Hi All,

Will be providing a commentry for lawn 1 and 2 - with some updates of the other lawns.
Lawn 1; Ian Dumergue and Stephen Forster v James Death and Jamie Burch
Lawn 2 ; Robert Fletcher and Malcolm Fletcher v David Maugham and James Hopgood.

Practice started at 8.35 ( 20 mins ) - perfect still day , no cloud , current temp is 26/78, new hoop holes , they appear firm but difficult to tell how harder they are to run than the practice day hoops - till the players can run them strength after the warm up

lawn 3 ; Shilling / Hogan v Soo / Lawrence
Lawn 4 ; Garrison / Hakes v Rothman / Maloof
Lawn 5 ; Mulliner / Patel v Hockey / G Fletcher
Lawn 6 ; Chapman / Clarke v Hunneycutt / Morgan

Lawn 1 , toss won by England - James (JD )super shot ( black ) 2 yards W hoop 5, Stephen (SF) to maximum distance E bndry ( red)Jamie ( JB)misses from Cnr 3 to Cnr 4( blue)
Ian ( ID)hits with yellow onto red from a baulk

Lawn 2, identical opening as lawn 1 with Aus going first and Malcolm hitting from Cnr 3

Lawn 2, Malcolm underway on a controlled 3rd turn , through hoop 2 , but hampered .
Lawn 1, ID through hoop 1 , hoop 2 load west and slightly north of hoop , no forward rush , plays the testy croquet shot big, black load is 5 yards north east of hoop and yellow travels out half a yard from Cnr 2 .
Lawn 2 , Malcolm misses hampered shot - JH hits the 7 yarder 4th ball on at hoop 3

Lawn 1 JD misses into Cnr 4. SF hits the 6 yarder , takes off to Cnr 4 misses 6 yarder
Lawn 2 JH through hoop 1 with break ahead

Lawn 1 , JD taps red and rushes blue to Cnr 2 ish , has a 2 yard takeoff or a delicate split to get the rush to 1

Lawn 1 JD rush facing hoop 3 , cuts it to 2 yards E of middle of A baulk

Lawn 1 , JD rolls hoop , runs 1.5 yard hoop clean , sends yellow to 5 yards NE from 3 and cuts blue towards hoop 2 , 4 yard roll , runs hoop

Lawn 2 , JH tight break under control , through hoop 5 - setting partner at 2 back

Lawn 2 , JH sets a NSL , black and blue both about 8-10 inches from hoop 2, 4 - rush on yellow facing line Nth of 1 - 13 yards Nth Cnr 4.
MF lifts blue from 4 shoots from Cnr 3 , misses inside , finishes in Cnr 4

Lawn 1, JD sets DS , red tight at peg , yellow 6.5 yards Sth hoop 2 .
SF lifts red , shoots from Cnr 3 , misses inside and 1 foot nth Cnr 4

Lawn 1 , JB through 1 with control
Lawn 2 , DM break under control , peels yellow through 4back from 18 inches

Lawn 1', JB peels 4back from 2 yards with rush to 6

Lawn 2, DM peels penult at 6 ,, sets rover going to 2 back , jawses rover with tight control going to blue 2 yards N 3 back .
Rushes to the 4 inch spot due Nth hoop 3 back , take off give some him a 1 yard hoop and plays the slight angle well for hoop and roquet

Lawn 1 , JB finishes - game 1 England +25TP
Lawn 2 , DM finishes - game 1 England + 24TP

Quick trip around the other lawns ( hopefully correctly remembered )
Lawn 3 - Chris and Joe , I haven't seen out of the chair , Stuart finishes - game 1 +26TP ?
Lawn 4 , USA 2 and 4 back , Toby with break , but I see Ben back on court , so unsure if it's from lift hit or error.
Ben lining up penult peel at 6
Lawn 5 Simon and Greg in control , with Greg playing second break - Samir and Stephen M on 1 and 1
Lawn 6 Paddy and Jenny in control

Lawn 2, DM supershot 2.5 yards Nth W hoop 5, Aus maximum distance E bndry , JH hits from Cnr 3 - embarks on controlled 3 turn

Lawn 1 - SF supershot 3 yards Nth W hoop 5 , ENG maximum distance E bndry , ID hits from A baulk , splits well to load hoop 2 and nice rush position to 1 - edges the rush , plays an ok take off - but runs a great 2 yarder with angle in controlled pace , hits 6 yarder on black also with nice controlled pace , which gives a good load to 3 croquet position

Lawn 1; ID runs hoop 4 , break under control - unsure if Ian is. A3 duck man or a defensive leave man .
Both James and Jamie are good shots so distance achievement is critical - game down , I think I am preferring the defensive leave , take the clean hit from 3rd corner as a bonus that may buy you that shot back , if anything the courts that appear very flat , do have some curl on the edges

Lawn 2 , JH sets 3 ducks , RF shooting from B baulk, misses

Lawn 1 , ID through 2back - walks and consults with Stephen - looks like 3 ducks

Lawn 2 ; DM peels 4back by 1.5 yards from 18inches at hoop 3, break under control at 4

Lawn 1, ID finishes a quality break , 3rd turn and leaves a tidy distance 3 duck leave.
JD shooting from Cnr 1 - misses the bndry ball by a foot and a half , an exasperated " oh dear " as it leaves the mallet .
Glad he set the ducks :-)

Lawn 1 ; SF through hoop 1 , loads 3 , approaches 2 from 6 inches , runs hoops and rushes behind the red that is 1.5 yards E of Cnr 2.

Lawn 1 , SF makes hoop 3 , looks at the peel going to the Cnr 2 ish ball , dismisses it , loads 5 going to 4 .
Misses hoop 4
JD taps on and loads black to 3 , rush on blue cuts nicely to hoop 1

Lawn 2 , DM peels rover at rover to finish +26TP and match 2-0

Lawn 1, starts TPO , peels 4back at 3 and penult at 6 , rover going to 2 back

Lawn 1, JD finishes TPO - leave is yellow ( Jamie's ball ) cnr 2 and James ball retires to Cnr 1 .
Clips are James D , peg,
Jamie hoop 1 and Stephen for hoop 4

Lawn 1, Stephen takes croquet from yellow in Cnr 2 , sends it towards 5 , has a 4.5 yarder into Cnr 1 .
Hits centre ball , rolls to hoop 4 and has a 2.5 straightish hoop ( 15 degrees )
Hits left leg.

Lawn 1, JD turns down the 5 yarder - shoots through yellow west of 5 , misses towards Cnr 2

Lawn 1, Stephen shoots and red , 30 yards and narrowly misses .
JD sets black to Nth E of hoop 3, lays trap in Cnr 1 .
Stephen shooting at the live ball 26+ yards , narrow miss .
JB hits 2 yards onto black loads it mid court distance between 1 and 2 , holds rush to 1.
Runs 1 with control

Lawn 1, JB plays a good croquet stroke to load 3 , nice rush to 2 , goes slightly Nth of 2, take off gets some hill , minor and still should run ok.
Nope - parks it in the jaws - first error from the English pair and a timely one for Stephen to get back in the match , rushes yellow to 7 yards Sth hoop 2, great take off to get a rush on red to hoop 4 - over cuts it and has a 14 yard straight roll in .

Lawn 1, great roll , runs a good 1.5 yard hoop , cuts to W bndry , , loads 6 and has a cut rush to 3 yards Nth hoop 5 .

Lawn 1, take off is played perfect ( some movement around the hoops on soft shots ) runs controlled hoop , loads 1 back , good control at 6 , runs hoop long and rushes red Sth of rover . Will still need a good takeoff back to 1 back while loading 2 back .

Approaches 2b from 3yds west, lands 2ft position runs it to the boundary with a rush.

Break back under control. Approaching 4b.

Stephen pegs out to win game 2 +13OTP

Lawn 1, game 3 - adjourning for lunch .

Lawn 5, Simon and Greg are penult and hoop 4, Stephen M on break and Samir on 1

Lawn 5, Stephen M missed the pegout after the DPO turn, didn't see the interaction or the leave , but Greg F controlled a break to win game 2 +14 and the Match 2-0

Test Score
AUS 1 - ENG 1 , 1 game all match 3 , which is about to resume on lawn 1 after the lunch break.

Lawn 1,James Death (JD ) red supershot 3 yards west hoop 5 and 1 yard north , Stephen Forster ( SF ) to maximum distance east bndry, Jamie Burch (( JB) misses , Ian Dumergue ( ID) misses double from B baulk.
JB through hoop 1 on set break

Lawn 1, JB break running neat and through hoop 6

Lawn 1, JB sets a DS , blue tight at peg, Black floating between hoop 2 and boundary and 4 yard south - SF lifts black , shoots from Cnr 3 .
SF hits the bndry ball - great lift hit, the Bbaulk shot on lawn 1 is a bit curly , he played it at a good pace to keep it on line long enough

Lawn 1, leaves red where it ended behind hoop 4, takes off to yellow loads hoop 2 but concentrates on getting the rush to hoop 1 with the tight set peg leave blue ball, slight hampered after hoop 1- copes well , loads 3 , rushes to hoop 2 and has a well set break ahead

Stephen takes break to 4 back, sets NSL, JD lifts red from near 2 and shoots from A baulk - misses by 6-7 inches , nearly tickles yellow as it passes hoop 4

Lawn 1, ID rushes red up east boundary , splits it towards 2 , past hoop 6 , taps onto blue and has a 5 yard takeoff to yellow - rush is facing nth of 6, cuts it well to 2 yards west of hoop 1, rolls and has a 1 yard straight hoop

ID, setting the break up nicely with peelee and yellow both at hoop 3 area, while having a controlled rush to hoop 2.

ID peels 4back by an inch - good peel from where he payed it , hoop 5 load perfectly placed and is inches from front of hoop 4

ID playing at a high level concentrating pace well aware of the honours of this game gives a win for the day , for their team.
ID runs hoop 6 , peels penult to near peg high

ID peels rover going to 2 back

ID has a bit of work to do at 3 back after edging the 4 yard rush to the hoop , plays a good split / thick takeoff and runs a 1.8 yard 15 degree hoop with control - all nicely set at penult and 4 back to make the final three hoops

Ian Dumergue make s the last hoops to win the match for Australia - a great triple and a great comeback win from 1 game down and 1 break down in the third .
Summary of the match - while Australia made some crucial errors early and set them back in game 1 and was looking like going down 2 straight quite quickly , England had a match turning error on a break to close it out , looked confident at the start of the third , but missed the vital roquet .

See you all tomorrow .