Good morning world - it's a lovely bright sunny day, little clouds scattered in the sky. I'll be with you all day.

The players are out on lawn 1 - Ahmed Nasr's 3rd consecutive match on there, but it's a pretty sensible lawn, with no significant deviations

Both players are on the lawn practising. Gentle hoop running here, with a referee stalking around to watch. Nope - Ahmed runs hoop 6 off the boundary. I hope Felix doesn't let this get to him. Felix is the better hoop runner from distance and would not want the hoops made easier.

Felix practising shooting - in the middle!

And a new innovation - it looks like we have scoreboards!

There's a solid kiwi contingent supporting the U21 world champion, and I'd expect the Egyptians to start getting vocal if Ahmed gets a lead. Definitely useful to get away to a good start here.

Really good management here - the first semi starting in about a minute, the second semi starting at 1pm - a feast for the crowd who will get to watch both.

Predictions: mine are 3-0 to Felix - I think Ahmed will get nervous here against the talented kiwi. Hamy, maybe 3-2 against Reg. Reg has played some fantastic shots, and almost ran 1back with a jump shot from the 1/2 5/6 offside marker yesterday, but his shooting and some hoop running hasn't been top.

Send your predictions, thoughts, questions and feedback to [email protected].

Many thanks for the kind words from lots of readers - it's good to have some positive feedback to keep things going here

Game 1: Felix v Ahmed

Felix has won the toss!

darn it - first error - was watching Ahmed looking at red!

Ahmed plays blue in, but it's short!

Red takes good position, black takes decent position, yellow is a bit long

Blue clears red - so Felix is well in hoop 1

Red clears black to the east boundary, and it plays back

Nope - yellow went too far to have a crack at the hoop, and Felix plays in tight

Blue and black are near the south boundary.

This match is going to have some interaction bewteen the players. With Felix standing near hoop 5, Ahmed tells him to move away - then misses a powerful shot at yellow?hoop 1? which ends up halfway down lawn 4

Red clears black to the south boundary - it was a bit in, and probably had a shot at the hoop.

Black smashes up the lawn - yellow cleared off the west boundary next to 1, and black is in the middle of lawn 4 again. Felix well in control at hoop 1 now.

waits for Ahmed to replace black, and takes good position at hoop 1. Ahmed will have two thrashes from the north buondary

Number 1: Blue looks to have flicked hoop 1 and is now near corner 1

red plays into position and Ahmed concedes the hoop, going to halfway with black

Felix leads 1-0

Runs hoop 1 with yellow up towards the north boundary. It wicked off the wire to give a bit of width, so Ahmed shouldn't be able to take wired position too easily. Yellow is about a yard south of the boundary

Blue plays up short, red comes in next to blue, and easily cleared to the east boundary

black takes position - goes a bit wide, and it's a free shot for Felix...

Felix opts to clear blue - best decision, as it was long, but pretty straight

Blue coming up from the west boundary about 5 yards up. Big swing... misses.

Felix runs a 3.5 yard hoop 2, takes a 2-0 lead. That'll quiet the Egyptian supporters and could easily rattle Ahmed. He's a double world champion though, so is made of tougher stuff than most

Felix leads 2-0

Good reply by Ahmed, - takes excellent position at hoop 3. Yellow shoots - misses.

Blue into slightly longer position. Red shooting... nails it centre ball!

Ahmed plays black back up - it looks a bit angled. Felix shooting from the short boundary... middles blue towards the halfway point between hoops 1 and 2

Great to have Tony Hall here catching everything I miss (and a lovely cup of coffee too - thank you :) )

Blue plays back... it's short!!

Red clears black to the middle of the north boundary. There is a very present referee for this match, and he's watching carefully

Black takes good position blocking red.

Yellow dribbles back - misses.

Blue tries to dribble in blocking red - fails, and red has a 3-4 yard dribble at hoop 3 (or black to clear it). Misses everything, and he's offside now

Black smashes through hoop 3, and it slides past hoop 4 to the south boundary. There'll be a huge wired spot available here.

It looks like Felix has nailed it - yellow is about 2.5 yards back and looks to be wired from black

Felix leads 2-1 by the way

Blue plays inside yellow - not blocking, but good position.

Red traipsing over to the west penalty spot - fabulous shot to 6 inches inside blue!

Black was indeed wired and dribbles up to nowhere.

Yellow has a free go at the hoop with red blocking blue... hits it beautifully. Felix leads 3-1

Blue takes good position at hoop 5. Red is short. Black plays in to try to block the shot at yellow - it's open though

Felix from the south boundary with yellow...

A rare miss.

It looks like blue isn't runnable, so he's clearing red to the east boundary - might have got the block with blue in that shot - nope - Felix casting..

Flicks blue.

Ahmed checking that hoop five is firm. He had three tapped down, and is having the packing material tidied up, and now having black cleaned. He's looking a bit nervy here. Having a hole in front of hoop 5 fixed now, I think.

While we're waiting for that - my match with Reg... there was a big clearance shot that may or may not have resulted in a ricochet through hoop 11 for me. Two players standing directly behind recknoed it went through. Apparently the gallery don't think it did. I look forward to finding out from Sherif's video what actually happened. The two with ostensibly the best view reckon it was through. Apologies to Reg if it wasn't!

Anyway, back to the action... ground repaired... easy hoop - huge slap... rejection!!

Yellow plays up into lovely tight position.

Blue has a slap at yellow - clears it getting into the front of the jaws (angled though).

Felix has conceded hoop 5, and played towards the peg (either that or he's making sure Ahmed can't just jaws blue - I thought he might use black to nudge it into the middle, but he has taken position with black

Felix (yellow) has a solid thrash to try to clear blue... nudges it through the hoop! Felix leads 3-2

Blue plays up to 2.5 yard position.

Red clears blue centrally - moment of concern as blue travelled perilously close to the hoop

Red not in position

Black plays up, goes a bit angled

Yellow follows and is directly behind black and about 4 inches away

Blue plays in front of the hoop, and red will clear this

Red clears - hitting blue very centrally, however red skipped up and has travelled on a bit also - to about the peg

Black stops yellow away. Black is runnable, but a bit longish and angled

Yellow plays in, and blue takes position.

bit surprised he didn't clear something.

Red clears black, which misses the return from the north boundary at yellow. He was lucky he even had a shot at it, as Felix cut it well!

So black is now on the south boundary, and Felix runs hoop 6 with yellow Felix leads 4-2

Blue takes good position, red plays in a bit long, but straight enough, black plays back up - might have been trying for a block from a huge distance, probably just putting another ball in there.

Felix shooting with yellow from the middle of the north boundary. Misses.

Ahmed slams through hoop 7. These are very quick players! Feilx leads 4-3

A real strength Felix has is his ability to run hoops down to the next hoop - Ahmed smashes it off the boundary and relies on taking good position and following it up with a powerful clearance from whichever boundary he's sitting on

Red takes long position - about 3 yards

After a quick drink, Ahmed "The Butcher" Nasr is striding up to his black near the north boundary. (I've been told by a few people that that's his nickname in his home country)

Right - black plays in, yellow plays in. blue can see red... swinging..

Misses. Ahmed hasn't hit much so far.

Chris Clarke is up at the courtside shelter providing a supporting presence and trying to share some of his outrageous quantities of luck with Felix. The kiwi lads who aren't in play are very visible in black next to the shelter also.

Felix has a go at hoop 8 for an important lead - rejected straight back!

Ahmed to equalise with black... little tap to firm up the hoop, and slams black through 4-4

Yellow takes decent position at hoop 9 - wee bit long and slight angle, but easily in Felix's range.

Blue shooting at yellow from the north boundary near corner 2. Looks quite sweet as he hops up and down after blue just shaves past yellow - that looked a very good shot

Bit of collaboration as they work out exactly where blue should be replaced.

Red plays in to straight position, and black plays a beauty in to block yellow's shot at the hoop. Felix will clear that rather than going for heroics at this stage of the competition.

Stops black past the peg, doesn't hold position, but Blue's going to take on the hoop

As well as both players and a yellow-shirted referee, we also have Sherif Abdelwahab with his gyroscopic camera. He's a very nice chap who has a very gentle presence, and makes a great ballboy while he's filming. I'm looking forward to seeing the videos from this event.

Meanwhile, Blue takes in its angled hoop from the boundary - nails the near wire and sits there.

Felix casting.. runs a lovely hoop 9, to take a very important 5-4 lead. Red looks like it had no wire and it is quite wide now

And well east - important that, as it gives him a good clearance on black

Black plays up. Yellow takes beautiful position. Blue plays up, and red clears black to the west boundary - another excellent strong clearance. Still looks like a very controlled swing though - that stability and power is a trademark of Felix's technique.

Ahmed shooting back.. misses!

Felix runs hoop 10, Felix Webby leads game 1 6-4

Blue into good position at hoop 11. Red follows a little deeper, but still very good position.

Black plays in - maybe looking for a block, but didn't get it - it's in position though

Felix shooting from two yards through hoop 9...peels blue!!! That's really unlucky. Felix leads 605

6-5

Good spot Tony - we have no clips today (good!!!).

Blue plays down, but it's short. Red plays in tighter, black half the distance to the hoop again, and yellow has taken a beautiful position in front of the hoop

There's just nowhere to clear red to that Felix can't hit, so Ahmed dribbles blue in behind - a really good shot

I'm not sure if black can see the hoop, but it looks like there might be some opportunity to rush red to hamper black

nope - sorry - it's red to play. There's very little he can do

Plays the very hampered little nudge - to directly behind black - perfect shot!!! - Big fist from Webby.

Tony Hall is lept onto his white horse and is off to ask the tournament referee to ask the refs on call to MARK THE SODDING BALLS!! (my words, I find this very frustrating)

Ahmed manages to play his own hampered stroke very well, and clears yellow away from the hoop. Yellow clears blue to the north boundary.

Blue shooting.. misses ... 4-5 foot hoop for game 1 - nicely played Felix wins game 1 7-5

Great results - really great... Jim Clements, tournament referee, on the lawn, discussing with the referee - hopefully explaining to him what those little plasticy things in his pocket are for.

While the hoop setter visits each hoop, here's an email from a reader:
"Tony Hall has had 6 knees - 2 originals and 4 replacement joints. Plus a new patella.
Since the elephant is the only animal with 4 knees, I'd say Tony Hall is the most remarkable creature on Earth !"

I agree entirely - he is remarkable, and a gentleman with it.

Game 2: Felix Webby v Ahmed Nasr, Felix leads the match 1-0

Ahmed, having had a wee chat with coach Khalid Younis, starts game 2. Decent position with black - about 2.5 yards back.

blue. He played blue in. hopeless start

Red... centreballs blue - both off the west boundary.

A few people have asked why the players hit the ball so hard that both go off the boundary - the reason is that if your own ball doesn't get off the boundary too, it can be cleared to a zillion miles away!

black into 5 yard position, yellow follows deeper, and blue plays in tight.

Red clearing... misses!

Black dribbles down towards yellow - hills a bit, and it's open. Was hit a good direction, but the lawns aren't perfectly flat and they're fairly quick

Yellow clearing - oh no! - he has rush-peeled Ahmed again! Ahmed Nasr leads 1-0

Nasr takes good position at hoop 2 with blue. Red and black play up

Black doesn't seem to have got position to block, and yellow is shooting - looks like he had a double, as he bounces off the inside wire of hoop 2 - so close!

Referee on with his hammer.

Easy hoop here, and he slams blue through Ahmed Nasr leads 2-0

Felix needs a good positional shot here to catch up... but red is too far - better too far than too close, but it will mean a competition for hoop 3

Black to deep straight position. Yellow is short, but runnable, and blue is just short.

Red clearing black...

good shot - red goes off the north boundary directly in front of hoop 3, and black is outside the first offside marker

Black clears yellow. Another huge thrash though, and blacks off the south boundary, with yellow playing back in from the east boundary. Since blue doesn't look runnable, the best he could have hoped for there was the in-off, though his luck has been such it was on!

Yellow plays back in, and Ahmed is taking on a horribly angled long hoop. I've seen him run some short impossible looking ones, but this looked well difficult.

Decent shot, but it is rejected back at him by the far wire. Red takes good position, and yellow will be clearing blue.

Black shoots back from south boundary - looks like it might have gone through hoop 3 the wrong way - close

Fantastic clearance from Felix - blue is now a yard south of hoop 1!!! Yellow is near hoop 2

Blue shoots back - bounces off the hoop

Felix stabs at a shortish angled hoop - sticks in the jaws!!

Ahmed is in good jumping position from his blue hitting hoop 3, and tries to put in a block. Fails to get the block, but Felix needs to clear wtih yellow from corner 2. Shoots.. misses

Blue for the jump. Egyptians used to be pretty bad at jumping, but in recent years have mastered that side of the game very well. Their hoops are notoriously hard to jump through

Red removed from the jaws, hoop firmed up, here we go...

I reckon red's coming through also ...

No... poor alignment from Ahmed, and he hits the near wire and bounces back harmlessly.
It's hampered, and the ref is on. He STILL doesn't know what the plastic things are for - retraining time for your refs please Jim C

Felix runs hoop 3 by 7 yards.

Ahmed plays down with black - ti's very tight and angled, but probably easily runnable.

Yellow plays in to good position, and blue comes down

Shooting ... bonk! Almost certainly wired from yellow now!

People behind me suggesting the referee isn't standing in the right place to adjudge strokes. He doesn't really look like he's keen to make any rulings. Now he's standing in front of Ahmed's shot!

Nope - open on yellow - Ahmed smashes yellow into corner 3. Black stops south of hoop 6

Yellow plays back in, and glue has a shot at the hoop for a lead. Ahmed Nasr leads 3-1

Right - I got distracted by Salah Hassan who has given me a beautiful gift of a papyrus with the three great pyramids and the sphinx on it. Just lovely.

I believe...

red approached 5, black cleared, yellow approached, blue approached, more clearing. I'm back in control now - yellow was in front of hoop 5, black clears it to the middle of east boundary with black coming off north of hoop 2

Yellow takes longish position

blue plays back in, Red takes good position - yellow will be clearing blue

Black plays back in, and the flies are attacking Felix

Felix goes for a big clearance on blue - misses! - that looked incredibly short - and didn't look hampered.

black clears red to the west boundary

Red clears black, but is now on the east boundary and black plays back in to very good position

Felix plays yellow in from east boundary... this might be a disaster! - it looks like he has blocked red's shot

News from elsewhere: John-Paul Moberly has beaten Hemi McLaren, making his record 6-0, winning the shield semi-final 7-2 7-4. He'll play the winner of Duncan Dixon and Mohamed Nasr in the shield final this afternoon

(nope, he's the curtain raiser tomorrow!)

Red shoots - it was clear - nails black!

Black returning hard... clears yellow

Red is only 8 yards away, and blue isn't runnable, so yellow plays in

Blue plays in tight... Felix has an 8 yarder, and yellow is open on the hoop

Felix doesn't miss many of those... clears blue with a midpaced central clearance

Ahmed plays back in from East boundary - drifts harmlessly past the centre of the hoops

Felix has a shot at hoop 5... bounces off badly

Ahmed takes position - black isn't in front, so red plays in

a couple of clearances, and red plays in - way too far, and it's beside the hoop. Blue takes position, but yellow is 6 yards away.

Black plays in

Another clearance - the second one that is only halfball

Blue is back to good position, and Felix is trying to take really tight position. Don't like this from beside - he has left an easy clearance and a good chance for an in-off

Black clears, but doesn't stay in front - he's disappointed, as he was after the hoop there

Yellow shooting from the middle of the west boundary - misses! Nasr for a decent lead...

Ref gently massages the hoop...

Nasr with a powerful shot - runs the hoop by about 5 yards. Lots and lots of wire there.

Thanks for the email earlier Dave - rather impressed with your mallets too actually :)

Red takes good tight position. I guess blue can see that as black plays up

A record of 72 readers - welcome world!!!

Yellow plays in - blue has a huge swing at red - misses... gets through the black piping stuff and is off the north boundary of lawn 4!!

Felix runs hoop 6 off the north boundary. Ahmed Nasr leads 4-2

Nasr takes good position.

Yellow clears black centrally - lots of applause for hitting the middle of it, but Felix won't be pleased - black has a clearance on yellow towards the east boundary

Blue plays in - red clears this well

Black takes long position

Yellow comes in tight - might have blocked black's shot at the hoop

Blue plays in - it's short, and very angled.

Felix shoots at blue... misses

Black now has to clear yellow - Ahmed has missed a few thrashes

It's probably a bit of a hard description of the two-time world champion's swing, however there have been a lot of very wild-looking swings. Hoop 4, and this clearance being exceptions - looking both powerful and controlled.

Anyways, Yellow is now in corner 1 after that clearance.

Shoots at blue.. misses. Blue is shortish and angled, but Ahmed is fantastic at powering through these. The softer Cairnlea ground means there is a fair bit of movement in the hoops

Runs hoop 8 off the south boundary - lovely shot Ahmed Nasr leads 5-2

Tony is contemplating breakfast - making me rather hungry!

What a honey - he's getting me breakfast (and hadn't read the above comment yet!)

(I do feel slightyl guilty)

Right - three balls play in, blue comes in too. Red clears black - almost peeled it! It bounced off the hoop, so has an easy clearance on yellow. Thank goodness for spectators to keep me up to date!)

Black clears yellow to the middle of the west boundary. Mid-paced clearance... misses!

Black is a yard south of hoop 6, and blue has a 5 footer to take a 6-2 lead in game 2

Blue runs hoop 8, Ahmed Nasr leads 6-2 The Egyptians are now louder (I'm inside, so hard to hear anything outside)

Red plays in - it's short and horribly angled.

Black takes long straight position.

Yellow plays in - looks like it was trying to nudge red, misses and drifts past the jaws of the hoop.

Blue comes in, also pretty deep, and not quite blocking the clearance on black. Red clears black into corner 4, going to the south boundary in front of the hoop

Black plays in to tight position. Isn't blocking red though.

Yellow clears blue well and is now also in hoop running position on the south boundary, with blue south of hoop 1.

Blue plays a perfect shot!!!

blue has rolled in fully blocking the hoop, and blocking most of red at black.

No problem - Felix clears all of black that he can see. red now in the middle of the west boundary, black playing back in from north of teh middle of east boundary.

And I have coffee!! - thank you Tony :)

Black plays back in. Yellow has a go at his 7 yarder - really really good stroke, but the Atkins hoop wins

Ahmed for the game. I'm right behind him, and his feet are pointing for a clearance on yellow. He is shooting at the hoop though, and bounces off really badly - Felix is still in this!

Tries for the cheeky play of yellow in front, but the ref sends him to the west boundary to play his red ball. Shooting at black... nails it into corner 4 - lovely shot!

Black plays back in well, and yellow opts to take tight position. JP and I fancied centre-balling black.

Blue is near hoop 1 - creams both yellow and itself off the lawn

Yellow shoots gently at blue... misses

Blue plays back in - he has totally blocked himself!

Double clearance on here too - nails it well!

Blue's not too far off being in front (but all on south boundary), black very angled - takes excellent position blocking any shot at the hoop by red.

Yellow plays in tight, not sure it's runnable.

Blue takes position.

Red plays gently - knocked black in front of the hoop - then follows along and knocks black out of the way.

I now have a delicious smelling hot cheese and tomato croissant on my lap - bit hot but can't wait to get into it. Henry Blofield would be proud. Thank you Tony! (His scrambled eggs have just arrived - great service all around here

Black plays back into position. Yellow smashes blue off the boundary, but it has an easy clearance on red... no - plays in .. once again in front of yellow on the boundary - lovely lovely touch

Red clear black centrally. A small section of the crowd is going nuts "That is not where it went off at all, it was at least a foot further along, and wouldn't have had a shot at the hoop!"

Black clears anyway

yellow has a midpaced go at clearing - misses!!

Red and yellow both near corner 2.

Blue plays into tighter position!! - not a shot I'm used to seeing from Ahmed, but absolutely what Chris Clarke would do - is a very good option.

Felix tried to promot yellow with red to somewhere it can shoot - doesn't get a great shot, and black plays in

Yellow shooting... has about half a ball, which he misses.

Ahmed runs an easy hoop 9 from close, up to the north boundary

Ahmed Nasr wins game 2, 7-2, and the match score is 1-1

Felix Webby v Ahmed Nasr Game 3: Match currently tied at 1-1

Yellow plays in front, blue a bit deep, red takes position, and... black is playing in. I guess something is a bit angled, or he's wanting to put some pressure on Felix's swing

Red nudges yellow in front of blue, getting position. Blue has a free shot at the hoop anyway. Has an almighty swing... hits the outside wire and ends up in corner 3

Red clears black. Red isn't in front now, but black has a long shot on yellow. Ref marks the spot and returns black south of hoop 4

Plays black in to good position. Felix has a 5 yard straightish hoop... bounces back

It's not runnable now either, and a small chance it is blocking the shot for red to clear black

Blue plays back. Red clears black

black back in. Yellow is now in front of the jaws - nice shot and it'll put a lot of pressure on Nasr.

Tries for the 4 yard jump... clears hoop 1 by a long long way.

black to hoop 3. I expect Ahmed to go halfway here

yes - plays to the halfway point, and yellow runs hoop 1- up to hoop 2, but it drifts a bit and is unrunnable Felix Webby leads 1-0

Blue off to the eastern penalty spot, and he plays it in deep, but straight. Some very good touch shots from the two-time world champion

Tony reminded me earlier also that Khalid Younis was the 2nd and 4th world champion. The first was Salah Hassan, in 1996 in Milan.

Ok, red and black come in - both angled, but red is at least runnable. Yellow clears blue centrally. Blue has a big swing, and misses.

Felix with red to go 2-0 up... important for his confidence.... runs it nicely at mid pace Felix Webby leads 2-0

It's really nice to watch such quick players too, but hardly gives time to do much more than follow each shot

Black takes position at 3. It's a bit angled, but very runnable

yellow plays in deep and pretty angled towards the east

Blue plays in well, and red comes in.

Hoop being tapped down. This is another very difficult angled hoop

Black very angled - about 45 deg - bounces straight back at him - has to move quickly to avoid it hitting his feet

Great shot - Yellow clears blue to the middle of west boundary, and goes down towards corner 4.

Ahmed swings - great shot! - nails red, clearing it to near corner 3, going off the east boundary up there himself. Quality match this.

(Chris might not agree - too many hoops failed and shots missed. Bah. It's exciting)

Down to 54 readers - Tony suggests it's got something to do with being 1am in the UK!

It's also 2am in Cairo!

Red plays in tight (no, midnight in london)

red went long, black went very tight. yellow plays in, and blue deep. Red clearing... oh no!! - once again rushes black through - you need some luck to go your way in this game!! Felix leads 2-1

ok... black played down very well to hoop 4. Yellow comes in, nudges black, but doesn't do any harm. Blue comes down, red shoots - misses. 2-2

Yellow plays in - it's not in front!

Blue's in front, red plays in beautifully in front.

Black has a big target of red plus hoop, plus option on in-off..shoots... hits the front of the hoop and bounces off harmlessly. Looks very disappointed.

Ref places blue on the boundary. Very good, very powerful shot -red to corner 2, blue well on the way to corner 3!

Nothing anywhere near hoop 5 now, and Felix is first to come back... excellent shot. Chris doesn't clap as he has arms and legs solidly crossed. Ali Sharpe appreciated that shot

Black is in the middle of the west boundary, Yellow's quite close to 5 - about 6 yards SSW

Black plays in gently - misses red. Yellow comes in front

Ahmed from level with hoop 3... shooting...

Hits - but blue is now in corner 1, and red is directly south of hoop 5. Felix can just play back in..

Plays red in - that area in front of hoop 5 is quite quick... and he has overrun it!!! - red now adjacent to the hoop, about 7 inches east of it - that was the error Ahmed was looking for

Black clears yellow, which comes in to a tight angle - not sure if he can run that. Looks like red is open on black

blue comes back - red will clear that one? - looking at taking tight position again. This is a bit of a change of tactics for the kiwi - great to see him thinking about his options and avoiding getting into a shootout with Ahmed, though I think I'd be clearing something here.

Black clears red off the side boundary - and yellow wasn't in front - can't understand that shot choice really

yellow clears blue, but blue just rolls back in front

another great touch shot, another potential rushpeel for Felix -it's a bit back and angled though - he'd be horribly unlucky

Red plays back in well

Black shoots at red

We think Ahmed's a croquet professional - great job if your wrists can handle it!

Felix has a huge double of blue and hoop - bounces off the hoop!

Ahmed with an easy hoop 5 to take a lead... the nerves take control there and he has a big rejection - awful hoop stroke that

Felix runs an easy hoop 5 and leads Felix Webby leads 3-2

Red runs to halfway to the peg

black taking position - it's poor - probably runnable, but it's very angled.

yellow plays in longish and straight - looks very clearable - red will be shooting at black here

blue takes good position - maybe he'll take on blue... yes, clears blue - both off the north boundary - blue in front of hoop 2, red in front of hoop 3

Has a huge hack at hoop 6... black rejects back to the peg

Felix with a solid go at hoop 6... bobbles through Felix Webby leads 4-2

Nasr plays in front of hoop 7 from.. in front of hoop 7

Felix comes in deep

Black in to try to block the clearance

That worked... yellow clearing - hit's black. Blue has an easy hoop, but is Nasr up to it - he has failed his last two hoops (though six was incredibly difficult, but five was incredibly easy)

Ahmed uns a much more controlled hoop 7. Still off the south boundary, but it was controlled power rather than all-out thrash. Felix leads 4-3

sry "runs"

Red takes deep position. Black playing in from the west boundary - it's another good touch shot

Yellow is coming in - Tony points out Felix hit his ball only fractionally after black stopped rolling. Have to be careful there - another GC rule that doesn't do a lot for me.

Meanwhile in the bowl, Greg Fletcher has cleaned up Edward Wilson, 7-2 7-5, and will play Kevin Beard in the final, after an all Aussie semi-final

Blue... plays back in - I thoguth he'd have a big swipe at that - might have been blocked by yellow, so plays back in

black skims past yellow, yelow played back in, blue clears yellow staying in position... and red clears blue with a very central shot

The plate knockout is up - two kiwis in there. It has been set up in croquet scores as a block, but it is a best of three knockout for 8 players A hugely protracted affair to go from 3 blocks to 8 qualifiers - playoffs for ties in the block to find 2nds and third, and then playoffs to decide which 2 of the 3rd got through. Maybe 2 blocks would have worked better?

Meanwhile, in the all important battle for hoop 8 (with Felix leading 4-3), yellow has just cleared blue, black and yellow now in front of hoop 8, and blue plays back in. Red is on the short boundary and has a 9 yarder on black.

Red shoots.. .another good shot but blacks on the south boundary and red in corner 4 - if Ahmed misses thsi clearance it could be hugely useful having red there.

Ahmed shoots, another more controlled looking clearance and yellow's away. Yellow plays back in to put pressure on this hoop stroke. It's straight though, and looks reasonably easy. John Christie is back and has advised this tactic didn't work for him ... didn't work for Felix either 4-4

Felix plays red in to hoop 9 - it's a bit angled, but looks fine. Black is on the north boundary - he might shoot at red on his way back down

Shoots - misses by a foot

Happy for people to keep in touch, and we have a large team here at the window - comments, questions, random gifts of chocolate to [email protected]

Yellow plays in to good position - likely blocking black

Blue clears red, red plays back in with a bit of a block.

black is jumping from the south boundary... doesn't seem to get very high, but got over yellow and through the hoop - that was a massive shot in this match, and Ahmed is very pumped at that!

Yellow plays up to decent position, blue closer and straighter, and reds up there

Black has yellow and a little offering of the hoop to the left - it'll be yellow he's shooting at - hits the hoop!

Ahmed NAsr is leading 5-4

Felix going for the hoop - he was all over blue, but tries the hoop. .. big rejection

Blue has the hoop tapped in, it's an easy hoop - about as easy as hoop 5 was.. smashes at this, but it's through Ahmed Nasr leads 6-4 - that's 4 unanswered hoops

The body language from the start of this game has got more accentuated - Ahmed looking confident now, and Felix looking unhappy and a little tentative as he walked around between shots

1053 games played in this tournament to the start of today - wow!

Anyway, hoop 11

red takes position
black takes position
yellow plays in, blue plays in

red cleared black, black came back in, yellow cleared blue, blue has just cleared red, and reds on its way back in. Thanks John-Paul!

Black is about 45 degrees and with red longish, he's going to have another hard go at teh hoop

this time it's a rejection off the near wire - he bounces over towards hoop 3. Ahmed has lovely touch, as does Reg with many shots

Right - yellow comes in, blue takes tight position, and red will clear that

It looks like we've got a claim of lawn damage!!!

They're getting a ball to roll gently over that and test it - Felix must have scuffed the ground with that shot

Ref rolls red fairly firmly over the spot, stomps on it a bit and it's time to get on with it.

Black clears yellow - yellow into corner 1, black to west boundary level with hoop 2

Yellow plays back from a million miles away - crowd applauses a very good shot into position

Blue plays in

blue must be blocking the shot at yellow, as he has played red towards the peg -he is 6-4 down and needs to give himself a chance

Black dribbles back in - drifts past yellow, so Felix now has a straight 5 foot hoop... rejection!

Ahmed getting his nerves in order - has this shot for the game

Checks to see if red can see black.. apparently it can, as he takes on his hoop...

Another point for Atkins hoops. I know some thing that the lifetime of the hoop screws might be limited, but I haven't seen an Atkins hoop defeated yet. They have changed the game, but with the fantastic improvements in shooting ability we are seeing, I still believe it's a change for good

Bad rejection to the side.

Felix clears black, but it bobbles and red ends up on the north boundary

yellow plays in, blue in tight.

Red clearing black - hits it... but then creams yellow away too - disaster!

Black back in, yellow shoots at blue.. misses - very easy hoop to take game 2

Ahmed Nasr wins game 3 7-4

Ahmed Nasr leads the match 2-1

I expect the winner of this match to win the final - they are both wonderful players. Felix has great technique and can come back here.

They have set up lawn 2 in case this match goes 'too long', but I'm hoping we'll get all of this semi-final before getting all of the next semi-final

ok, I'm going to start a new commentary for game 4 - probably should have done that earlier - join me for game 4 in about 5 minutes