Good morning from Nottingham.

The top 4 seeds have reached their appointed spot.

Robert Fletcher v Mark Avery
James Death v Reg Bamford

I've done my research, but forgot to write it down.
My recollection is that Death and Bamford have played 57 games, Death has won 16.
But Death has won their last two matches at the Opens, the finals in 2019 and 2022.
In between, Bamford knocked Death out of the 2020 Worlds.

Looks like Avery will be playing normal advanced..didn't seem to fancy another best of five Super. James planning to offer super advanced to Reg after the warm up.

Fletcher and Avery have played just 4 games. Avery won one in Opens qualifying 2010, Fletcher beat Avery 3-0 at the 2013 worlds.
Looking this up reminded me that Fletcher won the 2013 worlds without dropping a game. 23/23. Amazing. Like winning Wimbledon without dropping a set.

The forecast here is dreadful...thunder storms from midday for the entire afternoon...if the forecast is to be believed we might have some more bridge this afternoon. With a bit of luck it will hold off for a couple of hours

You have two commentators this morning. We're on the same thread.
Jenny Clarke will be covering Fletcher v Avery, which is on Court 7.
I'll be concentrating on Death v Bamford on Court 8.

Reg's hit up is quite unique...after a few shortish shots, he has worked his way around the edges of the lawn playing each ball to level with the furthest hoop, then playing from corner to corner. After that he does more in-lawn preparation and hoop approaches

I have received intelligence that the Yellow on lawn 8 is slightly bigger than the others.
Fletcher unsuccessfully claimed a wedge for Yellow in 3-back yesterday.

Reg is going first with black. East boundary.

James is going second with yellow. Corner 2.

Reg shoots at partner. Maybe hits.

Does hit.

Takes off to move yellow out of C2.

L7: and they're off...
L7T1: Robbie has played blue to the east boundary. Looks like he won the toss and Mark too red and yellow if things went as usual.

Neither semi is SuperAdvanced.

T2: Mark to an old fashioned position a couple of feet north of corner 4. Offering Robbie an early test of his shooting!

Bamford turned down SuperAdvanced in order to get in the right mindset for the world's.

T4 Death red at yellow from A-baulk (16y).
Hits!

T3: Robbie is having none of it and plays black into corner 2.
T4: Mark hits partner and takes off up the lawn with yellow to try to rush blue to corner 2. Has a decent go at it, but it's a yard short of the north boundary and about 7 yards east of black - we'll be having some sort of leave here

Bamford won the toss, by the way.

Death plays a good rush to 1 and should have first break.

Croquets blue a yard north of hoop 2, rolls black down to about 4 yrds north of hoop 1 (bit short there,I suspect he'll be a bit unhappy with the position of that. Yellow is quite close to red though, so he can choose where to play that to. I think Robbie will shoot at something here - he has a 17 yarder at partner shooting up the boundary. Mark's looking at the corner spot to see if it leaves only a signle ball target, as red is very close to corner 4

Not sure I should mention this, but you can watch this match live on YouTube.

Shoots off behind red, a little north of it - surely this is some sort of target for Robbie?

T5: No, Robbie takes a look, but is shooting at partner from hoop 1 to hoop 2.

Death in full control.
Will he try POPping?

Hits! Hits the edge of blue, and successfully takes off to corner 4. Blue wasn't moved very far, so this should be first ball to 4back (we don't have confirmation of normal advanced but I suspect from Mark's pre-match comments, and since Robbie doesn't play SA in Australia and with the worlds coming... should be normal.

No POPs, just a solid break to 4-back.

Sorry, I must remember to label posts so you can work out which match we're commenting on.

Death has made 9. Diagonal spread coming up.

T5 Robbie has made hoop 1 with a rush back towards corner 4, and he's now fully in control.
Chris was commenting last night that what separates the elite players from the rest is an ability to simply run hoops with a rush. Reg has consistently done this very well from a range of distances, and has made 4th turn pickups from balls on the east boundary and one in corner 2 look easy with precision rushes and excellent control.

Actually, Chris is currently talking about this to Aston and Samir, recommending working on getting rushes from a range of hoop approaches to chosen areas. It is also a distinguishing feature of Robbie's play.

T5 Bamford lifts Black from near the west boundary to 3rd corner.
Shooting at yellow (18y)...

T5 Bamford misses by 6 inches to the right.

T6 Death croquets red to 2, rushes blue 10' W of black. Good little take-off.

T6 Death is thru 1.

Meanwhile in turn5 of Robbie v Mark Avery, Robbie did manage to put out a very poor hoop3 pioneer, not get a good rush on it, and he has smashed it off the north boundary, now contemplating approaching the hoop from there. and thinking hard. Lawn 7 has a beautiful white patch on it where the grass is super short and crispy and its very fast in the hot sun (which we don't quite have today, but it's still quite fast). Anyways, he decided to take off down thelawn to his untouched hoop 4 pioneer (well, untouched since before making hoop 2) to try to rush that up to hoop 3). takes off quite long, snicks it!... and hes now taking off for position at hoop 3 from 4 yards north of hoop 4... not far enough! - he's short of hoop 3, and can only retire to corner 3. Blue is on the north boundary looking like it's about at the end of B baulk (middle of north boundary). Black clip on 3, rest on hoop 1. Mark will be counting his blessings.

T6 Avery misses 14 yarder at partner from about level with hoop 6 through to 6 yards west of corner 4.

T6 Death earlier nudged blue a few feet into lawn. This is a good enough pioneer for 4 apparently. Death jawses the 4-back peel after 3.

T7. Fletcher hits, rushing blue to the boundary north of hoop 2, he'll be looking to finish this break. Takes off short... has a 5 yarder at yellow - middles this. A decent croquet stroke and he'll be back in business

T6 Death plays nice stopshot approach to 4, sending croquet ball to 5.

T6 Death yellow rush-peels red thru 4-back before 6.

T6 Death yellow peels red thru penult after 6.

Fletcher rolls yellow level with hoop 4, rushes 5 yards south of hoop 3, and has taken off to get a relatively straight 2.5 foot hoop - steps towards the hoop and picks his line - seems to be a very effective technique for hoop running, as he is one of the best in the business. Runs the hoop and hits his return - no rush here, but it was long enough and these hoops were new in yesterday, so no need to mess about. Playing a croquet stroke from next to hoop 3... lovely stroke, now he has full control again.

T6 Death does not get the rush he needed to peel rover before 2-back.

Robbie's hoop 6 pioneer is a little short, but nothing worrying. He'll be able to go to partner before 1back and put that down to 2back, and I expect we'll see a spread.

T6 Death doesn't get posi for rover peel before 3-back.

T6 Death needs a straight rover peel to finish.

T6 Death after 4-back rushes black beyond red at rover. Rushes red beyond blue at penult BUT instead rushes red into blue.

T6 Death will not finish this turn. Disappointing.

T6 Death tries speculative posthumous rush peel at rover. Nothing to lose I guess. Red bounces off to east boundary.

Death leaves OSL.

Robbie's 2back pioneer is quite short, but he should cope just fine.He is playing with his newInvictus mallet - it's a very silvery creation (apparently as it was a quick put-together due to his original mallet head going AWOL in transit to England) they are usually black. Has holes in the head to lighten it and this enables the weight to be focussed more at the ends of the head. Anyone who doesn't believe in peripheral weighting is flying in the face of a lot of physics(!!). Euan tells me the mallet weighs about 2 pounds 8 ounces, which is incredibly light, but the weighting and materials seem to support this very well and it's a very worthwhile introduction to the mallet market. If you're interested, you can google Invictus Mallets, and I expect it'll come up easily enough.

Well, confirmed... it's normal advanced - Robbie has yellow tight at the peg and has taken off to get a rush to 3back. He's taking croquet 2 feet south of the hoop - will expect to get a rush out of here which makes the spread so much easier to put together.

T7 Bamford has choice of 13-yarders.
He chooses blue at Red from A-baulk.
Bamford misses.

T8 Death should finish.

Death wins game 1 +26.

in fact... http://www.invictusmallets.com - from super light to really quite weighty (well, not the Callum-Hyland-4-pound weight, but 3lb is available). They look rather nice, and it's a very professional looking website. Seems the market has set mallet prices all around the same mark for elite croquet mallets - which is still cheaper than my new golf club is about to be!

G2T1 Death red supershot. 4' NNW of 5.

T7: Fletcher finishes his turn with a very tidy spread

T8 Mark lifts red from the west side of the lawn, takes the :"short" shot, which is the same distance as the "long" shot, and misses black.

T2 Bamford dribbles at Red from 1st corner. Misses to 5y past.

T3 Death makes target from near 1st corner. Hits black.

T3 Death approaches 1 from 8' North. Ball hits wire. Hits off east boundary, via hoop 4!

T4 Bamford blue misses red (9y), but snicks black!

T9: Robbie returning to the lawn. Good idea having normal advantced - prep for worlds, greater likelihood os f finishing before the weather floses in. It looks ok at the moment - fabulous setting - the four refurbished newer lawns at Nottingham are in wonderful condition and surrounded by a stunning pallette of conifers and other tall trees. Robbie v Mark is on lawn 7 which has an interesting patch betweeh hoop 6 and hoop 3, while Reg and James are on Lawn 8 which is a much more consistently coloured (and therefore paced) lawn.

(Death was aiming for hoop 4 in his last stroke. Wanted to bounce off to 4th corner, instead yellow is 11y north of corner.)

T9 Robbie has nudged black out a touch, red sent to hoop 2 and a good rush on yellow to next to hoop 1. Good chance to stamp some authority on this match.

T4 Bamford doesn't get rush after 1. Good roll gives him first break.

T9 Robbie makes 1, croquets yellow well to hoop 3 and looks like he toyed with the east boundary a bit as he has a perfect rush on black - very well played asit turns out, though from here it looked very close to the boundary. Sends black to hoop3 over the quick patch and it runs on a little - but is an excellent ball at hoop 3 for a standard TP.

Questions, requests, comments, you can send to [email protected] if you like - I'll try to pass anything on to Andrew, the statisticians, the live streaming crew, etc.

It has just got a LOT greyer here - rain is imminent.

T9 Robbie has jawsed the first peel. Reg had all sorts of trouble peeling 4back yesterday - getting in the jaws being his best result of any peeling attempt. Chris reckons there is a bit of a hill near that hoop which is causing some of the trouble, and of course having new hoops in very firm ground gives little leeway for balls to just kind of 'sog' into the hoop.

This is the first time Nottingham has hosted the Opens. And an excellent job done by the club. The other day my game finished about 9:30. There were still volunteers to gather the hoops in, someone had stayed so we could have hot dogs, the catering is as ever wonderful.

It's just started raining. Hard.

Until recently Nottingham had 5 lawns.
Then the adjoining bowls club folded, the 3 greens were dug up and four lawns created.
Lawns 1 to 5 are good lawns.
The new lawns 6 to 9 are better. Flatter and a second faster.
There are now plans to dig up lawns 1 to 5 in order to improve their quality.

And here it is...huge raindrops falling now. That seems to have slightly pout Robbie off his stride...having decamped to inside I looked up to see Robbie storm through hoop six and have a 6 yarder on his penult pioneer which he has rushed towards the peg.

And the lawns are empty!! Everyone has run for cover. Still nice and warm, but very vey wet. It's a bit lighter out there though

The rain is so hard all play has paused.

Samir's rain radar suggests another hour of this. Sadly it's likely good preparation for the forthcoming world champs

A pigeon is enjoying the shower on lawn 6.

Current entertainment on lawn 6 is a pigeon taking a shower...it has a wing raised and fully extended...seems to be trying to wash its armpits!

The rain has eased off slightly, and Stephen Wright is the first to brave the rain (and disturb the pigeon's ablutions

On lawn 8 the position of the balls suggests Bamford is about to make 1-back, when the rain has eased.

Play is resuming on most lawns, but not lawn 8.

Bamford emerges.

T9: Robbie is back, continuing his TP. Still in shorts (it's now really muggy) but also in a rain coat). Croquet black (peelee, for penult) back towards hoop 6 (short), rushes red wide and croquets that to 2back (both short), copies gone, and his 3back pioneer is better. Has a very long (4 foot) death roll attempting to peel penult going to red, which is level with rover.
(To be fair, Reg peeled penult with a death roll from the middle of the north boundary in game one yesterday!)

The rain has stopped for now.
Bamford doffs his waterproof.
T4 Bamford has made 9.

Bamford leaves a diagonal spread with red at the peg.

Robbie's peel just went through the hoop and after 2b he rolled up very close to it, so couldn't move it far

It's started to spit.

T6 Death lifts red to B-baulk.
Shooting at Black (19y).
Misses into 4th corner.
Not close.

In case you are waiting for comments from Jenny, she is reffing Fletcher at 4-back.

Sorry my turn counter failed.
This is T6.
Bamford black makes 1.

T9: Disaster! Robbie only just runs 4back, can't see yellow or black near penult. Has the carrots hammered down. How mallet head is quite small cross section, but this was an incredibly difficult stroke. Eventually decided on a right-hand sweep. He has a lovely technique, but blue just drifted past.

T10: Mark quickly pounces and is now through hopp 3, having taking his 1 foot tap on up at 4back with two balls together at hoop 6.
Quick update... Still in game one, Robert Fletcher has blue for penult, black for cover, Mark in play with yellow on one and has just made hoop four with red

Maybe would have been handy if it mentioned to Robbie before the off that hoop 3 was firmer than the others and relatively tight...Sadly learned that yesterday! It is in the much drier region of lawn 7

Bamford black sends blue to hoop 4.
I seem to recall in the early '90s players had not mastered delayed TPs. With a ball in 4th corner, Fulford might do the 4-back peel after 3, then rush the escape ball into the corner for the cannon. He was good at rushing.

T6 Bamford black is setting up a delayed TP.

I tell a lie, Bamford is trying the 4-back peel after 4. Is this a semi-delayed TP?

Peel goes through. Must have been an excellent rush after 4.

T10: Mark is having an MSL (I think Aussies call it a 2-4 leave, but that gives no clear info if the westerly ball is actually placed near the west boundary or on hoop 2). Anyway, black is about a foot south-west of hoop 2, can clearly see corner 4 ( in case of breakdown after Mark rushed partner to hoop 1 next turn following a miss into corner 4 with the other ball). Mark now making hoop 4 off blue, which he'll leave in the traditional place north east of hoop 4.

I think he has the balls the wrong way around...this leave strongly encourages blue to be lifted from hoop 4 and played, and it's the penult ball...even if Robbie doesn't organise a finish, it gives him a lot longer to organise a very strong leave

Chris reckons Mark won't mind the way around the balls are as Robbie can't hit black in the lift shot did unlikely to finish. Putting the balls the other way around means you can...hit yellow, potentially bombard red out, put black to rover and greet a relatively easy finish. Even if you can't bombard red into the lawn because you cut yellow the wrong way, you can still send yellow in lawn going to the rover ball at hoop 4, rush that off the east boundary 6y n of corner 4 and put that to rover getting a rush to penult.

(I'm sitting next to Chris Clarke!!)

T11: Robbie lifts blue from hoop 4, shoots down the boundary into corner 4..misses

T6 Bamford black is peeling blue thru penult after 6.
Jawses it.

Here comes the rain again.

Bamford's waterproof is back on.

T12: Mark rushes partner to hoop 1...it has gone a little far, and under approaches leaving a little length and angle. Runs the hoop past his reception ball...chooses not to rush off the south boundary and play an enormous croquet stroke...sensibly puts a ball to hoop 3 going to his hoop 2 ball.
He has now run 2 and rushed to 5 yards west of corner 4. Puts black to hoop 4 making no effort to risk getting behind blue. Now taking croquet in corner 4 and a good roll will give him a standard TP, as partner is waiting at hoop 3. Plays an excellent shot. With that rain (now gently falling again) that pale area between hoops 6 and 3 is much tamer.

T6 Bamford black rush-peels blue thru penult after 1-back.

Dear Jenny,
If you're reading this, James would like a pint.
I wouldn't say no myself.
Cheers!

Waterproof watch: it's off again.

Rushes red next to hoop 3...under hit that a bit, doesn't get in position to have a go at the peel after 3 and he has tried to croquet it to a place he can rush-peel after hoop 4. Puts oppo as a good pioneer to 6, and gets the rush peel. Through 5 with a rush to the east boundary a little south of red, and is a bit tight for room. Oops for a 1 back pioneer rather than a Wylie peel and runs into red. Rolls it across as a decent ball for the peel after 6 and we're back to peeling after 6

Bamford's 3-back pioneer wasn't ideal, so no rover peel before 3-back.
He rushes blue after 3-back, not the best rush but he manages to jaws blue in rover.

Beer has arrived. Just the one.

It's simultaneously raining and brightening up.

T6 Bamford sensibly plays for the trivial irish peel.

Bamford wins game 2 +26tp

Game all in a best-of-5.

The lunch bell hasn't sounded yet, so we're straight into game 3.

T1 Bamford black 10y N IV
T2 Death yellow just S of II
T3 Bamford blue hits black from A-baulk, knocking it a few yards north.

T3 Bamford blue takes off to yellow, rolls it peg high, lags back to black.

T4 Death red at Black from B-baulk (18y).
Hits!

Mark had a moment of concern running 3 back a little hampered, but he's now fully under control with partner in the jaws of rover...Rushes it through.

++Mark Avery wins game 1 +5TP++

A second pint has arrived. Thank you Jenny!

Game 2... Turn 1: Mark lays a deep supershot
T2: Robbie to 3 yards north east of red
T3 Mark has a gentle go red, finishing south east of 6
T4: Robbie missed a double at yellow and blue from A baulk

T4 Death has 2y take off to in front of 1.
Angled hoop, through and he's away.

T5: Mark plays red, hit A blue, croquet it bodily to hoop 2, rushing down to black on the south boundary, chips they out a yard and has rushed well to hoop one

Runs 1 four yards past blur, and rushed that to the south boundary. Not quite the precision we saw from Reg yesterday, but still very handy

T5: Mark now through 3, still has a ropey pivot but runs 3 and has rushed towards it, so no issues there. This rain will have taken all the bite out of the lawns

T4 Death is again doing nothing fancy, just solid ball round.
At Hurlingham last year he was doing POPs.to try to compromise Bamford's sextuple strategy.
After several failures in the Swiss, Bamford is no longer trying sextuples.

T4 Death red has made 9.
Diagonal spread, blue at the peg.

T5 Mark is now up to 1back, thinking through his MSL setup

T5 Bamford lifts Blue to B-baulk. Shooting at yellow (18y)...

T5 Bamford hits! Or rather snicks it an inch or two in lawn. "Nice rush Reg" says oppo.

T5 Bamford has 4-ball break.
TPO?

T5: Mark is now through 3b with a right Maugham Standard Leave, and a rush pointing towards hoop 1

T6: Robbie lifts back from by hoop 4, shoots from corner 3...misses

David Warhurst was the only player to upset a seed this year, beating Samir Patel. David has just done his first TP of the season in the Z.
Meanwhile Patel has won the Plate process with TPs in every game. Seeds should not be allowed in the Plate.

T5 Bamford eschews the TPO.

T5 Bamford blue is looking to POP yellow through 1.

T5 One POP by Bamford before 4.
He might be aiming to leave red tight at the peg so that it will rush to 1 but not 2.

T7: Mark makes 1 off partner, is through 2, rushes well towards corner 4...but hits hoop 4! Leaves blue near hoop 4 and goes to black in the corner. Red (peelee) is south-west of hoop 3...plays the roll out of the corner well, and now has a go at the 4back peel with black 3y east of three.
Yellow grabbed a bit of the hoop on the way through, and the peel is once again rejected. Looks like it will rush peel though, and he rushed black halfway down the lawn. Needed a bit of a rush, as blue is south west of 4

Bamford is going to have a 1-back leave!

T5 Bamford leaves Red 2y NE of 1, Yellow 4y SW of 1. They are plumb wired.
Blue rushes black to 3rd corner, blue goes 2y WSW of black.

Lunch!
For me as well as the players.

T7: Mark has two peels, makes 2b and rushed up the lawn...very short 4b pioneer..he his rush to rover nails the peg! Bounces off enough to enable him to croquet it to in front of rover getting a rush to 3b. Does well and it'll be a very straightforward Irish peel at Rover to win game 2.
This is quite a turnaround from not having taken croquet until Robbie's error at 4b

Peels rover deep, makes good use of hit side ball.

+Mark Avery wins game 2 +26TP and leads Robert Fletcher 2-0 in their best of 5 match+

Mark Avery wins game 2 +26TP and leads Robert Fletcher 2-0 in their best of 5 match

The lunch was up to the usual standard, ie excellent.
I particularly liked the cheesecake and rhubarb pudding.
Surely the InterClub croquet catering tournament would feature Nottingham v Surbiton in the final.

The lawns are empty.
I think it's raining again,

T6 Death yellow misses Black (35y)

I canvassed expert opinion over lunch. They are divided over whether Bamford will be going for sextuple or TPO.

Bamford is reluctant to head out into the rain.

The only problem with these new lawns is that squirrels like digging them up. Especially near the North boundary of lawn 7. A club member is repairing during lunch.

T7 Bamford black stops yellow to 3, rushes blue to 1-back, but not in front. Take-off to red.

Game 3..Mark Avery leads Robert Fletcher 2-0

T7 Bamford has short angled 1, makes it with hoop and rush.

T1: Robbie blue to east boundary
T2: Mark a couple of feet north of corner 4
T3: Robbie plays black defensively into corner 2
T4: first change from game 1 with Mark missing partner

T7 Bamford black is trying to peel blue thru 1-back after 2. Red ball is 4y SE of 2.

T5: Robbie hits down the east boundary. Looks like Robert got some sort of cannon, as he's approaching to 1 with a top 2 pioneer near 6 and his partner ball still in corner 2. Runs 1 well with a rush towards corner 2

T7 Bamford has first peel of sextuple after 2.
Red is being croqueted near 2-back so he can try second peel before 4.

T5: Robbie through 2 and rushed into the corner again to finish extracting the balls there.

Having been turned way at lunch, lunch has been a very well received pint of beer and a hug from James Death. No prizes for guessing who I'm supporting in that semi!

T7 Bamford black makes 3 off yellow, rushes it to end of B-baulk. Yellow joins the party at 2-back.

T7 Bamford black lining up long (5y?) peel of 2-back before 4. It hits both wires, looks to be in front.

T7 Bamford black makes 4 off red, rushes red to west boundary. Nearly rushed it into blue! Red is now 3y W of peg. Rush-peel fails.

Yellow is 3y SSE of 2-back. It is the hoop 5 pioneer. Can he peel and get the rush? A ref is called, he's worried about blue bouncing back into ball or mallet.

Jenny is reffing. Commentator, referee, waitress, and a fine player to boot.

T7 Bamford black peels blue thru 2-back before 5. Three foot hoop 5... failed!

Clips: Death red 4-back, yellow 2; Bamford blue 3-back black 5.

T5: Robbie is through 1-back and having an NSL...Yellow towards the west boundary south of hoop 2 and leaves a rush towards that. Blue now on 4back

T6: Mark lifts red from hoop 4 and shoots from the end of A baulk..misses.

Just waiting on Robbie. Hard to work out what to wear here...beautifully warm, but gentle rain

T8 Death is in with yellow. Makes 2 off red. The nearest ball to 3 is by the peg. Red goes to 4. Rush to 3 is short, the lawn will be slower than Death's last turn. Take-off approach. Through 3 with full control.

T8 Death aims to emulate Bamford in game 2, by peeling 4-back after 4. Peel fails.

T8 Death yellow peels red thru 4-back before 6.

T8 Death's 2-back pioneer is 6y NNE of hoop. Nice posi for death roll, I guess.

T8 Death yellow fails to peel red thru penult before 2-back. He's 4y shy of blue. He copes.

Not sure exactly where red is.
Death ignores it for now.
He gets forward rush out of 3-back.

T8 Death has all 4 balls near penult.
Yellow peels red thru penult before 4-back.
Nice tonk over to 4-back.
Red is 2y NE of rover.

Death varies his tactics from game 1, not rushing peelee north, but takeoff to penult instead.

T7: Robbie runs 1 with a deepish reception ball, hampered. I quite like using a twisty backswing through the hoop to get a fuller swing. But Robbie plays it gently and straight and hits the middle nicely.
Having made a NSL, he rushed partner to yellow and had partner as hoop 2 pioneer, but played a decent roll across the now-soggy lawn to a longish but serviceable peeling position, and he's back to standard. Let's see if he can get a ball through 4back first go. (Albeit from longish and angled.)

T8 Death needs straight rover peel.

Death makes peel, yellow stops nicely in jaws.

Death wins game 3 +14tp

Death leads Bamford 2-1 in best-of-5.

T7: lovely stroke from Robbie...peelee 75% the way through. He'll need to tidy it up after hoop 5 as he didn't have a very useful rush out of 4

Just been out there to correct misplaced clip. (It's between games so I think I'm OK.)
It is raining, but not too hard.

Through 4: rush peels 4back, yellow is a bit south of 6, but he has blue northeast of 6 and can have a go at a decent length peel after the hoop

Game 4
T1 Death black 1y NW of 5.
T2 Bamford red South of peg high on east boundary.
T3 Death blue at Red from B-baulk.
Hits!

Doesn't complete the peel, but blue is now a yard north of 6, we'll expect a death roll to 2back

As in game 2, Death has a backward take-off to 1.
Unlike game 2, he misses hoop.
He makes 1 by inches, mallet goes up.
Jenny again comes from her commentary position in the pavilion to referee.
Death makes roquet.
Good croquet stroke and he has 3-ball break.

Grr - phone flat, seem to have become logged out of croquetscores on my phone too. ho hum, back in the clubhouse and htanks to Andrew for his laptop.

Robbie peeled partner on the way to 2back, Puts out a short 4back pioneer and rushes partner north of rover. Needs a decent stroke to get the peel, but he is very good at these

T3 Death has tidy break. He's just made 1-back.

T7: Makes 3back red south east of penult - a good spot as it allows a second visit to the peelee, and also if you ignore that you can put the ball from 4back where you want it from closer. Approaching 4back from 4 feet south and crashes through to the hoop to a deep reception ball.

T3 Death blue has made 9.
He leaves black on west boundary, just north of peg high, red 1y east of black, blue 1y east of red. They're in a straight line pointing at the peg.
This is called the three ducks leave.
Oppo knows that if he misses, Death should finish.

T4 Bamford from B-baulk.
Misses.

Apparently Kevin Beard has now played 4 games of super advanced. There hasnt been a huge appetite for it here, maybe partly due to the impending world championships. There's an informal survey going on to see about interest in the use of super advanced, however it is flawed in that it doesn't have the option "didn't bother asking about it as no intention to play it", so a few games were marked into inaccurate responses to be able to have an answer everywhere

Meanwhile, Robbie is now rushing to rover with peelee, and has a 1 foot dead straight hoop. He'll irish peel this and equalist the match#

T5 Death's rush to 1 slightly short, but he makes it and has standard tp to win the match.

Robert Fletcher wins game 2 +26TP, Mark Avery leads the best of 5 match 2-1

T5 Death black peels blue thru 4-back after 3.

T5 Death black peels blue thru penult after 6.

Game 3:
Turn 1: Mark Avery red to supershot position.
T2: Robbie to middle of east boundary

T5 Death jawses rover peel before 2-back.

T3: Mark misses Robbie from A baulk - misses left.

T5 Death black rush-peels blue thru rover before 3-back.

I forget who came up with this line: "the fat lady is clearing her throat".

T4: Robbie shoots at the longish double from north boundary... hits yellow. and he's off

Death wins game 4 +26tp

James Death is in the 2023 Open Singles Final.

T4: Robbie now for three with all the balls.

Robbie through 2b, yellow tight to hoop 2 for an MSL this time. Makes 3b and putting red tidily north-east of hoop 4. In good position to get this match to game 5. There's plenty of play before that though!

T5: Mark checking if red has a shot at the two balls near east boundary...no..will be taking the short shot from A baulk again with red lifted from near hoop 4

Misses

T6: standard triple for Robbie to actually equalise the match

T6: Robbie taps red, chips it in and rushes partner to hoop 1. Mark has returned to the clubhouse, and Robbie has all the balls for his triple.

Robbie hasn't got the peel through again, but has rush-peeled 4back before 5 and is taking off back to his hoop 5 pioneer

Robbie has rolled penult peelee across from 4back - he had his hoop 6 pioneer north-east of hoop 6, so has good control there.

Looks to have jawsed the penult peel (well, it looks rushable through) after 6, and he's under control at 1back.

Bit of rain falling lightly here now. It's 3.45 now and not that bright, still beautiful temperature. Mark and Andrew chatting in the clubhouse - Samir managing and watching F1 qualifying while keeping track of a zilion other things, and Chris working through emails - rather a nice place to be. Even better - James has joined us :)

Rushes peelee through to peg high, and make 2back. Somehow he has blue and red very close together north-east of rover, so he won't be peeling that before 3back - might get to have a go after 3back though.

The most requested thing I've heard for the live stream, if anyone pre-Worlds is reading this, ...is there any way to have the names of the current commentators on the screen so you know who's talking - or somewhere in comments - somewhere where people tuning in can know immediately who is commenting in the live-stream

Meanwhile Robbie has run 3back and rushed about 2 yards north of rover, so can have a go at peeling straight - and with a stop-shot as red is nice and close by

Meanwhile the Plate Draw (its a "Draw and Process" two-life event) is down to the semi finals of Stephen wright v Andrew Hobbs and Kevin Beard v Lorna Dewar on lawn 6 (the finals lawn, provided the squirrels don't massacre the lawn overnight) . Process winner waiting for an opponent is Samir Patel, the surprise plate competitor from the knockout event.

Anyways, Robbie has the peel through, and is now approaching 4bac, with peelee a yard south of rover. I'd expect him to rush down after 4back and swap those two balls over. - and he does have a southward rush after 4back. Mark waiting patiently for game 5 and hoping to find a long roquet. It will be Robbie's toss next game.

Robert Fletcher wins game 4 +26TP - match now 2-2

Thanks to Jenny but she's done enough commentary, so I (andrew) shall be doing the deciding game.

The tea bell is about to be rung, so we're not starting straight away.

Fletcher won the toss this morning, so he'll be choosing to go in, I dare say.

Game 5
T1 Fletcher blue not off east boundary level with 4.

T2 Avery Yellow 6" N of IV

T3 Fletcher black at yellow from A-baulk. (13y).
Misses on left.
Don't think you can get through the middle of that target.

T4 Avery red hits both black and yellow.
Black first, and so is croqueted west of 6.
Red rushes blue to yellow, yellow to 1. One yard NW of hoop. Makes 1.

T4 Avery plays excellent croquet stroke after 1, loading 3 and getting rush on black to 2.
He's through 2, and has first break.

The lawn is significantly slower because of the rain. Others may have mentioned the brown patch between hoops 3 and 6, but that is not so lethal now.

T4 Avery has full control at 6.

T4 Avery has left the black ball near 2. It's not wired from B-baulk, so some adjustment needed.

T4 Avery red has made 9.
Blue is the NSL ball at 4.
Red rushes yellow off east boundary.
He's not adjusting black. I'm surprised. I think Fletcher can hit it full from B-baulk.

T5 Fletcher lifts Blue to B-baulk.
Shooting at Black, 9y and a bit, can't see all of it.
Misses.

T6 Avery has left himself a rush to 1.
Yellow rushes red 9" north of 1.
Makes it with hoop and roquet.

Avery has a standard tp ahead of him.

T6 Avery Yellow tries to peel red thru 4-back after 3. Peel fails, looks rush-peelable to me.

Avery is rushing north after 4. Yep, that's 4-back peeled. Long take off back to blue at 5. Good enough.

Forward rush after 5. All is well so far.

T6 Avery Yellow peels red thru penult after 6.

Red is near the peg.

This should be done and dusted.
But it was at about this stage in yesterday's decider that Avery missed a four foot roquet.

T6 Avery Yellow peels red thru rover before 3-back.

To fail now, with all peels done, is known as a Maugham error.
Please don't, Mark!

Avery is thru 4-back.

Avery is making penult off partner.

Avery runs rover from 6 inches.

Avery wins game 5 +26tp

Tomorrow's final will be Mark Avery v James Death.
Two nice quick players, I'm off to lobby the Manager for a best-of-7.

See you tomorrow at 10am.
Cheers Andrew