Good afternoon all. It's finals day here at the Cammeray Croquet Club.

We have the final starting in 15 mins, but for now, on lawn 2, we have the plate final. Edward Wilson v Pete Landrebe.

Plate Final: Ed Wilson v Pete Landrebe

Pete won the toss
1. Pete yellow from B baulk, lagged down to 19 yard spot 2 yards in from the east boundary... an "anti-duffer"

2. Edward shot from corner 3, missing 3-4 yards west of corner 4

3. Pete missed to north of that - leaving a double

4. Edward hits the front ball of the target (10 yarder), and is having a 1-back leave.

Greg Fletcher is back and is practising on lawn 1

Greg hasn't had a game today, but he's basically 1-0 up in a best of three with Kevin (he is unbeaten in the post-block play, having come in the top two in his block, so goes into the final with his two lives intact)

Ed's had a bit of grief, grovelling through 6. It's not fatal, but he has to roll yellow down from hoop 6 to get the cross wiring. Red was about in the jaws of 1. He at least played that last shot giving himself the opportunity to rush to 1back.

Looks like he has left a 7 foot 30 deg hoop for yellow, but he must have got the cross wire at least, and he's rushing into corner 3.

He was told if he had a 4th turn quintuple he could have a drive in David Stanton's rather lovely red jaguar ...at 100km/hr... (originally he just had to win the plate, but a sensible add-on was put in place. I reckon a 6th turn sxp would be worthy).

Lays up with black off the east boundary level with hoop 3, and blue (for 1back) near hoop 3.

5. Pete taking on hoop 1 with yellow... no... bounces off to stay close to the hoop. Red and yellow both at hoop 1.
Trev has pointed out that this probably slows down Ed's sextuple as he can't get a dolly rush in front of 1back, which he has played well twice.

6. Ed rushes across - has a 5 yard straight peel... taking it on... hits the east wire of 1back and it's still ok as a hoop 2 pioneer.

Kevin now having a wee hit up. He won the toss and opted to start. Kevin has had a game already today, Greg hasn't

OK, changing formatting... PLATE in italics, MAIN EVENT FINAL in plain

Dixon Advisory Classic Final: Greg Fletcher v Kevin Beard

(Greg effectively leads a best-of-three match 1-0)

Main event: chaps still hitting up.

Ned rushing peelee to 1back before making the hoop - he still has red there - nice stuff this. Has a hoop 3 pioneer. Apologies that this is a lot more engaging at the moment...

Peels blue by 2.5 yards - not what he'd have hoped for, but it's a clean peel and he has a rush to hoop 2

Chaps still practising on lawn 1. The only think I'd really change about this tournament is to move the hoops after the qualifier (2 days), and sponsors golf croquet afternoon and have new holes for the main event. The holes are just dead now. Definitely had hoped for new holes for the final given they are now 5 days old, but even the players offering to move them didn't achieve that. Very soft ground and the hoop holes are now big.

Otherwise really excellent tournament. Great format (once you get your head around it). Order of play might be optimised with some very minor tweaking, but not a biggie. Lunch included in entry fees, and available to spectators and others are a reasonable price ($5), excellent. All very well run.

And we're off!!

1. After the introductions to the players (excellent - why don't more tournaments do this???) we have Kevin playing red to a very standard east boundary position.

Not enough supershot openings here - the lawns and hoops are very very friendly. Fleur Brockway has had an excellent tournament, including a 5th turn TP with the largest balls yesterday morning (when the hoops had had some attention - they don't stand up for long), and had another 3rd turn ball around today.

Anyways...
2. Greg Fletcher plays blue just south of corner 2. Looks like he might have sprayed it a bit and could be a foot south.

Anyways...
2. Greg Fletcher plays blue just south of corner 2. Looks like he might have sprayed it a bit and could be a foot south.

3. Kevin shoots yellow at red from A baulk - looked to just miss on the left, so his balls now a yard apart.

4. Greg taking the long double from north boundary.

Sorry, I lost track of Ned - looks like he's going really well. He had a quick sextuple against Callum this morning, then failed 6 against me with 2 peels done, but hit everything on the lawn and won that.

Here, he seems to be peeling 3back going to 1back

Greg shoots... misses to 2 yards up the east boundary (he was shooting from a few yards west of corner 3 at the double, hence not being in the corner here.

5. Kevin has rushed partner off in corner 4, so needs a decent croquet stroke to get a rush to 1... plays the croquet stroke really well, and has rushed to a yard dead north of hoop 1. I hate backward takeoffs, but he'll be fine.

*Ned peeling 3back - looks like he's well on schedule as that red turns out to have been a hoop 6 pioneer. Really nice stroke puts blue 9 yards south of 4back and he has rushed reasonably to hoop 6. His hoop approaches are generally excellent, and he sends red deep here approaching the hoop. Doesn't wibble at it as he had in his previous game to fail the sxp, and is through nicely. Is he putting red to 4back to peel and rush to 2back?

(oops, supposed to be italics)

Meanwhile Kevin has made 1, croqueted black really well to ENE of hoop 3 and got a rush on partner towards corner 2. I'm not sure exactly how far south of corner 2 blue is, but Kevin has played a good takeoff from a couple of yards to get a nice rush to 2. Should be away here - this is 5th turn.

*Ned's black runs 1back, red is indeed at 4back, and blue is surprisingly just south of hoop 6. I didn't see how it got there.

Croquets yellow to 4back also as it's likely he'll need to peel 4back rushing to 3back. Rushes blue to 4back - almost perfect - but not quite - he croquets that in front of 4back getting a good rush to 2back... which he has hit well.

In the final, Kevin's now on a break, approaching hoop 3 from nicely in front, red is short as a hoop 4 pioneer, but nicely in front, and blue is still in the vicinity of corner 2. I think Kevin will try to run the hoop and rush over to knurdle the ball near corner 2 out further... no... has hoop and roquet - blue will have to wait near (2 yards out of) corner 2 for another time.

Ned's through 2back, rushes up well, and is peeling 4back... he now has a just under 2 yard rush to 3back...beautiful shot. He also has a good escape ball for the delayed double peel he'll have a chance at if he rushes things well

Approaches 3back very well and he'll have a forward rush. Ned was a bit rough in times in this tournament, but is showing his skills today. David Stanton has introduced a peeling prize, which Trevor Bassett had one hand on until this morning - Trev has won 4 games: TPO SXPO TP TP. But now Ned is looking odds on to have a second sextuple today.

Rushes yellow north east of 4back, croquets that to north of penult (it should be 2 yards south Ned!), rushes blue really well to peeling position... oops - was a little careless/unlucky with that one, and blue pops back out of the hoop. Rushes to 4back - red clatters into 4back (it wasn't going that far past really).

It's now a straight double, and that yellow north of penult doesn't look that bad.
Rushing partner back in front from just next to the hoop.... He has under hit it!!! - it's looking like a 45 deg peel. He'll need to hit this hard!! - this could be the end...

Making it look difficult now - gets the irish peel through - blue 2.5 yards through and hits yellow - playing for the bombard... blue now well offline, but it's south of the peg. And he has a rush on red - which he leaves west of the peg (blue is east of the peg).

Puts out a deepish escape ball and he has a good rush pointing at rover which he hits pretty well. Has a 3.5 foot straight peel - nice work...

(Kevin's still taking the first break around in the final)

Error

Kevin has missed a 4foot rush to 1back. Greg Fletcher has a range of longish shots, but a ball at hoop 1.

Ned took a bit more care lining up that peel... plays it gently, but has a bit too much on black and blue stops in the jaws. The jump is about 10 inches back - we're not sure if he was playing for the half jump - probably trying to clear it completely - disaster - hits blue putting it through through, but black has bounced back a few yards to the side

6. Greg takes on his shortest shot - blue at yellow - about an 8.5 yarder at yellow on the north boundary... misses!

7. Kevin takes off to red at 2back, can rush red to black - he has hit that quite well, and should finish his break (but still has to deal with blue on the north boundary, so not much time to sort out the leave

7. Pete hits blue, puts that to 2, makes 1 off black, black to 3, rushes yellow to blue - he has all the balls now. Ned on rover and peg - he's an excellent shot, but will need to be here! A MSL (2-4 leave with oppo balls tight on hoops 2 and 4 for the Aussies out there) with the rover ball at hoop 2 and the peg ball in the jaws of hoop 4 is my thought - happy to have other suggestions though - let me know... [email protected])

Back to the final... Kevin is through 1back, has a good red at 2back, and has rushed black back to the north boundary. These guys won't do any sextuples, so Trevor has won the peeling competition (SXPO TPO TP TP), Edward is second (SXP, TP), and, third is... ME (TPO TP TP TP). Trev and I both have the dubious honour of only winning the games where we completed peeling turns. Says something about the shooting (of our opponents mainly, but also our lack of...!), and how firmly errors are punished.

PLATE FINAL 7. Pete's still going around - he's on hoop 5

The final, turn 7. Kevin has made 2back, but has a ball up on the north boundary north of hoop 2 to tidy up at some stage.

Also with our entries we received the best Goodie Bag of any tournament (including World Championships) I've played in. Hard to remember everything, but an awesome Dixon Advisory water bottle (metal), wee LED torch (handy when you're staying with wonderful hosts like Rob and Kate Elliott and need to navigate from bedroom past the stairs (was upstairs) to the bathroom in the night), a shirt commemorating the event (embroidered with the event and date, and sporting the sponsors info and Cammeray croquet club logo), and a few other nice bits and pieces. Very much appreciated. And many thanks to Rob and Kate for their really generous hospitality, and David and Dixon Advisory for creating this excellent tournament.

Meanwhile, Kevin has made 3back, left partner 4 feet north of corner 4, and rushes blue a couple of yards NW of the peg. He's taking off to black - not sure where black can go to - maybe corner 2 and then hack back to partner?

Takes off to black, rushes it along the north boundary a bit closer to corner 2 and he's playing... a full roll - black nearly ending up in the way of getting anywhere near home. Gets away with it, and runs back home - red now a yard north of corner 4, (for hoop 1), yellow a yard north of that (for 4back), and Greg's blue is 3 yards SE of hoop 6 and black near the west boundary maximum distance spot. That's the first break to Kevin.

8. Greg lifts blue pretty quickly... taking the short shot.

8. Ned shooting down the long boundary. Blue is indeed in the jaws of hoop 4 (in the front of them)... HITS!!!

Ned's shooting has been superb. Rolls yellow south of rover going to partner, dismisses an eager referee and rushes blue north , takes off to red - he has taken off well, and rushes this nicely to rover - this should be all over.

Runs a slightly angled rover very firmly, no resistance from the hoop, but he does hit it incredibly well. Bonks his 5 yard return in the middle

Edward Wilson has won the Dixon Advisory Classic Plate Final 26-9

That's a $150 prize for Ned, in addition to $150 for winning his block. Very generous sponsorship here

Meanwhile...

8. Greg must have missed.

(that happened around about when Ned hit his lift, so many of us were a little distracted)

9. Kevin punts blue up a bit (miss must have been to the right by a wee way given how far up he moved blue), rushes partner across the lawn, and puts it to hoop 2 getting a tidy rush to hoop 1. Approaches 1 putting back fairly deep... and I can hear a solid THUNK from around the corner... he has bounced off to stay in front

10. Greg can see about 90% of that. He really needs this as his last two shots have been a bit ugly. Hits his 6 yarder! He's back in this final.
Now under way with a break. I really can't see Greg TPOing, but after running hoop 2 off the 4back ball he has a rush that will offer it to him.

Nope - rushes yellow down the lawn to tidy up the hoop 4 pioneer - bit of a shame really

Greg now approaching hoop 3 with a good hoop 4 ball, This'll be a NSL with yellow left at hoop 4. Greg's a pretty deliberate player, so we'll let him get a few hoops under his belt. This is a very standard 4 ball break. He'll be making 5 off partner, so expect it to go to 2back after 5 as a pioneer.

Through 5, early 2b pioneer, all very tidy, no popping or fancy stuff, but we'll see if he can bully Kevin into playing his 4back ball.

Runs 1back..oooo - he nearly missed that short dribble back! just tickles his return roquet, and carries on. Approaching 2back... error!

Greg has missed his return after 2back. He had everything under control. Just hasn't looked at all confident in this event, however he was first qualifier for the final. Edward has looked the class player here. And... Trevor Bassett's TPO, then SXPO were excellent turns.

11. Kevin lifts red..shooting at blue (essentially the shot Greg just missed, though I wouldn't have expected Greg to be taking it from the south boundary) - hits. That's his hoop 1 ball

Clip update: Kevin: yellow on 4back, red on 1; Greg: black on 3back, blue still on hoop 1.

Kevin puts a good ball to hoop 2, doesn't get a rush on black and he has taken off a little far to red - cuts it to 4 yards east of hoop 1, so he has an ugly sidey approach. That's the bit of lawn I can't easily see from my commentary post, but his body language speaks volumes... he's short, and it's unrunnable. Error Blue and black are far apart, but it's blue to play (that's at hoop 2), and it's Greg's hoop 1 ball, and I'd expect him to cope comfortably with a quad on here.

As with the worlds, let's have a shooting, and error count...
Kevin 3 errors: missing the roquet after 1back, failing hoop 1 after the lift was missed, and this misapproach. No long roquets hit.
Greg 1 error: missing after 2back - David Stanton tells me he ran 2back really smoothly and got an extra 2feet 10 inches - ran the hoop to just in from the boundary, just the one 6 yarder hit.

Kevin takes position.

12. Greg shoots at partner from hoop 2 to 6 yards mostly south of hoop 3... bounces a bit, and misses.
Ned commenting that he is holding the mallet further down, and his practice yesterday prior to playing Trevor was pretty ugly. Yesterday morning Greg was let off after Trevor stuck in penult on a TP.

13. Kevin through hoop 1 - by a very long way, given he had taken position a little over a foot back. Hits a quarter of his 5 yarder. Blue is in the middle of the east boundary, and black 7 yards NW of it, so this is a great opportunity for a standard TP. ... and to force a final game

Check out the description of the event format on David's commentary. It's a very inclusive format, with initial blocks of 4 to determine where players enter a slightly complicated knockout. Those who come in the bottom two of their blocks get 1 life, while the block winners and runners up get two lives, those losing those main event lives are into the plate event (which is a straight knockout, but has a couple of entry points. Still not many people in play on the final day, but lots of life on day 2, and Trev's suggestion of a breakfast bbq cooked by the players could be an excellent addition to the event.

yellow rolled to hoop 3, hits blue on the boundary, takes off (so it's still parked near mid east boundary, yellow is south of hoop 3), and takes off to rush well short of hoop 2. Approaches it well, but he's through - and rushes black to hoop 4!!

Takes off to blue.. smacks it!!! - goodness - I didn't think that could stop - can't be on by more than an inch - he looked really worried, and that error counter was hovering near the next digit.

Takes off to blue - has a rush inlawn - rolls it to escape ball position, rushes yellow in front of hoop 3. Is it fully in front? - nuisance if it's there... seems ok - approaches the hoop - bit angled and short... no problem - he can still hit yellow. All there for the standard TP!

ok, peeling shot - rejection - and he has a referee on for the subsequent hampered roquet. Hits it, but not rushing it south...

Rolls to his decent hoop 4 pioneer - short, and the hoop 5 pioneer is very short.

Makes 4, up to 4back - can he rushpeel - rolls both balls up from some distance - hits yellow, taking off getting yellow 6 inches in front, black's a little south as an escape ball to peel hoop 6, but it's playable. Take off is... short! - he has a 7 yarder on his very northerly hoop 5 pioneer....

...hits!

Approaches getting a longish hoop (I failed this shot to lose to Alix yesterday). ... runs the hoop with plenty of wire...

misses his reception ball!! That's 4 errors to Kevin, 1 to Greg - Kevin's well in front still, as his errors have generally been off partner.

14. Greg hits his 2 yarder up near 4back (black was escape ball for delayed peel, he has hit the peelee), this is his 3back ball (remember he got the extra distance on his return roquet after running 2b to just short of the boundary, and missed).

Sends yellow to 2 going to red on the north boundary north of hoop 3 (where the rush after hoop 5 was missed to), and rolls red to east of hoop 1 - not sure about the line there - it should have gone west, and deep, but he has a good rush on partner near the peg to 3back to finish that break off. Rushes blue to a yard east of 3back.

This is what's known as an "IF" game, or maybe the next one is.. IF Kevin wins, they'll have an additional final. I might have to go catch a plane - we'll see. IF Greg wins, that's $3000 and a really nice trophy for Greg. Between them they have won 3/4 of the events so far (Kevin 2, Greg 1), today they guarantee to take their dominance to 4/5 titles.

Greg in front of 3back - looks like he is expecting hoop and roquet as he creams black through to peg high... and misses the return roquet to the south boundary, south of hoop 4.

Greg's now on 4back also.

15. Kevin shooting from east of hoop 1 - takes on the 16 yarder at black on the south boundary - crazy aggressive - given Greg's shooting he had a relatively safe shot at blue. Misses black to 2 yards east of it. Yellow is a few yards north of hoop 2.

Still no shots hit here - I'd have been ok in this match!

Well, I guess at least he was shooting at the 4b ball, but I think he should have made Greg hit something.
16. Greg hits his 2 yarder, croquets red back to hoop 1 - this time about 2 yards west of it an slightly south - much better place. He can now finish that leave he was working on when he ran 3back.

Currently 10 readers (probably including me counting readers!) - welcome all! comments, questions, thoughts to [email protected].

Quite a few spectators here now - maybe 40 - including the lovely chap who ran a wine tasting on Thursday and has brought his wares back today - Julian Todd, from Backwater Vintage Wines - makes a lovely sparkling wine :)

Greg.. rolls blue and black back to the east boundary - probably wired from red??

17. Kevin shooting - at black and blue - probably not wired then... hits the back ball!! This is with red, which is presently for hoop 6. Yellow clip stubbornly on 4back.

Stops blue in a yard SW of hoop 4, rushes black off the north boundary north of yellow. Nice rush - croquets black to SE of hoop 2 - that's right - he's for 6 - rushes partner nicely to 6.

correction on Ned's game... Ned won the toss and elected to go second - he wanted the 4th turn quintuple for the drive in the Jag - at 100km/hr - David Stanton must be relieved!!

Daryl Dixon is also here today - second day of three he has been here - excellent to see the sponsor of the event actually here rather than just lending his name and cash - really shows he values the event. Also Lee and a few other staff from the company (Lee was a competitor in the pro-am GC event on Thursday afternoon - won by Ned Wilson and Dixon staffer Francois (sorry about the spelling!)

Error Kevin looking very unhappy here - the body language says it all again - he has poked red into a lot of wire and the Atkins hoop bites back - he's through by 6 inches, but black is 3 yards south of 1back and about 10 deg off straight - this isn't hittable - but he has conceded a lift, and yellow is WSW of hoop 1 - this is not good. The referee is patiently waiting for him to make a decision here...

Not quite an error... shoots at blue at 3back - a very very long shot... hits!!! that's the second long hit of the game (the other being Kevin hitting from hoop 1 at a possible target near the east boundary).

He didn't hit too much of his 3back pioneer, so it's still a pioneer, and takes off directly to his 2back ball, leaving black SSW of hoop 1. He'll be heading to the peg here, as his other clip (yellow) is on hoop 1.

Makes 2back and rushes it 2 yards SE of hoop 6.

Takes off well to black - rushing it back - skims past the peg

Stops black to halfway up to 4back, rushes blue... in front of 3back, but copes...hoop and roquet. Takes off to black and rushes it ... on top of yellow - that's a bit messy... black's on the line he'll want to rush yellow to 4back.

Takes off carefully and he has a rush pointing at 4back - rushes it ... 2 inches in front of 4back!! bit of debate here about peeling this - Ali Sharpe got to 4b and peg against Pete Landrebe and got pegged out when he got a last chance (or two) - and lost - getting to penult tends to stop the pegout.

Anyways, Kevin gets the peel, has red further than halfway through - runs it through to get a rush back to... rover - he clearly doesn't want to take this straight TP on. Yellow to rover. Yellow clip now on penult.

(figuratively speaking - it's actually still in Kevin's pocket)

My computer reckons it's 6.01pm - NZT - so it's 4pm local time - and I'm on a JETSTAR flight... at 7.40 - no way I'm going to be here for the finale if Kevin wins this. sorry team. Hopefully Callum will be up for it (excellent bloke Callum - just genuinely really really nice guy). (and share his TimTams, which is entirely incidental to his niceness)

Kevin is through rover, roquets blue, black is near the usual west boundary position (5y SW of hoop 2), rolls blue up there, getting a rush on black back towards the peg.

Tries to put black to wired position - open. (but blue is very deep). Rushes partner off the middle of the south boundary, and he'll looking at whether to roll off near corner 4, or to give Greg a 13 yarder.

I like this option - he rolls them back up to max distance position - he'll make sure there are no doubles - blue at black is pretty long .. about 13 yards, but not one he'll like the idea of. black at his balls is 12 yards. Rolling into the corner would have been a more familiar 13 yarder.

Makes sure there is no double at yellow and red. Yellow seems south enough that there is no double from blue through black.

Clips onto peg (red) and penult (yellow). At least black's the 4back ball (it's at the peg), but otherwise it's not particularly polarised.

not a huge amount of enterprise here this long weekend - no popping (unless you count my opportunist one), and not much apart from the standard forcing leave of NSLs,. Lots of errors on relatively benign hoops - Atkins hoops in older holes - but also some really nice play, and great to see TPs from a range of players, including many of the women here. Apparently the Australian Women's champs has 31 players (now likely 32) suggesting women's croquet is in really good nick here.

18. Greg lifts his hoop 1 ball, leaving black open at the peg. Takes his "short" lift from the end of A baulk. That's longer than what was on offer from where they lay, but is a really familiar, so often more comfortable shot. HITS That's Greg's first long roquet of the game. He has hit yellow, which was the back ball, and is the one he was shooting at. He might have had a target from corner 1, but took a very standard shot, which he's usually very good at hitting.

So Greg now has a standard TP on his mallet.

Greg stops yellow out, croquets red to hoop 2 getting a rush on partner to hoop 1... it's short and a little wide - 4 feet east of hoop 1.

Runs 1 long... has a 4-5 yarder... hits the middle of that.

croquets black to hoop 3 - bit short, but it's in a good position, hits yellow, taking off - rushes well to hoop 2. Can he complete the TP? - should do easily, but he has had a few wobbles.

Greg's had a couple of TPs this week - including that one against Trev in a one-error game where Trev stuck in penult.

some great birdlife around here (if you're a kiwi) - a couple of kookaburras were here two days ago and hung around for ages - mega sized kingfishers - a very Aussie bird, but also very impressive from close up. Also a few sulfur-crested cockatoos (the white chaps with yellow head feathers) - love those - even though they are ridiculously noisy. Also lots of rainbow lorikeets squawking their way around - mum used to hand rear these chaps - they're pretty affectionate, but have a liquid diet - the result of that is fairly obvious...

Through 2, puts out a pioneer a couple of yards north of hoop 4 and he has rushed black ... 6 inches dead in front of hoop 3? - peeling it is always scary, and poor on difficult hoops - you can usually stop it to somewhere slightly peelable, and he does have an excellent escape ball - about 4 feet south of hoop 3. Approaches the hoop... it's awful! - he's right in front, but black certainly isn't - appears to have clipped the wire on the way. That peel approaching the hoop is looking good in hindsight.

Through the hoop, hits the return gently - but it's not peelable. Trevor would put it in rush-peel position - can Greg - no, he's lining up the peel - needs to dead weight it just past the near wire... seems to have come off the near leg, but might be sitting in front. Ned reckons it's a 45 degree angle and short - not rush-peelable. Well see.

Hits escape ball, croquets it nicely next to hoop 5 and has a rush to hoop 4. - don't want to rush peel that black into the jaws of 4back before hoop 5!

Runs 4 long to get a rush back north - puts red as an escape ball - not putting it to hoop 6, so he won't be rush peeling. - nope - goes north east of black. Rushes it south of 4back, so now is taking off to a good hoop 5 pioneer with a delayed TP in front of him.

Through 5, no rush... rolling up... yellow 18 inches NE of 1back and has a rush on partner which will nudge it slightly further from the hoop - hits it pretty well, but has a 1 and a bit yard slightly angled peel. These lawns have been nice to peel on - once you get the hang of the fact there's a LOT of pull.

Still overcast - has been all day, and a bit breezy - we've had mostly sun this weekend - been just lovely in mid-20s most of the time. Lights coming on.

Peeling with a wee roll - lots of applause as black is through by 18 inches and he has a 5 foot cut to hoop 6 - doesn't look too scary. Maybe 4.5 feet.

Not much of a cut needed... - couple of stalks.

Rushes it nicely to a yard SE of hoop 6.

Approaches 6 fairly close and only a wee angle... maybe 25 deg... no problem there - runs just past red and it'll be blue (peelee) heading to 2back. Getting the rush to corner 3 if you've got an ok stop shot can be hugely handy for getting peels done early, but it's optional.

TIME - Greg needs to finish this peeling turn.

2.5 hour time limits throughout. Very reasonable for a 16 player event on 2 easy lawns. Nice conditions for a tournament, but only if you're not worried too much about your handicap, as many players here have been able to drag breaks around with some wayward pioneers and loose breaks. The lawns are pretty flat, though my dribbly tea lady hilled off - generally very very good though, and a really nice colour (pale, rather than lush greeny).

Takes off from red to partner - rushes it off the north boundary from where he can easily get a rush to 1back on that good pioneer, and should have enough room to get partner to 2back.

This break is worth $2000 to Greg - winner gets $3000, second place gets $1000. With a bit of luck that's not going through Greg's mind - to be honest, the very pretty trophy (one a perpetual one, one for the winner to keep) is a good reason to hope to progress well through this tournament!

Black is 6 yards short of 2back, approaches the hoop well, and he's through - might try to pioneer 3b from the north boundary and be able to simply rush to that 2b ball.

Some of Ned's rushes in that plate final were stunning - rushing to 2b and then to 3b from 4b - nice conditions, but very very high quality strokes - he certainly deserved to finish more than the one sextuple.

Stopshot.. yellow a yard north of 3b - nice shot that - and he has a rush on red that he can cut towards black - and then croquet back up as an escape ball for the penult peel

Red's at the peg now, and he has rushed well to 2back. Approaches and makes sure he only has a 1 yard rush back up the lawn. Rushes it short of red and can place this for the delayed peel.

Looks like he wants to rush red back down the lawn and then croquet it up as an escape ball. Remember he really does need at least one more peel, but will be wanting to complete this break as time has gone. He really should just finish here, but many exciting things can happen on the way to the peg.

Croquets black up to a yard north of penult. Rushing red down to keep good control at 3back.

Red croqueted back up as a good escape ball (well, a little south of ideal, but very playable) approaching 3b from 2.5 feet south. Good approach, little angled, but close and will get a rush - or will he - no wire at all and he come up 2 feet north of yellow. Doesn't look desperately impressed with that outcome.

Hits yellow. Rolling... really really good shot - yellow 4 feet SW of penult (south, being the operative word!), and he has a rush on black to penult - a perfect croquet stroke really.

Looked like a wimpy rush to in front - but at least it's safe and still in front. Peeling from a yard... looks a bit angled... I like the care Greg takes over these shots.

Applause as the peel goes through very cleanly by a couple of yards - and he has a good rush to 4back

Noone seems capable of telling me how he came to have a slightly long and angly 4back - but he cope with the hoop and croquets red a couple of yards SE of the peg.

It's 5pm, I hope jetstar doesn't want me there too early!

rushes black up, and is checking out where he'll croquet it to for the straight rover peel.

Wee bit of life left in things as black is about 5 feet back and 40 deg - but he's just making penult, so still has the rush.

Through penult without a rush and he's looking like he wants to thread yellow between the peg and black.. nope - puts it between red and the peg. It's one of those "deepish" balls - about level with the line of 1 and 4.

Rushes red towards black - can get a side ball and a rush...

croquets red to just north of level with rover.. and he has gone a tad too far - might be peeling from a bit further north than he wanted. - nope - lining up a cut to close in front of the hoop....

Lining up the cut... restalking... and again... hits it pretty well, and he'll be peeling from 14 inches at a very slight angle. Should cope from there.

Maybe 15 degrees - Mike Hughes discussing the option of just having two balls off and a leave - this is for $2000!

very carefully lining it up. I've sent a runner... 18 inches, 15 degrees is the report. maybe a bit more than 15 degrees. maybe 2 feet?

Plays the peel firmly.. black is about 2 yards north of the boundary - blue hits a LOT of wire... but it looks like it has bounced back ok???? - but he's looking at it from quite an angle...... no - he's right in the middle.. runs it happily - not sure what he had been looking at!

he's all fine - but has a 17 yard rush to the peg.

Nearly disaster

Rolling red out of the way going to yellow

Needs a decent rush as black is very deep.

decent stroke.... has a rush on yellow - not a great rush, but it's about level with yellow, and he's hot favourite for his second title here...

The crowd would be very confused if Kevin won this one and forced a final final game, but that's highly unlikely to happen.

Takes off to get a 18 inch rush at the peg...

Has to avoid rover, I think that's at least guarding against the greivous...

Rushes it well - has a 2.5 yard pegout. The crowd is a little concerned. Greg should be delighted to have avoided a real shank, or rover. (although pegging out from the jaw of rover turned out to be quite successful at 9.30pm last night!)

Lining up the pegout...he's very careful here... checking down the edges on each side...he's happy with this and calls a ref... - it will be centre peg...

Greg Fletcher wins the 5th Dixon Advisory Classic 26TP-22 in the final against Kevin Beard