NZ won toss and went in.  Clarke B to supershot position 2 yd S. of peg.  Dumerge R 9" S of C2. Bryant K shot at R, missing to 9" S of it.  Fletcher Y hit both near simultaneously, made H1 off B,
 H2 off R and has a break.

Fletcher is laying his diagonal spread with Yellow.  This is still fourth turn, so all looks on schedule for him.

G1T5: B missed down E boundary to C4.

G1T6: R does good rush across to W boundary, but hits K trying to get a rush on it.  Rolls up to J1 but retires to near C2.

G1T7: K missed B in C4.

G1T8: R hits Y, rushing it to H5.  Rolls it to NE of H4, going to balls in C4.  Hits B, getting corner cannon.  Rushes K to W boundary, B going to between H3 and H6.  Overhits approach.  Discussing where to retire to.

G1T8: R decided to go to E boundary, NE of Y,

G1T9: K, N of H1, shoots at B, narrowly missing to C3.

G1T10: R hits Y, takes off to K in C3. Puts K to 2, getting 4 ft rush on B to H1. Mis cuts it to boundary S of H5.  Underhits this one and retires to Y again.

G1T11: B at H1 shoots at K at H2, missing.

G1T12: R hit Y, sent it to 4-B gpint to K, rushed it to boundary near B, got rush to 3 yd S of H1.  Good approach, sending B 4 yds N.  Runs hoop to have a laid TP, with Y already at 4-B.

G1T12: Dumerge completes TP, though needed a sweep shot after 3-Back having done all the peels.

That's a +26TP (Dumergue). The score doesn't do full justice to the game, which saw a lot more interaction than either of the other two +26's.

Game 2 opening.  Dumergue, R, goes to supershot position.  Clarke, B, goes to 18" S of C2. Fletcher Y misses just to N of it.  Bryant, K hits Y.  Reverse of first game!

G2T4: K gets to 4-B, leaving R on back of H1 and Y near W boundary S of 2, B and K on E boundary just S of 2.  Adjourned for lunch.

... and very good it was too!  Homemade beef and fruit pies, salad and cheese.

G2T5: R lifts to C3, mssing to C4.

G2T6: B rushed K to W boundary, gets rush on Y to 2yds in front of H1.  Approaches and makes hoop, overrruning Y, but with K  2yds S of H2.  Overruns K in split, but another good approach and she is away.

G2T6: B jaws 4-B peel of  K going to R for H6.

G2T6:  Rush of K for straight double went to the side, so laying up for penult and peg. 

G2T6: Y left on W boundary, R  NWW of peg, probably open to it, B & K near E boundary peg high.

Sorry, everyone - some sort of modem connection problem for me.

To summarise, Jenny's laid some sort of loose reverse diagonal spread.  Ian Dumergue has lifted the peg ball and shot down the east boundary.  He misses, and Greg is set for the equaliser.

G2T7: R lifts to C3, missing to C4.

G2T8: K finishes, after a succession of rushes to and from the W boundary and a 10 yd return roquet after rover.

The rain has just started.  It's been cold but dry all morning, but now there's a fine drizzle.

The deciding game is underway, and the Australians have played a duffer tice.  Greg declined it, but Robert hit.  He immediately went off by Jenny's ball by Hoop 4.  She's now shuffling the balls round, in the hope of getting to Hoop 1.

No rush on the Red (the duffer tice ball), so Jenny tries a big roll to the hoop. 

Nothing doing, so she joins up behind Hoop 2.  Yellow and Red are close to Corners 4 and 1.

Ian misses Red at Yellow, and Jenny plays a rush towards Corner 3.  A big thick takeoff nudges Black very close in front of Hoop 3, and gives her a short one at oppo.

Red remain on the south boundary behind Hoop 4, as Jenny rushes to, and makes, Hoop 1.  She's rushed up towards Hoop 3, and has managed to rush Black across to Hoop 2.  Everything now looks tidy.

Jenny goes to pick up Red behind the hoop, and misses from four yards.  Ian is now digging out an easy break.

It's now looking pretty miserable out there, as the clubhouse fills with spectators and unoccupied players.

Now that all play has finished except on the furthest lawn, it's difficult to see who's who.  The Australians are dressed very smartly in green trousers and green and white track suit tops, with - of course - green baggy caps.

It's easy to make out Ian Dumergue, as his mallet is so distinctive.  It has a metal shaft, with a kinked Z-shaped handle.  From here it looks like a bolt of lightning.

Ian's through 1-back, and has placed Blue for an NSL, about a foot off the left wire of Hoop 2.  That's left him sort of semi-hampered from Black, which looks like it's not rushing anywhere.  Ian Vincent comes on to referee - it's clean, but there's now a big roll to 2-back and 3-back.

Yuk. He overhits, and lands three yards behind 2-back.  Not much good when Yellow is on the playing side.

Ian hits the Yellow at 2-back, and proceeds.  All works out fine, and it's a tidy enough NSL.

Jenny lifts the Hoop 2 ball, shoots and misses.  Robert picks her blue up from the corner and heaves it out to midway between Hoops 2 and 6.  His rush on Black goes about four yards straight in front of Hoop 1.

He makes Hoop 1, and rushes back to partner : laid four ball break, with peelee over near 4-back.

Applause from the clubhouse, as Robert jawses Red in Rover.  He rolls it there from four feet and an angle of 45 degrees, while one the way to 2-back.

And that's it for the day. Australia win +26TP(Dumergue), - 26, +23TP(Fletcher).