Kia ora koutau, and welcome to Waitangi Day at the 2018 World Championships. Sorry for the slow start - we took advantage of a bit of a snooze and a different route over the very scenic Paekakariki hill.
We are well provisioned, and I'll introduce the team soon, but first, let's catch up as we're probably an hour behind.

Lawn 1 we have Dwayne McCormack v Nelson Morrow. The loser is out, the winner goes into a best of 3 with Jarrod Coutts starting game up.

Dwayne is on 1 and 4back, and has sneaked out of the venue for a quick puff.

Nelson is on 1 and break

Lawn 2 Stephen Richard v Chris Shilling. This is the block that needs 2 qualifiers, so the winner goes through, and the loser goes into a best of 3 with Brian Cumming, and will go in game down.

Many thanks to Callum Hyland for providing the lawn updates, we'll settle on a game soon

Stephen Richards is on 4back and has crept through hoop 2 but managed his hampered shot. Shilling on 1 and 2.

Lawn 3 Edward Wilson of Australia playing Steve Jones of NZ. Two go through - so the winner qualifies, and the loser starts a best of three game down against Alain Giraud.

Edward is on a TP, turned into a delayed double now and he's taking off to 3b leaving good balls up at penult. Steve is on 1 and 2back.

These are all single banked, and the crowd favourite matches are on distant lawn 4. Let's check that lawn out...

Primary Colours: Stephen Mulliner in Sudden Death (well, that's a bit extreme) against Vincent Commarieu. Vincent won their block clash 12-10 on the moonscape of Plimmerton.

Mulliner is on 1 and 4back - yelow on 1, red on 4b. Vince has blue on 2 and black still on 1. The kiwi has the innings, with Stephen having just put red into corner 3. Hits partner, wee takeoff puts it to hoop 2 going to corner 3. Hits red, and he's rolling this into the lawn going to yellow that's at hoop 4 - needs a really good croquet stroke - I'd be taking off!

Puts red in front of rover, and he has a 2 yard slight cut - underhits it and will be approaching from 4 yards ESE of hoop 1.

If Vincent gets this he has a 4ball break

Meanwhile Edward has 2 peels down, peelee in front of rover and he's rushing to penult with full control.

Commentary team here... John-Paul Moberly of England, me, Michael Wright of NZ via South Africa, and Australian Callum Hyland.

Meanwhile - Vincent has failed hoop 1 off yellow, and Stephen has a 3 yarder which he makes no mistake with.

Finally, third seed of the tournament Jose Riva is playing Edmund Fordyce, the 16 yo (I think) kiwi in the block C playoff. Simple two for one scenario here.
We arrived to see Edmund on the lawn, but looking up now Jose is in play and approaching hoop 1 from about where Vincent was.

Looks like it's 1 and 1 (Jose) v 4back and peg (Edmund) !!!!!

We'll follow that after the pegout...

First qualifier from the playoffs... Michael Wright "[Ned Wilson] flirting with danger, but in a cute teenage Australian way". hmmm

Ned's lining up the pegout, and wins +19TP against Steve Jones. Ned's through, and will hopefully join the commentary team, and receive his prize (William Worley's book which the title of which I forget sorry). Steve is one down in a best of three against Alain Giraud

Right - back to lawn 4...

Italics for Jose v Edmund, non italics for Stephen v Vincent.

Not sure what advice I'd been given, but Stephen Mulliner is now on a TP. Runs 3 bit hard and seemed to try to get a rushpeel - bounces it off the wire, and now it's a delayed TP

Jose has made 1, rushed towards corner 4, put out a hoop 4 pioneer, and has just run 2 with a ball at 3. This will be a ball around. Not sure if there are time limits, but having a ball off here might be interesting. Or will he have a ball to 4back and cross his fingers?

Comments/questions to [email protected]. If there's a game you are particularly interested in, we can turn our focus more towards that. It's a bit messy covering 4 games at once.

Good morning Robert ... I can confirm the two-for-one playoffs are best of one. That's in the sports regs and was affirmed last night that it will definitely be one.

Jose through 3, has an early 6 pioneer, through 4, it's a boring old 4bb

rats, not italics

Stephen had a very short 6 pioneer, so no peel before 6, but has peelee well placed, and a good 1back pioneer. Makes 6 with a rush north, so he'll be having a go on the way to 1back

Alain is warming up on lawn 3. Unclear if their match will be on that lawn - Steve only made 7 hoops on it, and has had a long sit out. Alain will have 15 mins to check it out - or they'll be double banking somewhere.

Stephen rushes blue off the boundary north of hoop 3, is croqueting that to 2back getting a rush to 4back. Gets the rush nicely, but that 2b ball is about level with hoop 5. The lawns and hoops are pretty friendly, so he should cope.

Rushes red dead in front of 4b, and a quick pressup to check the alignment - nice takeoff has the first peel completed as the breeze picks up.

Breeze? - omg - that WIND yesterday was nuts at Kelburn - one of the least fun sets of conditions I've played in. Exhausting, headache inducing, and just hard work.

Stephen makes 1b, rushes across to corner 3 - disaster! - creams into peelee, so his 3back pioneer is either red, or a black ball that is 9 y ESS (is that the right ordering) of 4b

Bit of double banking marking going on, but Stephen has sensibly tried to tidy things up - but seems to have rushed red too close to blue, so won't have much of a 3b pioneer unless he can pull off a Hoganesque stop shot.

Not - 3b pioneer is 2 yards east of hoop 5.

Jose has... had a 1back leave!!!

Pink is very close to corner 1 (that's the 4back ball)

And it's good morning to Edward's mum. Edward has joined us on the commentary team - just a lovely chap, and it's really good to see him through..

Jose's hoop 1 ball is 2 yards in from corner 3, and brown is a foot in front of hoop 3. Checks the backswing of white, and he seems happy enough.

Stephen has coped with 2b, replaces his 4b pioneer with blue from 2b and rushed towards that wayward 3b pioneer. He'll be looking for a straight double.

*Edmund checking out Jose's balls. Strides down to corner 1. He'll be shooting the 37ish yarder...

Shoots.... misses into corner 3

Let's see where Jose gets to... maybe three peels and a ball or two off...

Jose back on the court. He has a sextuple peel in front of him - a very challenging turn which will win the playoff if he manages to make his 12 and peel his partner ball through a further 6 hoops. A more simple explanation... Edmund is on 4back and peg - he has 21 points, and Jose is 1 and 1back - he has 6 points.

Sorry, I've lost track of Stephen .... he has made 3b off partner but doesn't appear to have got it up to penult for the peel - it could well be a ball to the peg. Hasn't rushed it in front of penult, so it looks like just one peel and a spread.

Meanwhile Jose has made one hoop and has the balls well set for doing the first peel after hoop 2. He should at least get around, and peg out Edmund with a couple of peels, if he doesn't get something heroic finished.

Sorry if the commentary has got a bit random, trying to describe the state of play of a sextuple peel for Jose's family also who are not AC players

Stephen is indeed having a ball around and will finish on penult and peg with a spread, with Vincent on 1 and 2

Jose has put an escape ball out, has full control at 2, but a poor hoop 3 pioneer which is yards east of 6

Has rushed partner dead in front of hoop 2 - this is a problem - can't get the ball to a nice peeling position

JP is off negotiating for an umbrella for the team. Looks like he might be succeeding!!

Jose on the ground trying to skim partner past hoop 2. Runs the hoop (he has 8 now) but has a 45 degree peel attempt. Won't get that down very far

Vincent taking his lift. Takes the long lift...misses.

Steve Jones v Alain Giraud has started. Steve one down in a best of three. No points scored yet, but Steve has just hit in.

*Jose plays a good shot, has the peelee through by maybe 3 yards. Has good control and has put out a good hoop 4 pioneer.

Looks like Stephen has rushed well across the lawn, he'll be finishing that off.

Jose runs hoop 3, that's 10-21 for those following on the continent, and he's going to make a lot more points

JP returned sans umbrella, but now the manager has appeared with one for us!!! - he has clearly charmed yet another set of locals. Thanks Paraparaumu

Steve Jones has the chance of a first break on lawn 3. The kiwi is in very tidy whites.

On lawn 3 Chris Shilling, resplendent in kiwi black, s completing a diagonal spread after what looks like an equalising break.

Some of the youngsters have celebrated qualifying with a big night out, didn't seem to affect Edward too much, but we'll be having photos if he dozes off!

Jose has just played a lovely stroke, putting out his 2back peelee from the east boundary. He'll be peeling 2back before hoop 5

Stephen just finishing off.

Have checked William Worley's book - has a very kind dedication to me and Chris - it's only on loan to Edward to read. If he leaves the country with it Andrea, please make him send it back!!

Stephen has done something awful!!! - seemed to get yellow and blue all tangled, and took off to the hoop - clip on rover. C'mon Vincent!!!

Jose through hoop 4, checking out his options, and he's in full control

Steve only made one hoop - the balls weren't in great positions. Laid up in corner 3.. Alain hits from hoop 2 to hoop 4.

Jose has an ok hoop 6 pioneer, and he's lining up his peel at 2back

Vincent is joining up, having not got going from Stephen's error at rover

And tournament referee Graeme Roberts has now joined the commentary team as JP and Ned occupy a nearby umbrella

Jose is wandering around the lawn a bit - it appears the brown might have bounced out of 2back - hard to tell from here. He has a longish rush to 5 though, so should keep going.

Stephen has a long shot from hoop 2 to likely a target in corner 4... looks like he missed.. but he's taking croquet, so must have nibbled it. He is taking croquet with his peg ball.

Alain and Steve Jones going toe to toe with long roquets but no hoops. This time Steve has hit in. He has a rush to hoop 1, and partner is 5 yards east of hoop 2.

Jose is through hoop 5 and rushes white off the south boundary - no, he has clearly peeled 2b, as he goes well west of it to rush it to 3b. Has put out a good 1b pioneer. He's making sure this break stays together

Quick score count... 13-21 now. Bends over in horror as he snicks brown west of hoop 5. Moves it closer to 3b taking off well to pink

Sherif has a live stream on facebook of playoffs at Kelburn. JP is going to run a livestream here on facebook.

Jarrod Coutts all in black too, keeping Edmund company. Jarrod has the 'unlucky' bye in the block of 3-for-1 place, where Nelson Morrow has control of the lawn against Dwayne. Clips there: Dwayne is 1b and penult. Nelson 4b and break, now approaching 3b

We don't know if there are time limits. Hope not. Quite a different game if there were - Ned confirms there aren't.

Meanwhile - Jose has made 6, hard to see him getting a 2b pioneer out, but he'll be looking to peel 3b before 2b, so probably doesn't need it too far. Stops pink to 6 yards from 2b, has a rush to 3b. Will have a crack at the peel going to 1b if he can

"that's one of the most miserable positions he can rush into, given he can only take off from one side and can't get it in front of the hoop" ... he has rushed brown onto a front wire of 3b.

Takes off well to white, the break is still going.. 14-21 - he's catching up!

And hello to Felipe also - fantastic how many people have supported and are following Jose. He's a really lovely chap, and we enjoyed the pleasure of his company and that of his sister (whose name i'm going to try to spell as Patti, but apologise it must be wrong!)

Jose through 1b (15-21), and apart from a woeful 2b pioneer he's doing really well. If he blinks, though, Edmund will pounce.

Stephen is finally finishing.. has a rush to the peg, and Vincent has been unable to make progress. .. Stephen qualifies for the world champs knockout, winning his playoff with Vincent Commarieu 26-1 And there goes my chance of a top 16 seeding...

Jose has a southern 4b pioneer, is looking to rush brown in front of 3b and will peel going to his 2b pioneer 2-3 yards west of hoop 5

Very good rush - lining up the peel from close and dead in front...

Steve Jones on a break - has just made hoop 5, has all the balls.
Nelson setting a leave at 4b and peg vs 1b adn penult

Chis Shilling having a ball around.

Chis Shilling having a ball around.

go kiwis!!

Jose has peeled 3b up to about 8 yards south of 4b... but left himself a 10 yard rush to 2b!! Hits it mid pace... middles it!! - has a 2 yard hoop approach - lovely shot!

He has approached 2b, and is considering his options for peeling 4b and rushing to 3b from a very long away away.

Very reminiscent of watching Reg. No casting, some similarity of grip (not the full South African grip though), lovely compact style.

Jose runs 2b - another score check with Callum... 17-21, rushes up towards hoop 6, Rolls across, needs to nudge partner and avoid putting it with white in the way of the peel*

Rushes brown past white - that's safe - stops it to about 8 inches in front of 4b, and has a good rush pointing at 3b. Pink is 7 yards SW of 4back.

interesting to note - possibly the two tallest people at the venue are talking to the shortest person at the venue, and they're almost up to his shoulder height , and they're sitting

(that was a quote, I meant to use "..." there!)

Stephen congratulates Ned on qualifying, and Ned returns the compliment, with JP there.

And hello to Pierre Beaudry. Another very lovely croquet player - very nice international community we have

Jose through 3b and has a forward rush - that's 18-21 for those following the points

Rolls white to SW of 4b and rushes pink towards brown. This will be a straight TP attempt - I think he's evens to finish this, maybe slightly odds on

With white reasonably close (4y SW of 4b) it looks like he'll take on the bombard to promote partner to penult. He has so much control it's on

Query about watering - the lawns here at Para are greener than they were 2 days ago - suspect they are putting some sprinkles on

Jose looked to have to choose which side to put his escape ball to, and took the narrow option.

Peels 4b irish - so both balls go through at the same time (20-21 - it's getting close!!)

Peelee went through very cleanly, and he won't be bombarding anything. I thought he might have put pink southish of penult and gone to rush white back, but he just taps pink forward and has a rush on brown.

The sextuple peel is over - brown sails past the face of penult, and he's putting it to the peg getting a rush on white

What will happen here - Edmund has a contact, and three hoops to make - will it be one, or two balls off?

Rushes white very close to penult - time to take a breath and contemplate the leave.

Sorry Faye... Chris is doing well. He's on 4back and in a break on 3back. He has a 6 inch hoop, but we think a big hole in front of it, so it's being repaired. Oppo is 2back and 4back

Jose approaches penult - he's a bit angled, but plays a smooth stroke and the ball rolls through enough to have a clear shot on white. More thinking

Dwayne back in - Nelson is on 4b and peg. Dwayne missed his "last" lift, but Nelson misapproached 4back. Dwayne just made 1back and has a double peel to win

*Jose hits white, leaves it at the peg - that ball is definitely leaving - and rushes partner to rover. He has left pink at 4b and is making rover off partner. *

Runs rover - takes the lead .. 22-21. He has just crept through, but rushes partner towards corner 1 - it's not in the corner!

Callum checking out 3back - the refs are working hard to make a patch that doesn't disappear below the ball as soon as it is placed onto there. It will be a pretty easy hoop for Chris - but not nice if there is potential for the ball to kick out horribly.

Jose has left brown just out of corner 1, and is pegging out white

(23-21)

Edmund has a contact.. white is off (22-22 actually, sorry)... and green is played into corner 2

So 4back and box (pegged out) (Edmund) plays penult and peg (Jose) - game on!

Edmund down to corner 1 - he should be able to cut this to a reasonable position to approach 4back.

Rushes brown to just below halfway between 3 and 4.. rolls up... brown's short - level with 4back...

Runs a 2 yard hoop with lots of applause.... but misses the 6 yard return

23-22

Meanwhile Chris Shilling has made 4back and he's in full control

*Edmund now on the end of A baulk, and Jose can shoot at partner in corner 2 from 4back - but looking at his options - Edmund will shoot at everything (quite rightly)

try this video...https://www.facebook.com/GolfCroquet/videos/1680050275374207/

Don't like this - Riva went to the middle of north boundary - that's a 13 yard join!

Edmund plays to 10 yards south of green on the west boundary - putting a bit of pressure on Riva

JP doesn't have a stream running - Paraparaumu won't give out the wireless password - this commentary is coming courtesy of my phone, but i dont really understand the internet usage of streaming -but fear it!

Anyways, Jose hits Edmund, leaves him down level with 1 on the west boundary, and will roll close to hoop 3

Remember Jose is penult and peg, Edmund is penult alone

Rolls brown and green towards corner 3 - they're both off!! Brown in corner 3, green (the peg ball) north of hoop 3

I called it!!! (ok, not on the commentary, but in chat with the team Edmund appealing for a wiring lift!!!

hoop 6 shadowing the shot at brown, and 3 in the way of green.

Callum reports that green is open

only a single test ball. Disappointing, but at least there's one. And it's... open.

*Edmund shooting - probably at Green- hard to finish from there. *

Gosh he hits that hard. Misses, and yards pink on east of green

Jose has a 6 yarder potentially for the game, or a tap-on for a leave.

Takes the longer shot......unlucky! - hits pink in the middle, stonks green to the middle of the north boundary, and it's a takeoff.

Now Dwayne Penult and peg vs Nelson pn 4back - Nelwon going for 4back - bit angled.

Chris Shilling is on 4b and peg, and Stephen Richard lining up the long lift

Jose has taken off short - bit wimpy, and has a rush to... the middle of the north boundary, from the middle of the north boundary

OK, it turns out it was pointing at corner 2. Taps partner, and he's approaching penult

Stephen has missed his lift. Chance for Chris Shilling to secure a place in the World Championship knockout

Stephen Richards lifted the ball near the west boundary, so Chris has a rush to a ball at the peg, and three hoops to make.

Nelson made 4back, and is now in the middle of the west boundary

Nelson made 4back, and is now in the middle of the west boundary

Jose does the big stoppo approach sending partner to near the middle of teh south boundary - but overrolls, and can't run his hoop. Joins up on the south boundary - the peg might be stopping the shot at brown, but probs not, as Jose didn't look for it

Edmund weighing the options - from north boundary, a miss at green would be good night, a miss at brown is also a good opportunity for Jose to win - but a great opportunity for Edmund!

Seems to be stalking... but hits pink firmly to the west boundary level with hoop 1. Jose should be able to find a wired spot to rush to here.

Steve Jones is up to 4back on his second break - nothing being peeled.. .awful croquet stroke after 3back puts red north of hoop 2,but he has the other balls (after a 4 yarder at yellow,, which puts that 8 yards north of penult. He can roll that back to somewehre decent*

Jose rushes green off the east boundary. Looking for a wire across hoop 4, and hoop 1 could be in play also. Experience might make the difference here

Chris Shilling through 4back, approaching penult off partner from a nice position, and has a ball at rover

Jose has left himself a rush to penult, but I'm not sure if he has left something for Edmund to shoot at. Edmund wanders over for a look

Argh - Chris has just failed penult giving Stephen all sorts of targets. Sorry Faye

Edmund clearly can see something - shoots... misses

oops, lots of bold stuff - sorry

Jose croquets Edmund west of hoop 4, but doesn't get his rush - cuts it towards penult... but it's 5 yards east of penult.

As a quick recap for the non-AC players out there... Edmund and Jose both have 2 hoops to go through, Edmund's other ball has been pegged out, which means he can't join up with it, Jose has two hoops to make, but both his balls on the lawn, so he can keep them together when he wants to.

Jose tries to approach the hoop sending green west of it -he's well short. Scatters green well - Green to mid west boundary, brown to corner 2.

This gives Edmund a free (long) shot at green

Stephen Richards has played a few average shots - he has the innings though.

Edmund takes position at Penult. 2/3 of the commentary team are very unhappy wtih this. I rather like it.

Jose had a 15 ish yarder for the game... misses!! - he has a longer return from corner 1

Edmund stamps pink through to the boundary... this time he's looking at a very long shot at brown

Given brown has a longer shot back, that logic that saw him take position at penult (Jose's hoop!!) we expected him to take posi again

Alain taking the long lift - should be his last shot if he misses - shoots more softly this time - both shots have fallen off - Edward Wilson confirms that both have hilled off. Whitters something about "lack of power" - I am very envious of his power!!

Edmund takes on the 13 yarder at brown... misses (fortunately to the left of it), and Jose is taking off to partner

Jose leaves pink in corner 1 and has rolled up towards corner 3 - Does Edmund fancy the suicidal shot.. looked like he might have been able to have a ping at brown and leave Jose a sweaty 6 yarder. Plays to the north boundary north of hoop 2.

This would be a sad way to go out, not shooting... but Jose has a longish (4y?) rush to penult - hits it poorly leaving a 6 yard roll in.

Jose has rolled green to south west of the peg... but it's long, and a bit angled. Looks unhappy... smashes brown off covering the hard shot

*Great option by Edmund... shoots very gently at green - hitting wins, missing gets him another shot... misses, and Jose is on quickly to rush pink off toward corner 4

Stephen Richards is for 4b and 3b vs penult and peg, hasn't rushed well to 3back, and is taking off into the recently cultivated farmland in front of 3b - plays it well.

Jose leaves pink near corner 4 (couple of yards west of it), and is rushing partner towards corner 2...

Smacks it hard into rover!! - but at least it's not stuck in the hoop - he can rolls them away

Dwayne now for penult and peg, Nelson for penult.

Dwayne has tried to wire, with Nelson east of the middle of north boundary

Jose rolls off into corner 2, with green on the north boundary, brown in corner 2. Green very nearly wired, need to be careful of that here.

As a recap... Edmund has one hoop to make, Jose two.*

Steve Jones finishes off cleanly to win 26-0. They're shaking hands, but doesn't seem aware that they have another game to play! - no,they're onto it - quick shake hands but they're off for lunch.

Edmund has lurked 10 yards south of corner 2. Brown isn't actually in corner 2 -it's a yard south of it, so no easy rush to wired.

The commentary team are giving honours for this pegged out game to Edmund, but it's anyone's still.Jose looking a little rattled at times

John-Pau Moberly is off to set up a live stream of the ending - I'll post the link as soon as tehy send it to me. Look higher on the commentary to find Sherif's Kelburn link.

Stephen Richards is on penult in his break, he's on 4b with his other ball

Jose hits partner, croquets pink down to south of hoop 4, and lags back to leave himself a 4-5 yarder.

Edmund is back in his 10 yard lurk south of corner 2

Nelson hits from corner 3 to corner 1

That'll be Dwayne out the gate ... walks across the middle of the lawn to get to the nearest gate - yup - he's outta here for a puff

Jose nicks partner. The commentary team prefer putting partner back towards corner 2 and pink back to corner 4, but he's looking for a wired spot towards corner 3.. there are a couple of narrow hoops in play

Jose rolls towarsd corner 3 - parks green on south-west wire of hoop 3!

Nelson's rush, from near hoop 1, is immaculate - rushes red through the back of penult into perfect position. He's a bit nervy though, and has rush the hoop be 5 yards.

Shooting back at red, yellow near rover... takes a step or two, and nearly gets to red before blue does! But he does hit

Jose plays a kind of scatter shot to bombard green off teh hoop. Leaves a rush to nowhere - Chris will be pleased with that

Edmund plays to the north boundary, north of hoop 2. Jose now has a great chance to get a wired spot

Nelson with an angled rover to win... grovels through - our lip-reading team know something one-syllabled was said, but can't quite work it out. Probably rhymes with 'duck'

I love having Callum here for the commentary.

Nelson can't hit anything, so rolls to 10 y from the peg.

Stephen Richards pegs Chris Shilling out - it's 4b and peg v penult alone

Jose has rolled to a pretty wired looking position, with a rush to penult.

Edmund checks it out - shooting - clips hoop 3...

Jose looking at the pickoff - about 4 "oh dear, oh yuck, yuck".. he's hampered on pink - and it's a 3-4 yarder. Takes the tight rush on partner to penult - sensible.

Rushes close to penult - this looks more controlled - he's in front - let's see if it's a rush back to pink, or to rover...

Jose runs the hoop with a bit of wire, and needs to rush to rover... plays it wel l - approaching rover from 3 yards ENE off partner

*poor approach - caught by the mound and this is about a 35 degree hoop frmo a wee way back... *

Ends up in the jaws of rover!!!.

Green is quite wide too, so even if he gets through, the pegout isn't assured. Though Edmund will shoot at this, it's his hoop..

Edmund shoots at green from next to hoop 3 to near mid south boundary...misses

Chris is in... Stephen pegged him out, but leaves his balls together on the east boundary - giving Chris his choice of double with his lift. absolutely nuts. Chris hits everything of this target!!

Jose runs rover, hits his 4 yarder at pink, and is taking off to rush partner to the peg.

Meanwhile Dwayne hit the ball Nelson cruised out east of the peg, and is making rover to win

Jose Riva wins the Block C playoff 26-24

Dwayne makes rover... and misses the return!!!!

Nelson has wiring lift!!!!!! - has a tap-on and he's for the peg.(Dwayne missed to the middle of the north boundary and his other ball was also wired from Nelson

Nelson rushes yellow towards hoop 3, has a clear takeoff to the peg... made that 3 foot pegout look horrendously difficult, and chases it all the way to the peg.

Nelson Morrow wins and will play Jarrod Coutts for the one block place, game up in a best of three

Back tolawn 2... Chris Shilling failed penult. Stephen missed partner. Chris needs to hit in agan.

we'll focus on that.

Giraud standard ball to east boundary, Steve Jones slightly easterly duffer

Shilling misses

We join Canadian Brian Cumming in a 3 for 2 situation with Chris Shilling and Stephen Richards. Brian starts off game up in a best of three with whoever loses this match.

Stephen has adopted the stranded giraffe stance and he smashes his three yard roquet on black. He's for 4back and peg still, Chris is on penult.

We've moved into the shade, so can't see much of Jones v Giraud. I'm torn there -Alain is just lovely, and Steve is a very nice chap and (currently) a kiwi

Stephen sends a good penult pioneer out and has a rush on partner to 4b. It's always nice to rush partner to start your first break.

It's a straight rush which he hits well.. it's a little north-west, but he has a backward takeoff.

Brian entertaining us while he awaits the outcome - explained his day at Plimmerton "I slaughtered Chris ...8 to 6" - Plimmerton sounds absolutely brutal!

Not the most convincing shot at 4b, but it's through with significant Murray control (named for Martin Murray, who can smash through any hoop - by a convenient 12 inches).

Rushes to south of hoop 2 - this will put him on the rushline to his westerly penult pioneer. if hoop 2 isn't in the way. Winning this would see Stephen into the knockout, and Chris 1-0 up and playing Brian Cumming.

Steve Jones looks to have all the balls and is rushing to hoop 1

Richards puts out a very tidy rover pioneer and rushes well to penult. Do the Atkins hoops yet have something to say here?

Approaches penult well. Stephen plays with an Irish grip, held low on the mallet. fairly wide stance. Runs the hoop nicely to 5 feet south of black.

I really can't tell you how nice it is to be commentating rather than fighting for a place in the KO today. So relieved to get through my three games yesterday. Very sorry for Edmund who leaves the main event now after some very impressive and positive play.

Richards hits black, rolls it to good deep ball position, and hits partner. He's approaching rover with a takeoff - I don't like that - putting partner a couple of yards south and out of the way of rover gives you a lot more control to approach a hoop, but each to their own.

Takes off to a longer than ideal hoop, but it's straight. it's only a foot

Makes no mistakes there - smashes it through off the boundary. He looks good when he keeps his body still

Has a 3 yarder on black for the game...

We've seen these missed - about 5 mins ago...

Nearly rushes black into the jaws of hoop 2 - he made sure of that one too!! - not that impressive given that red is back down very close to rover.

But points for making the roquet

Takes off - threads rover and red, and has a nice rush to the peg.

Stephen Richard wins the first playoff game of block B and is into the knockout. Chris Shilling needs to win 2 against Brian Cumming

From Christian "Plimmerton is not awful. Plimmerton are world class challenging lawns"

Fair call - the Plimmerton club have done a LOT of work to create challenging lawns. Problem is they aren't overly flat, and things have got a bit too challenging. They have done a vast amount of work on lawns, and providing a marquee for spectators. Various versions of whether spectators are allowed in the clubhouse or not at Plimmerton - might be there is a restricted access area, which is ok.

So, what's happening here while i ramble on... Steve Jones is on the first break in game 2 vs Alain Giraud, Others are warming up for the next games in teh playoffs. I'm off for lunch - back very soon