 ball. Wixy took the fourth turn shot from A baulk and missed. Soo (Blue) is now playing for a rush to H1 from Yellow.

The third game has started. Ormerod placed a duffer tice, The US shot down into corner 4 leaving themselves widely joined. Mulliner hit the duffer, had a speculative approach to H1, and has retreated.

Mulliner has left Ormerod a rush to H1 from corner 4, R & Y are midwest and at H3. Hurst shoots red at yellow and misses.

Soo and Lawrence have a clip (of some colour) on H2. They're parked in corner 2 with a rush out. Maugham shoots at them from mideast boundary and misses. Yellow is just north of H1.

It's raining and windy. The scoreboard has just blown over. I've put my coat on and moved the commentator's table further back into the tent. It's fine rain but it's coming down sideways. I think this is it for the rest of the day.

Stuart Lawrence is playing Black, and has set himself up for H1. He takes the clip.

Ormerod is for H3 with control.

Stuff is happening in the other game. Patel and Walters got going and stalled at H3 (somehow, but I can't see what happened). Maloof is now running H2 on a break.

I'm pleased to say that I've had feedback from one of my loyal readers. To avoid confusion, the previous match of Mulliner / Ormerod vs Lawrence / Soo has been shelved. Everyone's cracking on with the next round and they'll play the decider later whenever they get time.

Everyone's off to the Opens at the weekend, so the event is constrained by time pressures. They want to get as much played as early in the week as possible.

Nowt much happening. Ormerod's going round. Lawrence is going round. Maloof is going round.

Lawrence is through 3b, and there's a diagonal spread coming up. Ormerod is on 2b, but he's doing the same.

Lawrence puts a clip on 4b, leaving Maugham at the peg on a diagonal spread. Soo's blue is on H2.

And Maugham takes the lift. Shooting down the east boundary.

Maugham misses and Soo plays on.

Ormerod finishes his diagonal spread, and Essick is taking the lift. He's left red at the peg, and has missed to corner 4.

Maloof - he's not quick.

His break started at the same time as Stuart's and Mark's, and he's still going.

He's got through 3b and has now run out of shots with no ball on the peg. So he's rolling stuff around and is having some sort of OSL. Red and Yellow are both vaguely midlawn to left and right. He's occupying corner 4. Red (westish) is for H1, Yellow (eastish) is for H3.

When I say that he's having an OSL, he's still having it.

Oh. Finished now.

I have to say, as a commentator on three games, it's good to have three different paces, as it allows me to watch all of them simultaneously.

Jeff Soo's game on Lawn 4 presents a problem for me, as there's a bench at eye level stopping me from seeing 4b and penult. I think he's had the clip off 4b, and his partner is in the penultimate environs. He's run 1b, and has tonked the peelee down beyond 2b. He's pumped it back to rover, so it looks like all is under control.

Mulliner peeled Black through 4b going to H6. Peelee is now his 2b pioneer, and he's hoping to rush back to penult.

Two yards short, so he rolls it into place.

Mulliner attempts to peel penult going to 4b. A load of pull and it fails. Now looking at a straight double.

Some to and fro in the Rothman/Maloof/Walters/Patel game. The US had lost control, Samir joined up, and Ben has just hit in again.

Mulliner jawses the rover peel, jumps it cleanly, and is now cannoning it through with red. A lovely shot, and the balls come to rest with a dolly rush to the peg.

Soo has just run rover, but there's still a black clip on penult. He's propped Red onto the wire of rover, and yellow seems to be full in the jaws of penult. So not the TP I thought it was.

Mulliner misses the pegout, so leaves Essick a six yarder at black. Red is near rover and Blue has retired to corner 2. It's a wobbler, and barely makes contact. An easy setup, but there are two clips on the peg.

Rothman has just run H3, and has a standard triple. Red and Yellow are for 1 & 3.

Essick is ignoring Mulliner's blue in corner 2. He's got a good three-ball break and is at H3.

Rothman's dribbled at a six footer and missed. He has one peel in the bag, but has joined up with Samir's yellow at Hoop 4. There's a blue ball six inches in front of his hoop.

Wixy takes his last shot. Lifts Yellow from penult and middles the opponent. An awkward position to get anything to H1, so he's rolled to the west of Red, rushing it away from rover towards the east boundary. He's now approaching H1 from the boundary south of H4.

Not an ace result, but he's going to hack at the hoop.

Failed.

Yellow alongside H1, Red midway between H3 and H4, Black between H1 and H2, Blue beyond H2 on the boundary. Black (Lawrence, for penult) joins up.

Essick has finally drawn Mulliner's blue out of corner 2. He's now for 2b, and is going to do

well

I don't really know what he's going to do.

Samir has run H6 and there's a Blue ball very close in front of Rover. Looks like the inevitable double peel.

Maugham hit in with Red on Blue and Black, and is now having a break. Just through H1, so 1 & break vs penult and peg.

Patel's yellow rushes blue through rover. That should be a peg out, with Walters on 1 against Rothman alone on 4 (mutatis mutandis)

Essick rushed Black into the back wire of 3b, took off, and had to leather the ball through with a hoop and roquet. He and Hurst are now discussing what happens next. 1 & 4b vs peg & peg with a ball in hand and no real control.

He's very short on his split roll going to blue, but he hits. He's leaving Mulliner's blue on the west boundary a bit south of H2, Black 15yds out of B-baulk, and he's missed the three yarder at his partner. Now seven yards split, with a lift coming. Red's at H4 and Yellow's just out of corner 4.

Maugham's clip is on H4 and Lawrence is taking croquet from his Red. He's got a long rush up the lawn on Yellow, and it look like he's just going to dump it somewhere deep and join up.

Mulliner misses.

Maloof is pegged out. Rothman for 4 has a contact against Walters (1) and Patel (peg)

Patel takes corner 1 with Walters in corner 2.

Hurst comes VERY close to sending his ball off. He's struggled to get going, but he's barely been on the lawn since I arrived this morning, and it's now very cold and wet. He's left a rush along the boundary from corner 4 to Black on the boundary at H1. Blue's at H2.

Ormerod shoots along the boundary and misses. There's probably not enough room to stop him into the lawn, so Hurst takes the rush to H1.

There's a chance of the TP if he's bold enough to treat Black as a H4 pioneer from six yards behind the hoop.

Urgh. Hurst misses the Blue H2 pioneer from two yards. Mulliner joins with the Black, leaving a rush to the peg.

Lawrence's finishing attempts are heavy going. I can't see much of that game, as spectators are gathering in the dry, but there's no progress from anyone.

Hurst shoots at his partner (16ish yards), glances off H3 and misses. Mulliner rushes four yards from the peg. We've been here before.

...When I say there's no progress in the Soo/Lawrence game, they've just placed the clips back on Hoop 1 and gone inside for tea.

Ditto Mulliner.

The rain is proper belting down, and Colin Irwin (not in waterproofs) has been called out to referee a wiring lift. No clip changes in the Rothman three ball finish, but he's been left a ball in corner 4 and two balls in corner 2. No chance, says the ref.

I thought someone might bring me a cup of tea, but nothing. Ah well, it's probably another 13 minutes until the designated time.

Play has restarted everywhere.

Hurst has placed a corner 2 ball. Ormerod hit third turn, took off to the second corner, and missed. Essick centre-balls the corner ball. No cannon, but an easy rush to H1.

There's a curtain of water in front of us, and everyone is in waterproofs. It's difficult to tell who's who, except Jeff Soo who has orange shoelaces.

Essick slams down his mallet as he overhits a short shot and gets no rush to H2 from the nearby corner. He's chosen to roll up to his distant partner. Scrappy stuff in horrible conditions.

Sorry - he was getting a rush to H3 not H2. Now laying up wide to guard the boundary near his hoop.

Mulliner misses, and Essick has another chance to get going.

Essick has a gruesome looking hoop shot, three foot and angled. Tries it with topspin and the hoop spits it back at him. Mulliner is alongside and rushes him into play.

The rain redoubles, and Mulliner's rush to H4 goes to H5. He gets a rush on partner anyway, and he's through H1.

Walters is off the mark, and is two-balling round. He's run H5 with a rush up the lawn. Black is in corner 2, and has yet to progress from H4.

I AM FREEZING

In the other game, Wixy is having a ball round. He's for H5, with nothing else having started.

Walters has pulled oppo out of corner 2 with a stop approach to 1b. Good enough, and he's through. Looks like he might now finish with a controlled break.

Walters blobs 3b. Rothman is for 4. He has a something-like 12 yard shot to get the break back.

...12 yards, that is, if you forget he's got a lift.

Rothman hits centre ball. A laid break from H4 to finish.

Mulliner has a diagonal spread. Hurst's H1 ball is at the peg. Essick is for H3.

Wicks has a Maugham Standard Leave.

I need a cup of tea.

The cakes look very nice, and there are several plates of sandwiches. Bowdon catering is always good, and players are starting to cluster inside to dry out.

Meanwhile back here in the North Atlantic, Rothman has made the most of that opportunity, and is approaching rover.

Maugham failed Hoop 1 off the MSL, and Soo has just hit. Dave's red ball is still in front of hoop 1, so Jeff's position looks healthy.

And Ormerod's going round after Mulliner gave him the diagonal spread. He looks hampered after H5, but it looks dead straight. A brief pause while the ref comes on.

It may be my imagination, but it feels as though the rain has eased slightly. For the benefit of American readers, the British perception of heavy rain / moderately heavy rain is affected by the quantity of tea drunk.

Ormerod hit the hampered shot, and immediately missed the non-hampered shot which followed. Red, Yellow and Black are midlawn around H6, Blue (for 3) is in corner 4.

Hurst misses the eight yarder.

Essick (Blue) - 3
Hurst (Black) - 1
Mulliner (Yellow) - 4b
Ormerod (Red) - 6

Mulliner misses a short one. Hurst and Essick join in corner 4. Ormerod hits partner and takes off to the corner.

Ormerod has a cannon in corner 4. To Hoop 6. So he taps a ball out and just plays a rush up the lawn.

Wixy has given me feedback from Miranda (Hi Miranda) who's reading that she can't tell which game's which. I'm struggling myself, as everyone is head to toe in waterproofs. It's come to something when Dave Maugham's only distinguishing feature is a red stripe on his trousers.

Up on Lawn 4, Wicks and Maugham are playing Soo and Lawrence. Soo is for 6, Lawrence for 1, Wixy is being peeled through 4b on a standard triple.

For the record, Wicks is Yellow and Maugham is Red. Obvs.

Here's some insider knowledge of the GB team. Wixy's just told me that he and Dave chose their colours because (a) Dave doesn't like Blue and Black, and (b) WixY and YelloW start and end with the same letters.

Ormerod is now for penult.. He's taken this break from H6 and has ignored Black throughout. It's still in corner 4.

Everything is suddenly nearing a conclusion. Mark Ormerod has gone to peg, leaving Black in corner 4, Blue midlawn and a rush to 4b for Yellow.

There's a mistle thrush eating a worm in the middle of the lawn and Mark has just chased it off.

Meanwhile, Rothman has laid a diagonal spread. And Maugham is running penult with the backward ball.

Essick has taken the lift against Mulliner and Ormerod, and hit. He has some sort of rush to H3, and partner is still in corner 4

Maugham and Wicks beat Soo and Lawrence +21TP (M)

Essick seems to be struggling with the pace. He got well short rolling to yellow to get a rush into play, but has played a good take off to that corner ball. He's now got an angled hoop 4

...which he drops through. Now shoot back into the corner and it should start to get easier.

Walters hit the lift against Rothman and he's just had the clip off hoop 1.

... and he's placed it straight on hoop 2. A misapproach, so he's retiring. Samir's on the lawn to point at various bits of boundary.

Some expert pointing at boundaries from the GB lads. Finally Walters puts a ball off on the north boundary.

Black is behind H2, Blue is somewhere in the middle of the bottom right quadrant. Yellow is between 3 and 6, so Red is on the north boundary at the nearest spot to it.

Essick has made it to 4b with a diagonal spread. GB's 4b ball is at the peg, and peg ball is hoop2-wards. Mulliner immediately lifts the 4back ball.

Centre ball on the black, shooting from B-baulk. A ripple of applause from the two spectators still out here in the tent. Maybe it's just so they can get their circulation going.

Mulliner's out of 4b with a rush towards penult.

Bish bash bosh. Faster than I can type he's pegging out. Mulliner and Ormerod +17

Up on Lawn 4, Stuart Lawrence's Black is stuck in hoop 1 off Wixy's Yellow. Yellow can't see it, so Maughams having the short shot with Red. A weird clattery noise and it's a miss.

Lawrence has run hoop 1 and contrived some sort of yardline cannon. South boundary in front of hoop 1 going to hoop 2? Jeff does some gesticulating, and they line it up to rush towards Blue somewhere south of H3. Yellow stays behind, and it should be easy from there.

Should be.

But he seems not to get a decent rush, and plays a mahoosive cut rush, getting Blue over towards hoop 6. Rolls off the hoop, and smashes through. Job done.

There are birds feeding everywhere. Lawn 2 is empty today, and there are three blackbirds, a magpie and (I think) a dunnock. All pecking for worms.

Magpies are the only birds that can recognise their own reflection.

Anyway. This is all sort of relevant, because there's been an infestation of leatherjackets. They're the larvae of crane flies, and they like nothing better than getting eaten by birds. That's played havoc with the grass, and there's a bird scarer to, well, scare the birds. It's a kite in the shape of, well, a kite. When it's windy they see a big bird of prey (even if it's made of polythene), they stay away. But it's not windy.

Walters, finally, has taken that break round to 4b. A Maugham Standard, with oppo in the jaws of H2.

Blue (Maloof) is for 1 and in the jaws for 2. Black (Rothman) is for 4b and on the back of H4. Maloof is lifting from A-baulk at Red and Yellow. Patel is Yellow and still for 1, with Walters on 4b.

Lawrence is finishing off his diagonal spread. Everything else on H1.

Back to my birds.

Alan Mayne, the ground manager, has treated the leatherjackets with microscopic namatode worms, which stop the larvae developing.

By next year, all should be back to normal.

Maloof misses the lift, and Patel goes to start his turn.

Wicks is leaving the ball at the peg, and taking the long shot from the B-baulk down the boundary. A miss.

Patel rushes oppo (blue) towards corner 3, splits it very close to H2 coming back to partner. He croquets partner a bit short of H5, getting a dolly rush on the hoopbound black to H1.

Soo has made hoop 1, rushing back towards corner 4. He's cut the corner 4 ball (Wixy's Yellow) out to the end of A-baulk, and now he's having a big heave to H2 and H3.

Patel has the first peel, and has rushed back up the lawn.

He doesn't hang around, Samir. He's motoring now, and is at Hoop 6.

A struggle to see, but it looks like Jeff Soo's had a go at the 4b peel and it's taken too much wire. Anyway, there's still a clip on 4b, and Black is just south west of the hoop. Hard to tell whether he's tried it yet or not. I think he must have, but Brian doesn't.

Soo approaches H5

Patel has two peels done, and is for 2b

Soo is for 6, and wanting to peel black through 4b. He's not got the angle for a take off peel, so leaves it in place.

His 1b pioneer is at 4b, and he's got a couple of rushes coming up to get back under control

No early rover peel from Patel, and he heads towards 4b with red in peelable position.

Soo has had to roquet black out of its perfect position in order to get a rush to 1b. Still no peels

Samir's now on rover and rover.

Finally. Jeff rushes black away from 4b. He's for 2b and the 'peelee' is now at the peg.

Samir runs rover. Mulliner yawns and walks indoors. Nothing to see here.

Patel and Walters bt Rothman and Maloof +17TP (P)

Soo has given up all attempt at a peeling turn, and is running rover. Looks like a tight diagonal spread with the intention of finishing next turn

Another game has just started between Patel, Walters, Rothman and Maloof. I'm going to pretend to you that it hasn't started, because I want to go home.

Mark Ormerod is sat with me, and he says that his decider is going on too. That's going to be after my bedtime

So. The only game that I'm prepared to acknowledge is still underway on Lawn 4. Maugham is taking the lift at the diagonal from the end of A-baulk

Straight through the gap. Not happy with that. Stuart now has a finishing turn.

It had kind of stopped raining. Or maybe improved from rain to light rain. Hard to tell. But it's starting again now.

Lawrence rushes partner to the ball that's just off the west boundary. Centre balls the rush into the other ball.

Takes off along the boundary to get with difficulty the rush that should've been easy.

And he's now having to scoop off 4b from near penult.

He gives it up, and retreats to partner on the boundary near H2. Wixy takes, and misses, a long shot from north boundary to H4.

Stuart rushes partner off middle of the south boundary. Yellow is five yards away. He takes off to it and stops it to penult, trying a rush on red to 4b

The rush looks adequate.

An onlawn discussion to decide to approach sending red wired from yellow. Only relevant if you're going to approach the hoop badly enough not to try running it.

He gets position which is neither so bad to run away, or good enough to run the hoop easily. He fails the hoop.

Maugham plays to just outside corner 1.

Right. Here's where we are.

Yellow and Red are for 1 & 1. Black and Blue are for 4b & peg.

Yellow is near penult, red is just outside corner 1, blue is just off the end of A-baulk and black is dead on the wire of 4b.

And - huh?! - black seems to have hit in on blue. Did I miss a wiring lift or am I mad? Maybe Maugham became responsible for black's position, but it seems unlikely.

Either way, well done to Stuart.

(As a Brit, I'd be expected to be neutral, but it's 6.30, I'm cold and wet, and the American present my best chance to go home soon)

GO AMERICA!

U.S.A.!

U.S.A.!

Aw, darn. Stuart makes 4b, and leaves a load of balls at the end of A-baulk. Wixy is gathering his break.

He sneezes

He sneezes again.

No sign of the Mulliner - Ormerod / Hurst - Essick game starting. And in the game which I refuse to acknowledge is even happening, Walters is round to 4b with an OSL.

Maloof lifts and shoots from the end of A-baulk. He hits.

Wixy has run 1b, and is having another MSL.

Maloof is running 2, and will (I guess) go round with a diagonal spread.

Lawrence's 4b ball is on H2, and the plan must be to put the peg ball on H4.

And so it goes

Maugham and Wicks discuss the exact blade of grass for leaving the rush.

Maugham, for 1, could finish next turn with a triple. Lawrence, for penult, could finish with a two hoop break.

He's shooting corner 3 to corner 4

And taking off his waterproof jacket (madness!!)

A miss into corner 4

Maugham plays the drive out of corner 4 and gets a rush to hoop 1. Almost as if he's played this pickup before.

The hoop 2 pioneer is a bit deep, but it all looks healthy

I'm getting a bit shivery now. Bloody Manchester. Bloody summer.

Maugham plays the roquet on partner after hoop 1, and misses it by a mile (well, maybe just an inch). I think he dribbled at it and it drifted off.

He's joined with black, in what looks like a straight rush to penult.

Yep, Lawrence is approaching penult from three feet wide

Clip off, and a rush back to blue at hoop 3

Maloof is laying his diagonal spread. Though of course you're all now more interested in me getting home and going to Tesco's

Stuart has wellied that through rover, and has a sweaty return roquet. He middles it and just has to peg out.

Soo and Lawrence bt Maugham and Wicks +16

That's me done for the day. I'm off home. See you tomorrow xxx