Hi,

We're on the home stretch at the 2016 Solomon - just three rounds of doubles to play. The GB team have already crossed the winning line, and will retain the trophy. But there's still plenty of life left in the match.

I've beaten the traffic for the first time this week, and have arrived in time for the start. I'm caffeined up, and sitting outside the tent, for once, so I can see more of what's happening.

Essick-Hurst vs Maugham-Wicks are the first to strike a ball. Maugham is red, as ever, and he's put a ball in corner 2. Essick has hit on the third turn.

It's sunny today. But, bloody Sky, don't try and look innocent with your little fluffy clouds - I know what you're planning this afternoon.

Lawn 2 is out of use today. Alan, the ground manager is taking up the string boundary and seems to be doing some sort of ground managery work on it.

The lawns have played OK this week. They've been very wet, but drainage has been quite swift in the circumstances. Earlier in the season there was a lot of problem with the infestation of creepy crawlies. That's kinda under control, and the bumpiness has largely been resolved.

Bowdon handle these events very well, and the US entourage seem to be satisfied with the club. Especially the lunches.

On the first morning, before I arrived, a visiting choir from Knutsford High School sang the national anthems of both countries. I've received word they navigated their way well around the notoriously unsingable Star Spangled Banner.

If I was on the lookout for a new national anthem (which I might be), I'd pick something with easier intervals and a much smaller range. Satin Doll only has five notes, so might be a good choice. The words are gibberish though.

Back to the croquet. No progress in Soo-Lawrence vs Patel-Walters. Soo has the innings

Mulliner is going round, and is for 2b. NSL coming up

Essick had a swift ball round to 4b against Maugham and Wicks. Robert Hurst has just run 1 with a chance to dig something out.

There are blue skies in front of me. Because I'm wearing a hat, I hadn't look up. Grey clouds above us.

Hurst had a difficult approach to hoop 2, and got a rejection. Maugham shoots through yellow and misses, and Hurst carries on.

Maloof takes the shot from A baulk into Mulliner's NSL, missing and letting Ormerod take the rush to 1.

Soo has misapproached 3 and there are balls arrayed in a straight line down to the next corner. A discussion with Lawrence about where to bury Soo's red. I think he's hampered from shooting into corner 2, so he takes corner 3.

Walters hits and has three balls together near corner 4. There should be an easy rush to hoop 1 here, but he'll need a couple of good rushes to get the break out.

Hurst broke down at 4 and has retired to corner 3. Maugham has three balls very close together on the west boundary by hoop 1. He draws them out and looks like he's moving.

Ormerod makes 3, leaving partner blue behind at 4b. He takes off to red and yellow near corner 4, and stops two inches from the boundary. Applause from Wixy.

Mark gets the red out to 5 and rushes yellow into the back of 4. This may be one of those dinky shots where you unapproach the hoop by getting a running ball to bounce back out of the hoop. He calls Stephen on, and Colin Irwin is summoned to referee. Mulliner points at things.

Ooh lovely. Ormerod jabs at black, it hits full wire and bounces four inches out of the hoop. Yellow is a foot behind, and he runs 4.

On Lawn 1, Walters made one hoop and stopped. Stuart Lawrence is on the lawn - he took off from hoop 6 to corner 3, getting a rush on partner from behind the corner spot. He now has a laid break.

Back in Mulliner-Ormerod vs Rothman-Maloof - Ormerod does the work and sticks in 5. Rothman is running 1.

Maugham has done all the peels of a TPO on Matt Essick. Hurst is on 4 and Wixy is on 1. Maugham runs 4b

There's hammering from hoop 2, as Colin Irwin and Alan Mayne mark out the hoops for two half-sized lawns.

(I mean hammering from Lawn 2, not hoop 2)

Lawn 1 - Stuart Lawrence is round, and is setting up a reverse diagonal spread. Partner (Jeff Soo) is for hoop 3. David Walters is for 2 and Samir Patel has yet to start.

Lawn 3 - Essick's blue is off the ground. Maugham leaves WixY's YelloW in corner 2, and his red in corner 1. Hurst is for 4 with a contact.

Lawn 4 - Mulliner 4b, Ormerod 5, Maloof 1, Rothman in play and for 2b.

Robert Hurst takes off from corner 2 to corner 1, nudging the Yellow out about 4 yards. He rolls to hoop 4 and is short by three yards. Red is behind the hoop, and Matt and Robert discuss what to do. He takes position, and it's good enough to be wired from Maugham's red.

Maugham raises his mallet immediately. Wiring lift?

Samir has a blue and a pink to use as test balls.

I think that's wide enough open to drive a Volvo Estate past hoop 2, but I can't see well enough through the pile-up of players near corner 4.

Patel is still down on the ground.

Now there's a verdict. The Americans retire to a bench. Maugham looks disappointed, and there's a discussion about what to do.

Maugham shoots to the west boundary south of corner 2. Yellow is on the north boundary east of corner 2. Hurst smashes through 4 to the boundary.

Hurst takes corner 4, and Wixy reaches hoop1. He runs it and has a hampered forward rush.

Back on Lawn 1, Soo is in. He approaches hoop 4 into the jaws of hoop 4 (!). He's sent partner yellow up to 4b with an escape ball and is through 5. No forward rush, so it's a big split. Not enough beefiness in the backward ball, so he dribbles at the peelee. A miss, and Samir has a one foot rush on yellow to start.

Wixy places a clip on 3, leaving red well south of the hoop and with yellow on the boundary level with the hoop. Hurst shoots from corner 1 to the north boundary in front of 1b. Wixy hits red with yellow, and plays for a big heave to the hoop. It's unsuccessful, so he buries the yellow in corner 3.

Patel runs 2. There's a ball at 3 and he's got a full-length rush at partner in the middle of the south boundary.

Patel's rush on partner crashes into 5. A moan from the spectators, though not a disaster. It leaves him with a shallow hoop 4 pioneer. His rush after 3 look awkward as he's half-hampered. Less of a problem than he first thinks. He rushes behind oppo near the south, and it's a short rush to get back on track

Soo and Lawrence are on 6 and 4b, Walters is on 2.

David Maloof is on the lawn I struggle to see, as there are benches on my eyeline. He's done one peel on Rothman, and has rushed his ball back to penult after 2b. A good shot, and it's near enough for a long speculative go at the penult peel.

Maugham is laying a tight wired rush to 3. Hurst sits in corner 2.

The wind is rising and there are half-hearted shadows. It's getting cold and much greyer. I wouldn't be surprised if it rains very soon.

Patel has run 1b, and glued Stuart Lawrence's 4b ball onto the wire of Walters's hoop 2.

Wicks has rushed to corner 2, rushed to hoop 3, rushed back to corner 2 and has rushed to hoop 4. He hammers through the hoop and is approaching from straight but not very close. He gets full wire on the hoop.

Hurst is somewhere near the end of B-baulk. Red is south of the peg. He walks towards the red, expecting a hit. I almost hear it hit, but he looks surprised and disappointed.

This summarises Hurst's week. A lot of bad luck, and not quite being able to harness his confidence.

Maugham takes corner 3, and Hurst has another go at Yellow on the wire of 5. It's his hoop.

Oh no. He misses on the right (just), bouncing off the wire, circling right around it and landing a foot away. How that didn't hit I'll never know. Wixy can't run the hoop and can't see the black, so he goes to corner 4.

Soo and Lawrence are deep in thought. An NSL from Patel - lift the forward ball to stop black's progress, or lift the red for an easy break if it hits?

Stuart lifts the forward ball from hoop 2, taking the shot from the end of A-baulk.

Centre ball

Wixy and Maugham are now joined in corner 3. Hurst has shot into corner 1.

Clips are being cleared from lawn 4. That seems to be a +13tp (M) from Maloof and Rothman against Mulliner and Ormerod.

Wixy has rolled off hoop 5 (unsuccessfully) again. Black is north of the peg, and Wicks joins in corner 1, hitting his partner so leaving a reverse rush a yard apart on the south boundary.

I've swapped seats to retreat a couple of feet into the gazebo. The first spot of rain on my screen.

Hurst takes the middle of the east boundary. Wicks swaps over his balls and leaves a one foot rush along the south boundary with his yellow for 5.

Hurst shoots hard and skims across the back of hoop 5. He ricochets to the west boundary level with hoop 1. Wixy ignores him and approaches 5, running it easily.

Now Wicks rushes back to corner 1. He drives up to black for a rush to 6 and goes off. Red is inland south of 1b.

Hurst gets no meaningful rush, but does well to get a position square with hoops 1 and 5. He approaches and runs the hoop. Yellow is three yards north west of the peg, so a good roll will give him the advantage.

Good shot. This could be a finishing turn.

A good yellow at 2b, but a long approach to 1b. He overhits, and the clip is on the side. He shoots into corner 1.

Not sure I like that. He has red and yellow in front of him, 12 yards apart. If he'd taken a good wired position (which would have been easy there), he'd threaten to finish after oppo corners,

Maugham corners red at 3 anyway, and Hurst misses yellow, joining up with red.

Down here at lawn 1, Jeff Soo is making 3b. Yellow is rushpeelably close to 4b.

Maugham shoves Hurst's black down beyond 3b, rolling up to corner 2. Black is for 1b, and Wixy's Yellow is for 6.

Ben Rothman is having the first ball round on Lawn 4. He's for 3b, and there's a diagonal spread forthcoming.

Soo has the 4b peel, but with a croquet stroke rather than a rush. He's lining up some technical stuff to bombard yellow to penult.

He plays a roll, smacking yellow full-face with blue. Blue dies at 4b and yellow lands 2 yards past penult. Red glances black, so no chance of improving the position with a rush.

He gets a good rushline on yellow, but rushes into into the wire. The yellow clips not getting past penult this turn.

A rush back to blue after the hoop, so he can salvage a leave from this.

Hurst is in corner 3 again. Wicks has rushed to 1b and is running it from very close. He rushes three feet behind 2b.

Wicks makes 2b and hacks the red and yellow off the east boundary 10 yards apart. Hurst takes the lift from A-baulk at yellow in corner 4 and misses.

Soo has completed his diagonal spread with his clips on penult and peg. Walters is on 2 and Patel's on 4b. Patel is lifting his ball from the peg.

Rothman went to 4b. Mulliner hit and is running hoop 1.

Patel was bluffing when he went to take the lift. He walks off and sends Walters to have the shot. Walters misses oppo from the end of A-baulk

Wicks whizzes round the last four hoops and that's -

Maugham and Wicks bt Essick and Hurst +7tpo (Maugham)

There's an anguished cry from a spectator of "...The Peg..." as Stuart Lawrence dribbles his rush on partner into contact with the peg. It was all over, but it is now for Soo's ball.

It's peg and box against 2 and 4b, and Walters has a midlawn straight rush to 2. Partner is off the boundary near hoop 4.

Walters gets no position and he and Patel choose their blade of grass for the lay up.

Walters hits short, and lands on a different blade of grass. Lawrence is having this umpired.

A whistle from the crowd as he misses narrowly. Walters has a sweaty length to pick his yellow up. He'd be mad to shoot at a peg ball on the boundary, so he rolls partner over towards 2. Yellow is near corner 4.

At this point I switch to the tab where I'd already written in the score for this game. I carefully press 'Cancel'

Walters has a rush to 2 somewhere the other side of hoop 6. Lawrence takes tice position by hoop 1

Mulliner has done all the peels of a TPO on Rothman (that's three of them for anyone who doesn't understand a word of what I'm writing). He's just popped Maloof through hoop 1.

Mark Ormerod says that his partner's rate of play is now 'dangerously fast'.

Walters blobs 2 and Lawrence shoots at the two ball. It may have been a double, but he misses to somewhere behind hoop 2.

• balls

(I should explain that that last post was a correction from 'ball' to 'balls')

Walters is approaching 3, but with his partner ball still just alongside 2. He tries for control, but ends just too short for the rush back across. He rushes to an indeterminate spot, and gets somewhere in front of 5. He's rolling up to 4 with a view to retiring to partner.

Yellow is a foot off the boundary behind hoop 4. Blue is six inches alongside hoop 2. Black is on the north boundary between hoop 2 and corner 2.

Walters is now on 4 and Patel is still on 4b. Lawrence for peg alone.

Mulliner finished his TPO on Maloof but I'll concentrate on this game for the moment, if that's OK with you.

Yellow goes peghigh on the west boundary, and Samir is playing. He crouches to check his line. A much harder hit than is necessary for a seven yarder, but about half the speed I'd've taken it. Even so, I'd have missed.

He splits black to three yards inside of hoop 4, and hits yellow, stuffing it up behind 2. It goes off.

Blue and black are split by seven yards. Blue is level with the peg, and is Stuart's biggest target.

Yellow misses blue and is a yard north of corner 2.

Corner 4

The clouds are less murky than earlier, but we can hear rain against the roof of the tent. It's barely discernible two yards away out in the open.

A spirited exchange between Patel and Walters, with lots of gesticulation. Walters is shooting black at blue. A narrow miss and black is now half a lawn away.

Stuart misses blue, landing back behind hoop 2. He's now about 11 yards from black on the north boundary, with blue three yards east of the peg.

Walters shoots into corner 4 to block any shot from Lawrence.

Soo and Lawrence have their eyes on dribbling yellow into the middle of the lawn.

And so it is. Yellow is dribbled midway between hoops 1 and 2.

Samir shoots blue at black in corner 4

Thwack!

Patel isn't happy with his take off to yellow. It's four feet short, and leaves him with no useful rush on the ball. Not unless he thinks it's useful to put it by the bench that's next to the lawn.

He has an ambitiously thick take off, trying to get yellow wired from the peg behind hoop 2. Not quite, but still a max-length shot. Black now has a four foot rush to 4 from corner 4.

Yellow takes the east boundary, a bit north of the midpoint.

No progress from Maloof in the Mulliner TPO game. Ormerod and Maloof are both on 2.

Whistlin' Matt Essick has a break against Wicks and Maugham, and it's Hurst (2) and Essick (approaching 3b) against Maugham (1) and Wicks (3b)

Maloof hits - I think more or less corner to corner - and there's a round of applause from Rothman and Hurst in the hut by Lawn 4.

Walters plays a half-hearted rush to 5, approaches and fails. Black may be dead on the left wire, and blue has a rubbish target at it.

Yellow centres the blue ball, and that should be it.

Lawrence and Soo bt Walters and Patel + 13

Maloof has a straight roll approach to 2. He smacks it through. He's playing with Ormerod's ball (also for 2), and Mulliner's blue is just out of corner 4.

Crikey, that's a good roll. He had no rush out of corner 2, and gets dead in front of 2. He dribbles through.

...and middles the black.

He rolls a foot behind the blue and rushes it accurately into play at hoop 4. Black is on the boundary behind the hoop.

• sorry - another typo. Maloof ran 2 and rolled to 3. He didn't, as I claimed, approach hoop 2 twice.

Looking at Lawn 3, I can't believe the players put the balls in this position deliberately. They've broken for lunch, but all you need to know is that there are balls all over the place.

Maloof runs 6 and misses the return roquet. Blue and Black are about eight yards apart. Looking through the slats of the bench, we assume Ormerod has a hittable shot. He surely does, as he snicks it.

Ormerod runs 3. It looked not to be a gimme from here. He's rolling to the yellow in the middle of the south boundary so he can shove it somewhere obstructive.

Patel - Walters - Soo - Lawrence has started rather than breaking for lunch. Lawrence has had a take off that's dropped off the edge, and there's a lot of jockeying for position. Black (I guess that's Walters) is for 2. GB have the innings.

Walters runs 2, rushing partner back into the wire of 2 from behind. Red and Yellow have a very tight rush out of corn 4, and it's uncertain whether he can get any angle to reach them.

Another typo from me. I trust most of you to know the difference between corn and corner.

Walters manages that take off OK, and has a cannon out of corner 4 going to hoop 3.

Ormerod has run 5 with Maloof's yellow a foot out of corner 1.

A fair effort from Walters. He gets yellow four yards from hoop 3 and red well out into play behind hoop 4. He approaches well and is all set up.

Ormerod has laid up at 1b (his and Maloof's hoop). Maloof is in the first corner.

Rothman comes onto the lawn for the first time. He's carrying his mallet for some reason.

Ah. He's placed the mallet to mark a position for Maloof to shoot at (rather than using the international standard of a foot)

Maloof takes the middle of the east boundary and Mulliner gets Ormerod to jaws himself in 1b. I guess that's a 100% wired position.

After a lot of discussion, yellow goes to the south boundary. Mulliner plays into a wired position in front of 1b ready for a rushpeel.

A bit of action for me, as I'm called on to umpire David Maloof's shot. He opts to shoot at the hoop-bound black at his hoop. He just misses the hoop, and inexplicably hits the completely wired blue. That could be terminal for the Brits.

Maloof finishes, and - is etiquette dictates - pegs out Mulliner's ball to narrow the scores.

Maloof and Rothman bt Mulliner and Ormerod +7otp

Walters on lawn 1 has taken his break to 4b. Soo has failed hoop 2 off partner. Patel has blasted through hoop 1 with no balls nearby. He plops through by a foot, and there are still no balls nearby. Blue and Black (GB) are closeish together at 4b and corner 3. Soo is taking off to them from behind hoop2. He just stays on the lawn. A nice opportunity to get going.

Soo's hoop 3 ball is barely through. He plays on, but misses the forward roquet after the hoop. Clip on 4.

Red (Soo) is now a bit joined up with Blue (Patel). Each is three yards from hoop 4, with the hoop nearly but not quite in the way.

Patel blasts through 2 and gets another ball that only wriggles through. He has no available roquet, so shoots across to hoop 3. Soo and Lawrence have an embarrassment of six yard shots so don't know which to take.

I'm going to leave you there, as I still haven't eaten.

I'm typing with one finger as I eat. Hurst has gone to peg with a reverse diagonal spread. Maugham has shot south-north through Wicksy ball at the peg, missing into B-baulk. And that's let Matt Essick in.

Essick and Hurst bt Maugham and Wicks +18

This is interesting. Patel has missed a rush after 4 to leave his ball on the north boundary. Red and Yellow have joined up behind hoop 4 and Walters's black is right in front of hoop 6.

Instead of shifting Black from hoop 6 (Jeff Soo's hoop), Patel has played the 10+ yarder from the boundary. He hits. Aggressive.

Samir has pulled the break out (it wasn't too hard), and is for 3b now. Partner is on 4b. Soo is on 6 and Lawrence hasn't scored yet.

He's piling the balls up around 4b, and there may be a peeling effort in a moment.

Meanwhile, Matt Essick is round. He's laid an NSL and Maugham has shot through, missing yellow, missing blue and missing black. Robert Hurst is on the lawn.

For the first time in days, he may have loosened up a bit after that last game.

Patel has overhit his one foot rush at 4b by about 50% (i.e. two balls' width). That's knocked this straight triple on the head.

Instead, he's parked Lawrence's yellow on the upright of 4b. He's deep in thought as he works out where to rush black to.

A curious position in the Hurst game. He's pumped red into play and then gone off near partner. So it looks exactly like it did pre-lift, but with red in a sort of long duffer ticey position.

Wixy takes a wiring lift with the yellow that was plugged into hoop 4, and smacks it hard. Oof.

Patel is finishing his turn. Yellow is hidden from baulk on the wire of 4b. Red is very close to the south side of the peg, crosswired from yellow. Patel and Walters discuss where to leave the rush, but it's going to be somewhere near hoop 4.

Wixy has got this out, and he's run 2. Essick on 4b, the others on 1.

Walters has a rush pointing right at the pegbound red, which won't rush anywhere northwards.

It also won't rush to 1. Lawrence is taking the lift, but it'll be hellish to get a rush on partner.

I managed it once, and on this lawn. I hit the peg ball as hard as I could and it rebounded about three yards back at me.

Even so, it split the peg into two like a peeled banana.

It would have broken anyway

Walters cannons the red off the peg, and cuts it up towards 4b. Probably good enough, but a long straight roll up.

I was too wrapped up in my own anecdote to say that Lawrence missed the lift before Walters took the rush.

His roll to 4b went OK, but he took full left wire and landed two feet from red. Soo has a nasty position in front of six and has a mahoosive jump through.

Soo now has a three ball break which should go round to equalise.

On t'other lawn, Wixy has an MSL. 1& 4b vs 1 & 4b

Hurst shoots and misses.

Maugham has a chance of a finishing turn.

David Walters is sitting alone on the bench at the far end of the far lawn (lawn 2). Patel is sitting in the clubhouse. Stuart Lawrence is standing here in the sunshine watching the game with his hands in his pockets.

Maugham is off the lawn already. He got no rush, and Essick is having a leave for partner. He's left red at hoop 1 and now he's tying his shoelaces.

He's occupying corner 4 and stuffing Wixy's yeller out towards...

...towards...

...hoop2. Obvs.

He's left it very close, and slightly behind the hoop. He's lining up to give black a rush back at it.

Soo has a New-Style New Standard Leave. The ball on hoop 4 is a ball's width wide of the hoop, so is fully rushable somewhere. The fourth ball is in the middle of the left hemisphere of the lawn.

Walters takes the midlawn ball and shoots from where it lies at the hoop 4 ball. He snicks it off the wire.

Hurst has the first hoop. His split to 2 and 3 is a bit short, but it look OK

The sun's in and Stuart is putting on his Hurlingham Club sweatshirt.

Most of the US team are off to Cheltenham for the Opens tomorrow. Stuart Lawrence is taking a holiday to Scotland. Around the Highlands via Edinburgh.

No peeling yet from Hurst, though he's certainly thinking about it. He's for 5 now with everything placed ready.

There's a crash of thunder somewhere behind us. The weather hasn't decided yet whether to rain on us.

David Walters pegs out, and that's Walters and Patel bt Soo and Lawrence +17

Hurst has partner jawsed at 4b, but just slithers through 6 with black. There's nothing he can see except the half ball at the peelee. Mulliner umpires and Hurst misses.

Maugham has a nine yarder to get the innings back.

The decider on Lawn 1 has gone straight on. Lawrence has a Corner Two opening, and Samir shoots at partner. A bouncy shot which lands on top of black. I expect he'll pull the yellow out and leave a rush.

Maugham can get going if he can roll off hoop 1 from the end of A-baulk

Full right wire from Maugham, and he lands over towards the boundary. That may be a safe ball, so Matt should probably join up at hoop 2.

Clearly nearer than I thought while Maugham and Wicks were blocking my view. Essick hits Maugham's red without a second thought.

A few spits of rain on my screen. Disconcertingly, I have my laptop angled so the screen acts as a mirror.

I am a very vain person.

Soo puts the fourth ball on the lawn, taking corner 2. Walters starts his break.

Hurst and Essick were for 1b and 4b. Essick runs 4b and proceeds towards the peg.

Matt has left red and yellow crosspegged and has left a rush from corner 4 middlewards.

Maugham hits from A-baulk into corner 4.

Phwoooaaarrrrr. Maugham rolls up to the yellow at the peg, landing in contact with the peg. His red gently curls anticlockwise round the peg to give a rush to 1.

Classic

Wixy, Brian Storey and I are watching Dave's progress. Wixy says there are few players in the world you'd trust more that Maugham to finish off a triple from this position. It's like watching a Bentley cruising effortlessly up to speed.

... though Dave doesn't have a hand-stitched leather interior.

Walters has enclipped 4b. Another NSL and another shot from Jeff Soo down the long boundary.

The sun is now quite warm, and Brian has just donned his sunhat.

Patel blobs hoop 1 off his partner.

Maugham makes sure of his penult peel (after hoop 6). The peelee is about three yards from the end of A-baulk.

No problemo, as he rushes blue right at the yellow. He's got blue behind 2b and has taken off to the hoop. Red sails through, and he puts blue to 4b rushing yellow a foot dead in front of rover. Quality stuff here.

Lawrence hit in after Patel stuck in 1. He's misapproached hoop 2, and has shot to partner in corner 4. He quits the lawn with a six inch rush pointing up the lawn. Black and blue are close to hoops 2 & 3.

Maugham and Wicks bt Essick and Hurst + 7tp (M).

Some discussion here why Maugham pegged out Essick's peg ball. It narrows the score by one. What other explanation do you need?

The test stands at 16-4 in GB's favour, with the final game in progress on Lawn 1.

The Opens at Cheltenham, starting tomorrow, are played under the new Super Advanced rules. This will be the first venture into the experimental format for the Americans.

The big difference between this and that is that there's an extra lift hoop at hoop 4. There's a contact for taking the first ball past 1b, and a lift-to-absolutely-anywhere-you-like for going beyond 4b. It gives the game an extra lift and makes players focus more on tight leaves than sloppy breaks.

Maybe that has had an effect on the quality of play among the Brits.

Several things count in our favour as hosts, not least of which is the misery of being away from home and running out of dry socks after it's rained for four days.

Great Britain is a small island, and it's possible to play a lot of croquet at clubs which are close together over the course of the summer. In the States, it's very expensive to find as much competitive play.

There has been some comment about the difference between the UK scene and the US scene this week. In a land dominated by country clubs, the culture of club croquet in the States is very different from here where members roll up their sleeves and help with lunches or hoop-setting or grass-mowing

... Patel makes 2b, rushing the peelee up from 2b to peelable position at penult. He jawses it and rushes back down to the south boundary.

... The point is that a little sport in a little country allows more chance to develop than a little sport in a big country. The US scene has improved in the 30 years since I've been observing, but events like this, and next week's team visit to Cheltenham, can only help North American croquet to grow further.

Samir makes 3b and takes off into contact with the peelee on the south side. It doesn't move, but he has to take off to get a rush to 4b. The peelee still doesn't move.

Samir gets a bad angle and has to cutrush black down to rover. It comes along the line to hoop 4, and he puts it into position with a thick takeoff.

A slight overhit with the striker's ball, and underhit on black. He manages to get his blue through penult, but black's a yard wide of rover.

He's one good shot away from this

... and that's the shot. He's peeling from 18 inches dead in front of rover.

Both balls through cleanly.

That's yer lot. Samir Patel and David Walters bt Jeff Soo and Stuart Lawrence +25tp (P).

A captain's innings giving GB17 - USA 4

That's all from me, folks. David Walters collects the clips from the hoops, and the club officials move the presentation table onto the lawn. Handshakes to follow.

Thanks for listening and I'm signing off. I hope you've enjoyed following the commentary.

Bye xxx