Morning all, and welcome back to Roehampton for Day 3 of the Australia v. USA test. The test is tied at 3 matches all after the first two days of double. Six singles today, and in such a closely fought contest, if either team can take four or more of the six, they will be in a very strong position to win the test, only being whitewashed in the last round of doubles being able to prvent them taking a lead into the last day.

Although both these teams lost their first test, the winner of this test is still in with a realistic chance of winning the Shield, provided the team they lost to in the first series loses their second test. So Australia will be hoping for a narrow GB win over New Zealand to keep them in the hunt.

GAME 1

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1 Y supershot

2 K hits Y trickling from A baulk, flat cross peg

3 R misses K trickling from A baulk near C1

4 U makes some sort of target from C3, and hits R. Gets his rush to hoop 1 on Y, but rushes it into K which is lurking too close to the line. Fails to approach

Retires to E boundary 12 yds S of C3

5 Y shoots from hoop 1 at R at hoop 2, missing, running the hoop by a yard but remaining open on it

6 K hits Y at hoop two from 3yds SW of the peg. Tricky to rush R to 1, and fails to get a rush to U. Croquets R to 1 going to U. Takes off from 30 yds for position at 1, and doen't get it. retires to U still by E boundary 12 yds S of C3

7 R misses Y to N boundary behind 2

8 U takes off to R, rolls it to 2 getting a rush on Y to 1 and he's away

Gets to 4b with an NSL

9 After a long think, R, the ball by 3b, is liftedto the end of Abailk for the short lift. Misses, running 3b in the process

10 K rushes badly to 1 and fails to approach, retires to partner 5 yds NNE of 4

11 Y shoots at U&K from hoop 1 and misses

12 K makes hoop 1 off partner with a rush back to Y and now has a standard tp

Everything goes to schedule, and the rover peel is jawsed going to 3b

...and completed after

Finishes

Clarke M. beat Soo +26tp

Test Score
	3	3

Match Score
	1	0

GAME 2

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1 K to E boundary 9 yards N of C4

2 R to C2

3 U misses K from A baulk

4 Y hits K from A baulk. Makes 1 with a rush to the end of A baulk, which is where he rushes it to

Takes off to K and gets a rush on it to 3 which he takes. Now has to approach 2 from C2 for the break. Takes of to 2 feet slightly angled. Runs it to the boundary with wrong wire, but comfortably picks of seven yarder

Good croquet stroke from C2 gets a rush on the hoop 3 pioneer which is 3 yds E of the hoop and he's away

Y is approaching 2b from 18 inches, looks like he's heading for a spread

As I arrived this morning I came across Danny Huneycutt and Rich Lamm being given a shake down by a particularly diligent, to say nothing of big, security guard in the middle fo the Roehampton car park. Something about whether they were supposed to be wearing badges or some such. Can't help feeling the CA have missed a trick here: surely we could arrange for sucj treatment for all our opponents, preferably immediately *before* we play them

Y reaches 4b with a spread, U 5 yds SSW of 2

5 K takes long lift and snicks R. Rushes Y to 5 yds S of 1, approaches to 2 ft pretty straight, but jerks it into the near wire.

6 Y hits its 2 yarder at K in the middle of the jaws. Leave is K 3 yds WSW of 1, U 5 yds NE of 2, R&Y on E boundary 7 yds N of C4, R with a rush to 1 presumably wired from K

7 U hits 30 yarder at Y. Looks to me like K at U was shorter and safer, but hey, can't argue with success

No attempt to get Y to 4b after 2, so presumably we're just going to see a ball to 4b, unless he fancies a tpo after a 1b leave

Yep, 4b with an NSL it is, Y on hoop 4, R 4 yds SW of 2. Has to rush K away and take off back to Y to put it on the hoop, dribbles bakc to K from 8 yds, so U&K are a bit untidy and some way off the boundary

8 R misses short lift

9 K hits U first and puts it straight to 4b going to R. Rolls R to the middle and gets his rush to 1 on Y. Has a standard tp as he runs 3, but the peel rejects after the hoop

4b peel done going to 6, and sent to 2b after. No rush after 2b, so sets up for peel going to 4b, but with penult pioneer poorly place 4yds NNE of the hoop

Poor croquet stroke means peel grovels through and rush to 4b is pointing at the end of B baulk. Rolls off 4b, outs Y to rover and rushes peelee back through hoop 6. Elects to forego a rush on the penult pioneer in favour of getting peelee al the way to rover, but it hits the peg and stays 2 yds W of it. Rolls up to penult from 5 yds and plays a good croquet stroke after sending R to rover and getting a good rush on peelee.

Jawses the peel and roquets the pioneer. Terrific shot cannons the peelee through and ends up 1 ft dead in front (very easy to forget about getting position there). But then hits the peelee after running the hoop and can't see the peg. Croquets it to 2 ft W of the peg, but then rushes short for the combo attempt. But a very fine contact on the cannon completes the combo to rapturous applause from spectators partial or otherwise. K pegs out to level the test once again

Clarke M. beat Soo +26tp +17tp

Test Score
	4	4

Match Score
	2	0