Hello hello from United Croquet Club. Today we have the NZ Open Final on Lawn 5 with tight hoops.

Stephen Mulliner won the toss and chose to start.
Edward Wilson is a fan of red and yellow, and is wearing his distinctive Aussie yellow shorts.

1. Stephen plays first, blue to the east boundary
2. Ed yellow to just south of corner 1
3. Stephen misses from A baulk at partner.
4. Ed taking the long double - hits!

4 (cont) - rushes blue into corner 2, taps it out, and has a rush on partner to hoop 1. Always nice having your first crack at hoop 1 off partner. Lovely rush, about 5 yards south of hoop 1.

Ed played two beautifully fluent turns to win our semi this morning and is one of the most naturally talented players I've seen. Reminiscent of a young James Death, apart from the interlocking Solomon grip. He has massive power and hits the ball very cleanly.

He stopped by our corner (corner 2) after playing yellow on and we had a chat about the yellow shorts. He suggested yellow looks great with everything - an unnamed member of the commentary team (not me!) suggested yellow's great paired with anything but green ;-)

Anyways, Ed approached to a slightly angled hoop 1. Runs it powerfully up the lawn with a very friendly bit of wire/hill to give himself about a 3-4 yarder on the ball left in corner 2

Hits that, croquets it to 3 but is short on yellow - but he has a rush to corner 4! Hits that very well. Rushing back - slides black past the peg and approaches hoop 2 to slightly angled position - mortals might be a little concerned by the length and angle, but he crunches this through to the boundary, and has rushed black off the boundary south of hoop 4.

Takes off to yellow... short! - he's now taking off to blue leaving yellow in corner 4, and black still on the south boundary. Not huge marks for that, but a 10 for the rest of this pickup.

Takes off to blue - bit short and he's approaching 3 from about 4-5 yards. Approaches well, sending blue to the peg - and he'll be smashing through again. Heaps of wire and has about a 5 yarder - no problem - rushes that north of yellow, but has to cut yellow up the lawn. Gets it a bit south of the line of blue, but has played a really nice croquet stroke putting out a tight hoop 5 pioneer, and has a rush to 4.

Rushes a little short and has taken off to position - this lawn is looking a bit green at the moment, with the moisture we're getting overnight, and it's still early, so takeoffs like that are ok - much more dicey when the lawns get slick. Perhaps if your commentator had been a bit more competent this morning they've have started on faster lawns... Still, Ned's a lovely player to watch, but super fast, so hopefully we won't be finished before lunchtime!

Playing a nicely controlled 4 ball break now.

I don't think Ned will be tripling today, but if he gets an early chance he might. He'll also likely put out a supershot if he goes game up.

From the cheap seats "yeah, Green always looks better with Gold". Let's face it - gold is just pretty :)

Speaking of gold, the winner of the NZ Open doesn't just get the trophy, they also get the beautiful golf Rene Watkins medal.

golf? - gold Rene Watkins medal!

2back pioneer got away a little, and is 4 feet towards corner 1 from the hoop - should be ok though.

Diagonal spreads all the way today I reckon.

Blue is rushed powerfully off the south boundary but not into corner 1, and it's croqueted to about a yard west of the line of hoops 5 and 6. Again, should cope, but a few marks off for style.

Thanks for the quick markup reminder Tim - sorry I always forget!

With a badly misplaced 3b pioneer, Ed gets his other two balls to the peg and takes off to blue. Rushes it across well, but has got a little cute trying to get a rush out of the hoop and calls for a ref. Good as ... gold. Hits the middle of blue, has black about 4 feet from the peg.

Still overcast here, and a little cool under the tree, but should heat up soon - the sun was out for a while.

Quite green on the north west bit of the lawn between hoop 2 and corner 2 with the shade from the tree, but these lawns were cut last night, and have quite a lot of pale stuff too. Really good grass covering.

Kiwi youngsters are starting to appear looking worse for wear. There's a really good camaraderie there, and by the look of them, they had a very good night out!

And Ned finishes the 4th turn with a diagonal spread. Blue is about 5 yards south of hoop 2.

5. Stephen strides onto the lawn, grabs black and goes straight to the end of B Baulk - fancies that blue... and hits it in the middle.

I had a bit of a slow start on the commentary and sought advice from Michael Wright about which of Stephen's balls he played first. Was well worth it, as we got a gem from Chris Shilling... Apparently some years ago Michael had a dispute with Charles Jones about which ball had been played into the game first - from that point on he resolved to avoid such discussions by always playing the balls onto the lawn in order, and is very aware of when this isn't done!

Back to the NZ Open final... Stephen takes off thick, sending blue .. north east of 2...and he's short... hits the in-lawn ball, and takes off to get a rush on yellow to hoop 1 - plays a really nice approach and is now through 1, and has a rush to the north boundary above 2. Has control now.

Chris S pondering the TPO - if anyone thinks about TPOing it will be Stephen, and the lawns are up for it.

Yellow to a little south-east of 3.

Rushes partner to 2, gets a nice rush out, smashes it down... and nails red in the middle. Very unlucky there from that distance.

Croquets blue well south of hoop 4 to make sure he gets a rush on red up the lawn.

well, this is starting to be fun...

rolls red across - we're having a TPO (attempt)!!

Has to roll red across the hoop getting to yellow... looks like red went a little far, and has a sideways rush on yellow - cuts it almost to the death spot behind the hoop and is taking off to angled position. Unclear if he has managed to get yellow away from the line of the hoop!!

Very angled hoop, lots of press ups and hits it gently straight into the far wire. Bit disappointing for the crowd (including Michael who recently returned laden with provisions for the team, bless him).

It looks like yellow was away from the line, from where Ned is standing to roquet red.

It looks like yellow was away from the line, from where Ned is standing to roquet red.

Not the best start for Ned.

6. Yellow rushes red a few yards, tries to put it to 2 getting a rush on black to ? - probably blue (a couple of yards NW of corner 2). Awful stroke... red hits hoop 6 and bounces south of it, and he's south of black. Rushes it NE of hoop 3 and is taking off...

no rush - cuts blue off the lawn south of hoop 4. Needs a good croquet stroke now - red is stranded in the middle of the lawn

Plays the roll - and it's well short. Adopts the teapot pose for a minute as he contemplates where to bury yellow. Opts for corner 2. kindly hits it there gently, sparing the commentary team's camp.

7. Less marks for Stephen... black shoots fairly gently at red... hits hoop 6 and stays there! I think Ed's takeoff (let's go back to Ed - less letters to type!) was deliberately played to get the wiring, so maybe not so dreadful.

8. Red hits black, leaves it 4 yards SW of hoop 3, takes off to blue, rushes it just north of corner 1. He has effortless power.

Thick takeoff pushing blue to 6 y south of hoop 1,and he has a 6 yarder up the boundary on partner. Another considerately gentle roquet and he has left a single ball rush to blue/hoop 1. (well, ball plus third)

9. Stephen shooting blue at black... misses hoop 5, watching... misses.That has come onto the east boundary level with hoop 5

10. Ed cuts red to in front of hoop 2, taking off to blue.

Hits blue, rushing black to hoop 1... short! Taking off ... long!

Has a huge swish... and yellow rejects from the long angled hoop off the south boundary, directly south of hoop 1 and completely wired from black.

11. Unnamed person in yellow shorts inquires after odds on the jump. I recommend asking Stephen's NZ Open doubles partner about that shot (in the doubles final) in person.
Stephen shoots black (from north of hoop 1 at blue (SW of hoop 6) ... misses.

12. Ed on the lawn. He's walking to the wrong ball - argh - I hate this... takes on his 6 yard hoop!! Red at blue looked very hittable with his shooting (blue a couple of yards SW of hoop 6, red a yard west of hoop 2)

yup...swinging... nope.. fails it to 2 yards ENE of hoop 1. Just awful.

13. Stephen shooting - free join of blue at black, with balls at 1 and 2... hits. Takes off - promptly rushes red to the middle of the west boundary. Croquets it back well short of hoop 2, but has all the balls now, and is through hoop 1. TPO take 2? - he has the balls the wrong way around though (red at hoop 2)

Yellow croqueted well short of 3 - about 2 yards east of hoop 6 "that's just horrible, isn't it", from the stands.

approaches hoop 2 - that looks bad... angled hoop... has to hop out of the way as it rejects straight back at him. Apart from that awful shot at hoop 1, Ed has made these hoops look very much under his control.

14. Ed plays red (4b ball), hits blue, takes off moving it 6y south of corner 2 and a yard in, bit short of black which is still near corner 3, but hits that confidently.

He's making some points! - croquets black to rover, approaches 4b, putting yellow deep. smashes through... straight into yellow. There have been some quite unfortunate wicks here at times. Now he has his work cut out. Croquets yellow a few yards SE of the peg going to blue, rushes that off level with hoop 2 and has a great takeoff to black. Rushes black into the peg! Balls all over the place. Takes off... runs a smooth hoop to a couple of yards north of rover and a couple of yards west. Shooting at yellow... has a 9 yarder at partner... misses!! Red clip on rover now.

15. Stephen has a 6 yarder for the innings with his hoop 3 ball... misses badly on the left.

16. Ed shooting... hits it hard, might have been in a hole, as it's bouncing... bounces over the middle of red! He's a bit disappointed in that. He does hit down on them a little, as some of his firmer hoops are run at half hoop height, however this one was a long enough shot that the bounce at that end has to have had lawn help.

17. Stephen shooting - hits red, it hits yellow, and end up a foot south of hoop 3!! After that last disastrous hoop stroke he plays a very nicely controlled hoop, and has a lateral rush to blue which he hits well.
Croquets red halfway back to hoop 2, Rushing blue across to yellow... clips hoop 6 and he has to play a croquet stroke from about 10 yards away. Ok result - blue still east of hoop 4, but gets a decent rush on the yardline ball to hoop 4. Rushes NW of it, but copes with approaching, and crunches through 4 to the boundary.

Bit of trivia for you as Stephen cruises round - looking a little pedestrian after Ed's flowing play, tbh.

Nope, more action. Good grief - I wish I'd been a bit more competent in my semi - Stephen has just approached 5 to angled position and failed another hoop. Those clips are visiting a lot of hoops!

Fails an angled hoop 5 to in front.

18. Ed hits with yellow, his hoop 1 ball, and croquets blue up to hoop 2 (rather near red, actually). Has to cut black to hoop 1 - has to approach hoop 1 from the west boundary. Puts black peg high and has a long hoop. Crashes through off the north boundary and hits the return on red.

Remember red is on rover, so not much needed in the peeling stakes to take game 1.

Puts out a rather short hoop 4 pioneer, but he's flowing well here.

Right... that trivia...

nope... everytime I try to get off topic... Ed has failed hoop 3 from right in front with yellow. It pops out to the side, suggesting it was one of those that just takes a little wire and then bounces around - the hoops are doing a fair bit of their own scoring!

Clip update: Black on 5, and in play, blue on 2, red on rover and yellow on 3.

18. Stephen looks keen to get an early peel, taking an aggressive line of play to pick up his break for hoop 5, putting blue to 6, but with a really nice croquet stroke that has a 4 foot rush on red to 5. rushes it a foot NW of 5. The sun is now out, and these backwards takeoffs will get harder and harder. He has played this one well though, and just the one pressup. Will be an angled peel if he gets into it.

Oh dear. Tries to run the hoop softly, as the peelee was a bit angly... pokes it straight into the wire. Ed has 13 points, Stephen 4, and the Atkins hoops have about 7!

19. Ed hits his three yarder on black rushing it to 4, takes off to red, rushes that to hoop 6 where blue is waiting. Sensibly puts red as an optional reception ball and he has a rush to hoop 3. He'll run this a little more firmly I think.

And he's in front again... runs it smoothly. should be away now

I can confirm these hoops

sry... half a comment... i can confirm these hoops are tight. Checking them pre play, yellow and black were very narrow on the hoops. The balls are very well matched sets - all egg-like balls were rejected, and a careful size matching was done with an Atkins ball gauge. Should be more than 0.1 mm between the biggest and smallest balls.

Has a free go at peeling red going to his hoop 4 pioneer, bounces back, but rushes well to 4.
Ed is showing some of the traits of Robbie Fletcher here... coming to play with stacks of stopping bisques overflowing from his pockets.

Approaching 5, has a good side ball to have a go at the peel. It seems a bit early to lose a ball from the break with just one peel to do and things speeding up a little. .Approaches to a slight angle and hits it hard ... runs the hoop by about 3 yards with that firm stroke. Tries to wibble red back into the jaws and overcuts it.

Plate final: John Christie won the first, I think it was 26-10

Game 2 of the plate is well under way and it's all Christie. Not sure if the night out has had a bad effect

Ed through 6 with a northward rush, poor croquet stroke sends black about 7 yards north of 2back, but has control at 1back.

Dare I risk that trivia attempt...

The last time the NZ Open was won by an international player was the 2014/2015 event (so Jan 2015) won by the very lovely Ian Dumergue, from Christchurch. He was wearing splashes of yellow and green that day...

This is Stephen's third NZ Open Final. His first was 2009 when he defeated Keith Aiton in the final. He attempted to defend his title the following year but was beaten +26tp, -26sxp, +24tp, +26tp by Paddy Chapman (also from Christchurch)

Meanwhile, you're probably wondering how Ed is getting on.
He has had a couple of goes at peeling red, but hoop 5 is winning so far. It'll be a straight rover peel with red nicely in front of cover and him running 4back. Rushes black back almost into 4b, but avoids trouble. Black's going all the way down to red and he has full control at penult.

Through penult, no rush, seems to have put the peg minorly in play of getting to black - probably should have had a quick look before roqueting blue there.

Rolling with his split Solomon grip. Blue is a bit of a halfway ball, but has a good rush on black to red - shouldn't need a deep ball here.

Peeling from about a foot at only a slight angle.

Lined that up way too fast for my linking. I know he's a very fast player, but that was the most important shot of the match!

Plays the peel with a fair bit of drive - again, not my preference -but he's the one in the final.

Disaster!!! - red sticks. Yellow runs on and hits red, knocking it through by a foot... and bouncing off to the wire.

Mallet in the air, and after a long delay by the commentator in getting up Chris is on the lawn. He really is excellent at on the lawn judgements.

Plays the horribly angled shot - I'll get some more info on its runnability from Chris between games, but it didn't look great as he pokes it into the middle of the hoop. And it's an all-balls-around-rover leave. Bit of a disaster when one of the balls is black which is for 5.

Stephen hits red, croquets it to 6... it's travelling... croquets it 2 yards north of 6, going to blue. He'll be making sure he doesn't peel yellow here.

Goes north of yellow but dribbles gently into it - should be able to make hoop 5 now. About 3/10 for that shot - plays a pushy kind of shot putting yellow north and having a shot on blue which is only just not hampered. Hits blue, leaving it mid-court rather than as an early pioneer. Yellow to oneback, rushes red to 6, another pressup... only a slight angle... wibbles through!!

This is actually turn 21. I lost track there a bit.

Stephen in front of 1b… slight angle, it’s pretty short… swings... black into the hoop, mallet continues through nudging it through the hoop. Oops! Declares the fault immediately.

22. Ed hits his 1 footer with his rover ball. Bit of work to get in front of rover. Goes through hard, and hits the longish return. Rushing to the peg now... rushes red back past the peg for a 3 foot pegout.

++Ed Wilson wins the first 26-7++

Game 2: Ed Wilson leads Stephen Mulliner 1-0

Sorry about the break there - internet issues and i went to see if Chris wanted the hoops checked. They started before i got there. But I was compensated... more on that later!

Ed wins the toss, elects to go first. Stephen changes balls - we know Red and Yellow can get through all the hoops.

1. Black to east boundary

2. Stephen puts yellow just south of corner 2.

3. Blue from B baulk misses black, goes out about 5 yards north of corner 4 - about 6 yards from black

4. Red from B baulk misses into corner 4

5. Blue hits red, takes off behind black, rushes to about 6 yards west of hoop 6 on the south boundary and fails to get position. Retires to corner 1.

6. Yellow is wired from red, so joins up a yard west of it in corner 4.

7. Ed shoots blue at black from corner 1 misses black (north of hoop 1) to mid north boundary.

8. Red rushes yellow on top of black, croquets yellow to 2, and has started a break. and I'm now caught up - thanks Michael!

Yellow is 3 yards south of hoop 2, black a good hoop 3 pioneer, and Stephen is taking croquet from the middle of the north boundary.

phew.

Takes off from blue to yellow (I thought Stephen would play a roll there...), has a decent rush to hoop 2. (well, that hoop did cause him quite some grief)

Many many thanks to Virginia Arney - she's been lovely to have here, and very kindly furnished me with a glass of Pimms when I visited the clubhouse. Yumm.

Mmm...Pimms and Pixie Caramel - not everyone's favourite combination! Tasty though

Stephen now in control - yellow a eastern pivot, croquets blue from the north boundary to near enough to blue and has a rush to 3. Slightly angly, looks uncomfortable, but he's through. Complete contrast to Edward's flowing style.

9. "he's lost his hoop stroke there, hasn't he. He's a bit stabby." As Chris goes on to watch Ed's shot at Stephen's ball which is parked in hoop 4 from rather close and a slight angle.

Ed hits, rushing it out of the hoop and not scoring it. I bet Ed can't believe his luck, being gifted break after break. Hits black, it's under a yard from yellow, so he get an easy rush to his hoop from hoop 5

Approaches really well - gets the front ball well forward, and the back ball very close and straight. Chris really really impressed with this.

C and Michael discussing how good his hoop approaches are with basically a fully consistent stoppy drive.

Don't really like this - rushes yellow off the south boundary, but doesn't attempt to get it to three - then rushes black too close to red, and doesn't get it all the way to three. It's ok though.

Has to approach 2 from a little further back than ideal, but once again dead straight and has a deepish reception ball. Warns the spectators directly north of the hoop and runs it smoothly, but not particularly hard. off the lawn with no wire.

Rushes red back, red to 4, now we're all good...

Rushes well to hoop 3.

When matching the sets of balls for this tournament we had about 10 sets each of primary and second colour balls to measure max/min of with the Atkins ball gauge, and then hunted for a few more balls from other sets where there were slight differences between maximums, and after rejecting egg-shaped balls. The biggest challenge was really finding blue balls that were big enough! Pink and yellow were generally the biggest balls (largely due to selecting to have black not the biggest), and green occasionally featured in the size stakes.

It was interesting checking the hoop setting (which was excellent) at Fendalton on day 2 of the singles... the variation in diameters of the balls was significant - the ones used at United were all pretty new, likely only used previously for the 2014 Mac test and maybe an Open along the way.

Ed's now approaching hoop 5 from a very easy position... must be a hill there, as he has a very angled hoop shot!!! Stab... no forgiveness, and Stephen has a one yard tap-on with his hoop 1 ball (yellow on hoop 1, red on hoop 4)

No sign of Greg Bryant today, so I'm guessing there is no 3 v 4 playoff. I've had coke, and was en route to coffee when Virginia stepped in with a better offer, so will now not be playing again today.

10. ok, so Stephen has done a bit of ball shuffling. Looks at getting a wiring of blue at 2 and black, sending it towards the east boundary, trying to get a rush on partner to 1. Gives up somewhat on that and plays for the rush. Doesn't get either, and lays up on the west boundary (north of hoop 1).Sends yellow in slightly, rushes red south of hoop 5, approaches it sending red characteristically deep. Rushes the hoop firmly and has a 4 yard rush on red to black.

Hits red, but not well - rushes it off the lawn 10 yards north of black. Making 6 will be a challenge now.

On his way to this NZ Open final Ed has battered his way past half the current NZ MacRob team. "too many mistakes Jim" is the answer to "why'd you let him beat you" of Chris S. All very close games/matches, but Ed held his nerve and played some very impressive turns to earn his way here.

Definitely expecting to see him in the next Australian Mac team, and the question really is when will he be able to play consistently cleanly enough to win a World Championship event. Not yet, I believe, as he's still too thrashy and relies on a huge shooting game. He has a wonderful swing (having watched one of his shots from behind) - very straight and accelerates smoothly into the ball.

But... the rush on black isn't great, has to croquet it to 1b skirting across the face of hoop 1 - just makes it to avoid a wiring, but he doesn't have a rush to 6. Rolls in - slides past, and has a big angled hoop thrash... hoop 6 stays firm and blue bounces back. Probably wired from yellow, but I was distracted.

12. Stephen shoots at black.. misses to the west boundary just north of level with hoop 1

13. Ed hits black from 6 to south of 1back, rushes it off the lawn about 8 yards south of yellow. Ed takes off - again a bit weak and has no rush to 6. rolling in again. He has a 3 yard straight hoop. Won't be able to resist. This is both a strength and potential considerable weakness. Smashes it through the hoop to the north boundary - lovely shot. And he has a rush pointing towards red on the east boundary. Certainly the power of his rushing is a major strength of his game.

Hmm, rather attractive aqua and black dragonfly has just landed on the top left corner of my laptop. Just visiting the commentary I guess.

Ed has to play a huge cut to get red to black, but it goes nowhere much. He'll be playing a huge aggressive roll trying to get a rush on black which is just off the west boundary. It's miles and miles short. Some of his croquet strokes are amazing though. Nicks black a yard closer to 2b from about 8 yards. It's now about peg high on the west boundary. Playing a surprisingly (good) defensive option here of trying to roll in, rather than taking off and boshing through. Short on another croquet stroke though.

I'll put Michael on the case... Ed advised he sometimes switches hands on his rolls. I haven't watched closely enough.

Lays up giving himself a cuts to 1b with blue.

14. Stephen misses yellow on the middle of the east boundary with red. He has realised he needs to hit something against this lad.

..or get him playing monster croquet strokes.

15. Ed taps black, and rolls it with his split Solomon grip to 2b. Leaves himself a 6-7 yarder on red and yellow - bonk. Seems to be left-handed single ball strokes, and that big roll was lefthanded (left hand at the bottom). I'm pretty sure he's the chap who told me he changes hands when the balls are a certain way around on splits. Interesting, as many people are uncomfortable splits from one particular side.

Makes 1back, we'll be back with the leave after a compulsory shutdown and reboot - darn you UC!

ok, we're back. Ed was very angled on 3back, but crunched through it ok, and we have a diagonal spread.
Red, for hoop 4, is a much better ball towards the west boundary, yellow at the peg (still for 1). Blue for 4b and black is for 1.

16. Stephen has a bit of a look around - Red and Yellow evidently open!!! - shoots from the peg, and hits most of his 11 yarder. Let's see if he can get over his hoop worries.

Nope - he doesn't have to attempt that - yellow leaves the game - almost the venue... it's off by about 3 yards towards the clubhouse. It is definitely a lot warmer out there now (had to brave the sun to get drinks), and most of that takeoff was through crispy sun-drenched lawns. Ed bouncing back onto the lawn.

17. First croquet stroke isn't ideal - not a rush to red (near hoop 2) or hoop 1 - opts to take partner to 1 - goes across the face of the hoop - is well north-west. Playing a thick takeoff - he hits those very fluently, but this one is weak - not runnable. Looks at covering shots... no - smashes black off into corner 3.

From Simon Jenkins, posted to the Notts list:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJT8qqCAz0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfssMw5e8wU&feature=youtu.be

Do turn speakers off, as there was a conversation going on in the background that doesn't really add to things.
This includes the second half of Greg Bryant's outstanding turn to win the second game in his semi final match against Stephen Mulliner well after time.

18. Stephen shooting yellow at red - watching it a long way... but misses. Too much of a gap between them for Ed's outstanding shooting.

19 Ed shoots from near hoop 1 at the two balls - and finds the gap.

20. Stephen hits the 4 yarder at blue, rushes red off the south boundary... approaching hoop 1... very nice stroke. "For God's sake, just run the bloody hoop" - a spectator fancies seeing Stephen show some fight here.

Through 1, hits red, blue is a couple of yards ENE of hoop 2, black is in corner 3. Very good croquet stroke gets a 4 yard straight dribble at his hoop 2 pioneer, and red is 2 yards north of hoop 3. Not a bad position, but doesn't leave a lot of room to put black to 4.

blue across the back of the hoop...approaches to a slight angle... this time he's through... but the mallet is in the air. Has an easy roquet, decides to play a little sweep - hits.

Takes off to black in the corner and hits that - blue now about a foot west of hoop 2.

Decent croquet stroke has put black about 6 yards north of hoop 4

Ok, Stephen still striding around and he's up to... his nemesis... hoop 5...

Rushes red down, black is SE of hoop 6, through 5... this should be an equalising break.

Greg is here now... and there's no 3 v 4 playoff. He said something about defaulting, but we won't be doing that. It's a shared 3rd place.

It's a pretty cruisy day here today. John Christie appears to be all over Josh Freeth, Alain Giraud I should have mentioned has crunched up Brian Cumming, and....

Another hoop disaster

Stephen has stuck in 1back from fairly close. Looks absolutely gutted. That is the largest ball, and his hoop stroke there looked pretty reasonable. Really need to be straight in front. I wonder how hard i'd have made the hoops look here!

21 Edward taking on the 4 yarder at yellow in 1back with black... has an umpire (good lad)... hits most of it. That's his hoop 1 ball, hence not taking his 1 footer.

"I think the conditions are condusive to a triple" - hmmmmm.... not sure Ed will agree.

that failed hoop was about 3 inches and 10 deg. but a pretty firm grab by the hoop.

meanwhile, Ed through 1, has a rush, playing black, which is about equal large ball to yellow

Through 2 well, and setting up a standard TP!!

Runs 3 cleanly, hits blue... the peel... bounces back.

Still in control of the break. I'm expecting a hoop 6 pioneer and no heroics - there's no point letting Stephen tamely back into this match

Through 4, yup, that's a hoop 6 pioneer. Greg and I like that, Chris will certainly approve..

Red's a poor 1b pioneer, but blue can replace it, and he's still going at hoop 6.

Crunches through 2back. I'm now covered in beetroot - sigh. Teach me to wear white today.

As Ed continues this break around to the peg, some quick comments and thanks...

Lena Metcalfe and her team did catering at United - it has been delicious! served with a smile, treated to home-made biscuits (all utterly delicious), and cakes (also very yum) every day at morning and afternoon tea, and very generously filled rolls. This has left a very positive impression on the crowd and was appreciated by all.

The club has also had cold drinks available to purchase at a very reasonable price.

The lawns are in excellent condition - preparation started back in about September, and a gradual lowering of the blades from many weeks ago, with more and more frequent mowing has led to a great covering of fine grass and hugely fast conditions.

The weather here has been HOT, day in and day out - just wonderful.

ok, back to Ed... he has approached 4b from a wee way away and is a little further back than preferred, and slightly angled - Ed definitely wins that battle with the hoop - smashing it through.

Finds himself short and angled at penult... crunches that through.

We aren't sure, but there's a possibility Ed thinks this is a best of three match. I hope noone tells him before this game is over, as it'll really help settle the nerves if he doesn't think he's about to win!

Approaches rover well, slightly further back than ideal, but we're talking 8 inches. Makes sure of rover... no wire, but runs it with control. It'll be another spread, and Stephen will be shooting to stay in the championship

Also handy that Ed doesn't know how excited his family are following this from Australia!!!

And Ed's around to the peg, with a spread. A perfect diasonal spread.

Stephen lifts red from the middle of the lawn, having a good look at this.
This could be his last shot of the championship. That boundary isn't ideal to shoot along.

These are new holes for this championship - Chris has been magnificent in hoop setting (and the United team who did a huge amount with moving lawns) - we've had two sets of new holes on the other lawns, and three sets on lawn 5.

Stephen has left... seems to be hunting down a clock that was doing off from time to time.

Stephen back stalking. Ed waiting nervously wringing his hands.

22 ...misses! (to just out of corner 4)

23. Yellow is quite tight on the boundary, not sure how much in the way of the rush Penult is, but i'm sure Ed can cope with that. Let's see that rush...

Rushes black across well, gives it a little room to put black to penult and get behind yellow.

Poor first croquet stroke leaves a rush pointing towards the middle of the north boundary. Cuts it well, and will be approaching from 2y WSW of the hoop.

Runs 4b well. The rush is pointing at corner 4, but he won't take that. Black is 4 yards west of penult, so still some work to do.

taps yellow. Rolling from north of 4b... travelling...great pace, but collides with black on the way.

Splits to penult .. angled hoop and a little distance...

....

creams through it off the south boundary. Gets a bit of wire, but he's shooting at red in corner 4!! Giving away a lift, so needs to take on the closest target.

Misses!

He has shot so well in this tournament, hit so many aggressive shots. Still, not happy with his own shooting - Ed sets extremely high standards for his play, and from three years ago in Christchurch has had his sights firmly set on Australian Mac selection. Short of cloning Robert Fletcher, or perhaps even if they do that, I don't see him missing out on the next Mac installment.

Back to the game... Edward for rover (red) and peg (yellow). Stephen for 1back (yellow), and 4 (red). He has a 1 foot roquet, which it turns out wasn't pointing entirely north (remember he lined on red a bit west of the corner after the missed lift)

24. Stephen taps blue, rolls it to 6, goes to black, gets a rush straight at 4... approaches 4... it's angled!!!!!

Bounces out of hoop 4!!! Stephen wanders past and chuckles saying "I'd like some nice wide 4inch hoops next". Good chap.

25. Ed shooting with blue... he's for rover with blue, so that's for the game.

Shooting from hoop 6 to hoop 5...

Hits!!!!!!!

Black hits the jaws of rover, but bounces back out about 4 feet to the side. I kind of fancy taking off and running the hoop to yellow, but he's taking probably the best by far option of taking off, getting a rush on red from hoop 4 to yellow on the south boundary, and he'll get a dolly rush to rover (I had one of those for game 2 about 5 hours ago...)

The lawns are quicker now, and he should cope... rushes yellow 3 yards north of rover.

Taking croquet from yellow, red's already a nice deep ball. He won't run this gently.

Gets a long 8 deg hoop

It wasn't a great hoop approach...

but...

That lovely swing is on song, and he's through rover to the boundary!!!

Taps red, takes off to yellow. Black's already near the peg

Ed Wilson of Australia wins the NZ Open Championship!!!

Probably the youngest champion since Tony Stephens.
First non-NZ final since 2009.

(ok, he has a 3 foot pegout)

Now he has won!!!