Hello world - it's finals day!!

Today we have, on lawn 4, the Plate Final, between George Coulter (one of the crop of amazing NZ youngsters) and Geoff Jamieson (very nice Australian I played in my block). On lawn 3 the Bowl final (for those who went out in round 1) between top-ranked Aussie Greg Fletcher and compatriot Kevin Beard. They're a bit far away to follow, so our curtain-raiser to focus on is the Shield Final (for those knocked out in round 2) between John-Paul Moberly from England and Duncan Dixon of NZ.

It's overcast, we even got some light rain on the windscreen on the way in. The lawns will be slightly slower until it burns off.

JP and Duncs are on lawn 2, with lawn one getting used again for the final. Remarkable that all hoops are in exactly the same spot as on day 1. But they do a very good job of packing the holes and trying to firm things up. I worry a little that the hoop hole areas might end up with little hillocks if they don't take some of that material out after this event, as a heck of a lot of soil has been forced into there.

No sign of the Bowl finalists, despite a couple of spectators having been led to believe it was an 8am start. (it's a 9am start!). Geoff is still trundling balls around the Plate final lawn while George waits in Corner 4.

Brian Reither, manager of all major tournaments at this venue for the last 10 years, has rung the bell and is doing the announcements. This is Brian's last day as a tournament manager!! - big vote of thanks for all his efforts in recent years, and hopefully we'll see him competing in the tournaments. Thank you Brian

Game 1: JP v Duncan

Duncan Dixon has evidently won the toss, and they start 2 minutes early. Blue plays up - bit angled, but very runnable.

Red comes in quite deep, but straight

Black takes good straight position - about 5 feet

Will yellow shoot? - no... rolls in - perfect block on blue - nice shot.

Blue stops yellow away - giving red a free long shot at the hoop - JP has played for this.

JP has a rather stiff-legged stance, and is a very tall chap, at around 6'5". Looks a bit like James Hopgood, though without the gloves and other bits.

Egyptian-style, JP checks the firmness of hoop 1. It is indeed firm - they didn't do anything naughty in the warmup.

Shooting... decent effort, but it bounces out

Duncan runs hoop 1 up to near the north boundary Duncan Dixon leads 1-0

Duncan in kiwi black - including black socks and shoes, ponytail and remarkable facial hair of moustache, dropping down and travelling all the way up to the sideburns. No idea what that's called. looks quite impressive though.
There is a very impressive Moustache song in A Million Ways to Die in the West. Highly recommended movie if you aren't easily offended.

Right - yellow plays in, and red, and blue. Black comes back - from the back of the hoop and it seems to be in the jaws.

Blue punts red away, Red comes back to west of the hoop and level with it. a bit lighting post prevents me seeing that was going on there.

Try to improve the position and there's another post in the way - hmmph.

Black pops through. Yellow forced to clear blue, and blue ambles back into play.

Mid paced clearance sees black sent east of the peg. JP's balls are both close to hoop 2, but don't look to be in front.

Black's back, yellow clears blue to the peg, and is now in front - but about 6 yards back

Blue's back.

I have the treat of sharing the front row with Frank and Janice Moir this morning - club mates from Bowdon Croquet Club in Cheshire. They're here visiting family and have been at the club quite a bit this week

It looks like Yellow has had a long go at the hoop - and it's now on the north boundary - and JP is practising his swing. Looks like a miss.

Blue clears yellow to the east boundary level with hoop 4

Red shooting - misses - it was red that was cleared to East boundary

Black is in front..

Black runs hoop 2 Duncan leads 2-0

Yellow takes straight position.

Blue shoots - misses.

Red plays in.

Black shoots... misses

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JP runs hoop 3 Duncan leads 2-1.

Blue takes decent position, red and black play up. Yellow shooting... misses

How did that happen - looked like everyone had approached hoop 5, but then yellow dribbles up to a hopeless side position at 4, and Duncan plays in with blue

I was a little distracted by a conversation between Chris and Hamy and Khaled Younis

Red plays in, Duncan shoots at yellow - about a 5 yarder - misses!

JP clears blue with yellow. Blue plays back in.

Not taking on that hoop with blue lurking! - JP stuns blue away keeping red in front

Duncan has spotted his reluctance to take on a hoop with Duncs close, and plays black into the mix

(for those curious, there won't be a 3/4 playoff - after you've put absolutely everything into a massive match like a world champs semi final (or even earlier rounds), with the excitement and focus, a consolation match is a huge anticlimax and very hard to find focus for. Obviously the crowd would like it, but with nothing to play for, it's hard to get up for that. International professional sports people often have 3v4 playoffs - but there is generally a lot of cash on the line - not here!)

Yellow played back in, Blue shoots and misses. Red cuts black down to the corner 1 area. Still reluctant to run hoops after hoop 1 and 2

Black shoots... clears yellow!!

Yellow plays in, and blue, and red plays inside yellow. It's hugely for black

hitting yellow here could promote red through, but red can clear blue, so he has to shoot - great shot - nails the shot, yellow to corner 1!, red south of the hoop. Duncan is really too good to not run hoops against when you're in front

Yellow shooting.. misses by a long way

Thanks for the very nice emails and comments on facebook I've received in the last few days. Marcus - very good point - for the final there will be TWO parts to the commentary - game 1+2, then whatever follows, and no spoilers (not sure what I was thinking - I'm coming down with a cold that has been passed around the house from Felix to JP and now to me. Chris is next in line...

Duncan leads 3-1

Red plays in to hoop 5 .. too far! - it is jawsable, but even that will need to be a decent shot.

Black takes good position.

Good to hear I'll be keeping a few people up tonight ;-) - at least it's only Saturday night in England. I'm back to NZ tomorrow (usually fly out on the final day of the event, so get bonus sleep-in and day off work tomorrow - woohoo!)

Yellow plays in - that's too long as well.

Duncan shooting... he has cleared partner!!
Chris C "Oh, it's been rough this game", as he wanders away

JP taps red in front

It looks like George is leading 6-4 in the plate final first game. Greg Fletcher has a late start, so just these two games.

Black shoots at red - clears it - both balls on the south boundary now. Yellow can tap in front and cross it's fingers

Yellow has taken good tight position, blocking black, I think, however blue has just played in, so maybe it's open - no, it's completely wired. Chris thinks this is ok, I don't like. C "He's got half-ball on the left [from 10 yards!!!], he'd be unlucky to peel it"

Red plays in. Famous last words - black rushes yellow into the jaws.

Yellow runs hoop 5 up to hoop 6. Duncan leads 3-2

Yellow was so well placed I thought it needed the clearance from the side boundary

Blue plays in - it's a good ball, so JP might not want to take on his hoop again. Red comes in.

Black shooting - rushes yellow off the north boundary - JP now shooting back.. misses. Not sure he's hit anything yet this game.

Over on lawn 4 they have started game 2 - that will be George game up in the plate final. George and Angus Coulter have both done very well here.

That clearance on yellow got black nicely along towards hoop 7. Duncan runs hoop 6 Duncan Dixon leads 4-2

JP needs to step things up here, or he'll be back in the hut before the brits have thought about heading to bed.

Red takes deepish position - nice ball there. Black plays in

Yellow coming back from the middle of the East boundary. Looks to be runnable.

Duncan shooting from the middle of north boundary - nails red to the middle of the west boundary - Duncs has woken up first here

JP plays red back in - might have got the block

Duncs clears yellow

JP plays yellow in trying to block blue at red

Duncan moving the black pipey stuff. That black pipe is a bit larger diameter than the balls, it does a remarkable job. I think Christchurch discovered that first, but might be claiming a bit much there ;-)

In the plate final, Geoff Jamieson runs hoop 1 up to hoop 2 - George has a go at the double - runs hoop 2!!!

Duncan clears red. JP plays back in - badly - not in position

Black clears yellow to corner 2. Hitting black in the middle here would be strong, as it could leave yellow in front. But half-ball or less would be very messy. I'm always torn what to do here!

Hits black about 60% - yellow ends up 6 yards south of hoop 7. Hitting it on the right wasn't a great outcome. Chris reckons you need to be playing very well to take that on. The alternative play is to put yellow really deep

Duncs plays blue in, which red clears. Black tries to play in tight - drifts past the hoop, and yellow is now in front. Red is in front too, but on teh north boundary, and I don't see Duncan trying this

Blue shooting at gentle pace - misses.

red clears black - it could be good - black to the west boundary and red travels down towards the middle of south boundary. Needs black to miss, or it's really bad...

Duncan shooting - misses!

JP has yellow in front of hoop 7, no scary opponent balls near him... runs hoop 7 down to west of hoop 8

Blue plays in very deep, and red has an easy approach to the hoop, which JP plays well

Black's in the middle of the north boundary, and rolls down.

Chris reckons red is blocking blue at the hoop, so yellow has the easy clearance on black. C wants Duncy to take on his jump here... Looks like he was open! - he shoots gently at something, bounces off the wire of hoop 8, and JP has equalised. 4-4

Black's now approaching hoop 9 from a long way away, but fairly straight.. goes deep, and east - nice covering ball

Yellow plays in onto the boundary to prevent black clearing it - we might have a couple of long-range goes at this important hoop

Duncan plays blue in - poor shot leaves it well short.

This is the problem with consolation stuff - the intensity just isn't there. Decent crowd building up though. I've relocated slightly to rejoin Tony Hall now, and will be doing a coffee run after this game

3-2 Geoff in plate game 2

JP has a go at moving black - misses

Black shooting at hoop 9....runs it nicely by about 5 yards Duncan leads 5-4

Yellow plays up - disappointingly short. Blue comes up - bit short again

Red tries to put in a proper ball - too far

And in the sky it looks like a big ugly bug - it's Sherif Abdelwahab's drone - hovering above lawn 10.

There's some lovely footage starting to appear on facebook and youtube now - search for Sherif Abdelwahab (no fb, it's the self-employed person)

black plays in - too deep. - I hope we see better stuff this afternoon!

Yellow clears blue, bit of manouvering of balls while I arrange with mum getting picked up when we're back.

JP fails to take position with yellow, Duncan misses a 12 yard clearance with blue. Red has a long straightish hoop, Black is angled enough that red might feel brave here

No - red clears black.

Tony agrees with the Hopgood comparison. Though James has hat, sunglasses, elbow support (?), two golf gloves, ... JP has been asked by several ladies why he doesn't wear a hat. He got here a day before me, and was very very red when I arrived!

Black comes back at dribbly pace to clear something - seemed to miss. Blue is in, red clears it. Black clearing yellow... bonk!

Yellow was in front of the hoop there, but not for long - JP really does need to be a little more adventurous against a player of Duncan's quality

Yellow plays back in (he'll probably prove me wrong and win here)

Blue comes in. Red is shooting from the middle of the east boundary..nice shot clears blue to in front of hoop 11. Doesn't want to run hoop 10 now!

black clears. Yellow shooting at black - needs to middle this... decent effort

blue plays in - it's the only ball in front of 1 now.

Red needs to just take position - black can't get yellow more than 10 yards away, and would need to be incredibly lucky to wire it with anything at all

Red plays from north of hoop 10 down to about 6 yards SE of hoop 10. ugh

black... takes positino

yellow clears, blue nudges to better position. Lots of balls on the east boundary

Good point by Alix Verge on the croquet email lists... we all really enjoy croquetscores.com - how about making a small donation to acknowledge and support Tim Murphy's work. Clubs could get together and collect, or individuals. This services keeps us all in touch with international croquet

Right - red an d yellow have taken position it seems - black is on the south boundary, and blue has a very angled hoop 10 for big lead... and he runs it Duncan Dixon leads 6-4

Hi Tobi. Drone not lout or distracting to me - I'm inside. To be honest, I don't know the answer. The key, I guess, is if it has decent zoom, as it was quite a way away. I've heard they are usually pretty buzzy and annoying (from a buddy on holiday at Lake Tekapo who wanted to use them for target shooting!

Right... red takes good position at 11. Black plays in. Yellow shooting...misses. Blue shooting - hits!

Black is deep and red rolls in really short - free shot for game 1 for Duncan

Lots of hugs on lawn 4 - George Coulter has won the plate!!

Black shoots... bounces off 1 5 yards to the side. Yellow plays in. JP has control here now, as blue is on the south boundary.

I wonder if they mowed last night - it's quite quick this morning, even though there are no shadows yet.

Blue plays in, red clears black to the west boundary. He MUST take on this hoop if black misses

George all smiles as he walks back to the clubhouse. i'll watch a couple of shots then pop across for a hug

Duncan shoots with black.. misses across to the east boundary. JP fields, and is now... taking on his hoop!

Ref coming in to encourage the hoop a little lower. JP stalking...

Runs it nicely - it's longish and angledish, but definitely runnable at 12

George's grandparents were among those congratulating him on his win - they've been wonderful support for both lads this year

For those who like counting, George's plate win makes him 33rd. More importantly, he has a nice piece of silverware to keep as a momento of this event

All balls play in - black in well. Yellow clears blue - Chris wanted him to run his hoop

Red and black are in front of hoop 12 - but looks like it needs a jump from red. AND it has conceeded a potential clearance to Duncan.

Duncs plays gently through red - misses

red... clears black. Doesn't stay in front "I just hate this" (unnamed spectator wanting JP to run some hoops)

Duncan takes wired posi from red.

JP tries to nudge red in front. Got quite a lot of hill and missed, ends up about 2 yards south of the peg

Blue plays in to 6 inches south of the peg.

Red needs to stay wired from black

George is indeed all smiles - and very well deserved.

Duncs playing in wired from Red, C wants him to take hoop position and hit his clearance

JP calling a ref. Not sure why, as there's a good gap there. Ref comes on. .... is this.. could it be... he is pulling out MARKERS. Yay for that ref!

Puts markers very close to blue and yellow - there has been some marking this week where i wouldn't fancy trying to replace the balls with the marker positions. This guy got it right

That said, it was gratuitous as this shot was trivial. JP stops blue away

Bowl finalists now warming up

blue plays back in right next to yellow

red comes in very tight - almost on the wire. We think it might be runnable.

Hmm, not sure - black takes good position

There is a gorgeous black labrador here this week - he's (she's? - haven't looked!) a guide dog - Chris has just pointed out the pooch has dived onto food that has fallen on the floor. Labrador first. Guide dog a close second.

JP nudges black out of the way with yellow. Black now next to the hoop, yellow on the south boundary. The shot was a bit hampered, but from what Duncy is doing, red won't be running this hoop - this looks pretty bad for JP

George is celebrating with... a nice cup of coffee :). Congrats have come to him from around the world, and will be passed on as soon as he reappears

Blue plays in, and red is having a go. Ref on... marks it!

Taps red into the middle of the jaws. Black... C wants him to rush blue to wired jumping position. That leaves red unable to get to 13... Turns out C thought it was 6-5 to JP, pretty sure it's Duncy!

JP plays to halfway. it is 6-5 to duncs

... jumps through nicely and Duncan Dixon wins game 1 7-5

Game 2

Duncan leads 1-0 in a best of three match

I went for a coffee, had a quick chat with John Grieve, Brian Reither's successor, and... they started really fast!!

I saw JP have a shot at hoop 1 with yellow - into the jaws.

JP leads 1-0

I'm back now... balls around hoop 2 - yellow must have been short and westish, as JP uses it for a central clearance on black

Red is south west of the hoop, and blue plays south-west of this. Cat-and-mouse stuff here, which is good to watch when done well

red in strong - black shoots - seemed to nudge yellow, and it's in the middle of the west boundary now.

Blue nudges red away, and red tries to play back in front - JP looked at something on the ground there - didn't hit it far enough

Blue is blocking yellow, which is deep. Red might not be runnable

In the Bowl final, it looks like Greg Fletcher is in the jaws of hoop 1, and Kevin is shooting from east boundary - misses.

Black clears yellow. Blue now has a clear shot at the hoop

(Greg Fletcher leads 1-0)

JP shoots back from north of hoop 3... misses

Duncan will take this on

1-1 - nice hoop shot

Not sign of Reg yet, and only a couple of Egyptians around. This final will be spectacular. It's the third time these two have met - Ahmed won 3-1 in Capetown in 2008, Reg won 3-2 in Cairo in 2013, coming back from 6-2 down - by all accounts Reg hit everything from that point

JP takes good position at hoop 3 with red. Black clears it

Yellow plays in to good position, but black has that covered. Blue dribbling back in

Blue is a bit deep, and west, but it's in play. Red is clearing it - I thought it worth having a go at leaving something blocking black, but that wasn't easy to achieve. Smashes both off

Black shooting... Hits the middle of yellow

Black rolled on a bit to not be in front of the hoop, but it was a good shot. Moved yellow about 9 yards south of the hoop - dead centre.

JP plays back in - hits the left hand wire! This match not getting many points for quality

Blue plays in. Black is all over yellow, and red needs to clear - or... take on a long angled hoop 3...

Runs hoop 3 off the south boundary -that was a very good shot!!

JP Moberly leads 2-1 in game 2

Black takes good position at 4. JP wanders down for a look - it must be open, as he played yellow in. Maybe this will give him the lift he needs?

Looking more confident now as he walks back down to the south boundary

Plays red up - into the back of the wire - surprised he'd just play yellow in if black was truly wired

2-2

(Meanwhile on lawn 3, it's still 1-0, and Kevin Beard has just missed something)

Yellow plays across to hoop 5, and blue follows and is inside that

red should clear that

A very kind offer of a cuppa, but i've got one near my ankles - thank you Rosemary :)

Red plays in

Black shooting.. bonk... disaster! - yellow smacks into hoop 5 and stops in the jaws

It's a bit angled, and I have seen NONE of these shots refereed, despite some crunching hoop runs this week.

JP is a very honest player, and taps this through by a couple of yards. JP leads 3-2.

Battery low - time to sort that out!

Powered and ready to continue. Chris was unhappy abuot my power cable earlier this week, but Tony was rather unsympathetic of clumsiness, so we're plugged in now

Blue takse position, then red, then black. Yellow clears blue well, to the north boundary

Blue has dribbled back to a nice position - red was quite angled... but he's looking at the hoop - surely not!

Yes - a long angled hoop... rejected by the far wire of the Atkins hoop. That was maybe one for clearing - unless blue has the wire from yellow

Black shooting at a longish straight hoop

3-3

Yellow plays in - tight and angled, but should be easily runnable. Black's on the north boundary

In comes blue - that's deeper but pretty straight

(It looks like Greg Fletcher is up 2-0 on lawn 3 - a fair few spectators for them, and lots of kiwis on the sidelines watching Duncy v JP

Red plays in, and Duncan clears yellow

I think red should have cleared there

JP not aggressive enough here really, though his shooting was a bit flat in game 1

yellow shoots - misses

Blue runs hoop 7 and just slides past hoop 8 down to the south boundary - Duncs back in control: 4-3

Red comes down - deep, but straight

Black plays in, and yellow

Blue looking at what it can see - and plays back in. Might have got a bit of a block there

red clearing black - but only towards corner 1. Felix would annihilate this next shot - can Duncan...

Lining up a clearance on yellow - it's 11 yards. No - rolls it back in. horribly short. JP has the hoop - but if he misses it, blue will definitely run...

Shoots... misses. A few more swing practices

Not 100% sure if it was hoop or ball, I think hoop.

Duncan leads 5-3

These two should at least be finished in time for me to get some lunch. No consolation for JP, who is an excellent golf croquet player, and has been lovely company this week

Red takes position. Duncan shooting - misses

Yellow plays up - not blocking. This match is still alive - that comment above was a bit premature sorry JP

Duncan checks out the options - needs to shoot..

Yellow looks too short to take on the hoop... blue clears red into corner 4!

Blue, black red now on the east boundary, red plays in

It's nearly midnight in London, the final starts in an hour.

black plays back in - yellow for the jaws?

JP has a very long Pidcock mallet with a round head and "D" ends. (that means the brass is extended so it presents a square end face at the bottom)

Yellow drifts past the hoop.

Blue shoots at red - Tony reports that it either missed, or bounced over it. Misses anyway. C'mon JP!

Shoots at hoop 9 with red. Rejected.

Black has an easy chance for 6-3

Duncan has a shortish Terminator mallet with a very flexy shaft. Hits black firmly at the hoop and jumps back.. as black jumps a little itself, but runs the hoop by about 8 yards Duncan leads the second game of the shield final 6-3*

JP takes position with red - to some applause from his oppo, though it's a little short.

Sorry - that was yellow

Blue shoots - misses by a long way

Red plays to ??? half way??? - no idea how that got there??

Black shooting at yellow/hoop... misses

JP runs hoop 10 - cmon lad!

Duncan leads 6-4

Blue taking a while to decide where exactly to go - drifts by the hoop - might not be runnable! - the door is open here!!

Maybe it's not that bad, as JP is shooting at mid pace. .. Misses.

Blue definitely in front, as black and yellow are very close together on the north boundary, and Duncan is playing for a block. Gets yellow's position marked, , yellow removed.

Taps black. Yellow being replaced onto its spot now.. he has nailed that!

IT looks like black and yellow are touching

there is nothing JP can do here

Aiken Hakes has joined us - big group over here for Phillip Drew's stag party last night.

Aiken has had a great year - won the NZ Open, NZ Open Doubles, NZ Mens championship, and will make his debut in the MacRobertson Shield next year as NZ defend our title.

Back to teh game... JP has to play a big croquet stroke. He has an AC handicap of 2. Decent effort, but misses blue.

Duncan Dixon (NZ) wins the Shield, taking game 2 7-4

I'm off for dumplings. Will be back well before the final starts. Protect my seat Tony :)