Good morning from Surbiton,

I've got the new Open doubles Champion in action this morning, so that should be entertaining. GB need to win 3-0 today to clinch the Shield and avoid another day of worrying for me!!

If we lose 0-3 today, I'm not sure I can handle the last day.

Apparently yesterday, according to the Australian Coach, GB players " intimidated (the Australian players) into believing they had committed faults when they had not."

I wonder what gems the Aussie Coach can come up with today............... it's a shame really since the 6 players are such nice chaps.

Anyway, Landrebe and Beard. On paper, the weakest Australian doubles pair, but they've had some decent results. Landrebe was the only Aussie to win yesterday. Perhaps today GB will understand that giving him 5 yarders for the match isn't good tactics.

It's just started spitting with rain here and there is a cool breeze

The last time GB won all their matches on a day was day 2 of the event. It is now day 14, but I remain hopeful.

T1 K Anti-Duffer (11y E of hoop 5)

T2 Y just S of C2

T3 U  to E boundary leaving a 2 yard rush on K towards C2

T4 R shoots at U from B-Baulk....................

T4 (cont.) .............misses

K plays and takes rush towards boundary

Takes off perfectly to get rush on R to hoop 1

Rushes 8 feet S of hoop 1 and makes hoop 1 with a rush pointing at the peg

Rushes 6y NW of U and now needs another good shot.............. rolls R to hoop 4 and get  1 foot rush towards C2, another perfect shot.

Poor rush finishes 5y in front of hoop 2. Rolls U behind the hoop going to Y in C2 and is now playing an approach to 2 from the corner sending Y to 3.

Leaves himself at 2 yard hoop................

Runs it, but only by a foot and looks to have a tricky 4 yarder on U..............

Airborne sweep................fails to make contact with strikers ball.

GB should be playing R at Y now, it's only about a 16 yarder

R hits Y in the middle

Keith has done well to get a good rush to hoop 1

Meanwhile on lawn 5, Maugham's Mascot has arrived.........he's late which probably explains why GB lost the opening.

Aiton has made hoop 1 and should go round from here.

he hasn't got a rush to hoop 2, but has approached adequately and run his hoop.

Aiton is round to 4-b and has made a diagonal spread.........a good turn.

K is at the peg

K lifts to B-Baulk and is shooting at Y.....................

.............Henshaw!!! remarks Ian Vincent.

Landrebe took the shot from C3 and missed the in lawn ball by 2 feet on the right finishing 4 yards W of C4.

Ancient stories report that George Henshaw, a Nottingham member, once shot at a standard tice and hit it so badly off the right hand bevel that he ran hoop 1.

Meanwhile, Mulliner has made hoop 1.

It's a delayed TP for Mulliner - a bit disappointing given where K missed the lift to. Nevertheless, a safe choice, so I approve.

Stephen almost played the wrong ball after hoop 3, but spotted it just in time.

Gets a rush out of hoop 5. Rushes R into peeling position at 4-b and has failed the 4-b peel before hoop 6

R might rush-peel................................

The 2-b pioneer is being left at 4-b. Mulliner has peeled 4-b with a take-off to 1-b

Mulliner overhits rush to 2-b and now has a 3 yard backward take-off

2 foot straight hoop is no problem

No rush out of 3-b.....big roll coming up

Looking at peeling penult from 4 yards - surely he should just roll it in front.

And does pretty much that, R finishes just E of penult.......straight double coming up

Sends U on the line of pen and rover. Rolls K to a position that he won't be able to hit if he runs the hoop by 1mm

Perfect peel sends R within a yard of rover and Y clears penult comfortably. Should be all over now

GB take the first +24TP (M)

T1 K 14y widish supershot

T2 R 20y S of C3

T3 U shoots at R from 3Y W of C3.................misses to 9y S of R

Y is taking the double from B-Baulk................no, he's aborted and walking back to A-baulk. I prefer the double to the shot at K, even though it isn't flat

Y shoots at K from A-Baulk..................misses

U takes 9yarder at R...................misses to C3

T6 R shoots at Y......................misses

All this missing and yet some people still won't go to 4-b because they don't want to give their oppo a 17+ yarder

T 7 K shoots at U..................hits

Nice roll sends U to hoop 2 and goes to R thereby avoiding hoop 2 being in the way of his rush to 1.

Rushes 2y SW of 1, slightly underapproaches...............fails hoop.

However, it looks like he's bounced back to 1 foot straight position wired from Y

Y looks like it might have half a ball - maybe a bit more

Y at K....................................hits

Decent approach to hoop 1 leaves a 3 foot hoop..................struggles through, but can hit K. 4 ball break now

Y is round to 4-b and has made an NSL where U is in hoop 4 and RY are both on the E boundary. Y is 7y N of C2, R is 2y N of Y

K lifts to A-Baulk and is shooting at R.............misses

R hits K and lines up a cannon on U. Excellent shot just knocks U clear of hoop 4 and Landrebe hits Y, sends it to the peg getting a rush to hoop 1 and has a break.

Approaches hoop 2 off Y and needs to get it over to hoop 3 after the hoop for a standard TP.

He hasn't got a rush, so will need to roll it over

Landrebe is attempting a 4 yard 4-b peel

Cleanly through, but without a rush S on the escape ball. Good croquet stroke................. he should finish from here.

Penult peeled after hoop 6

Rover jawsed before 3-b

Aus take the second +26TP (L)

Game 3

T1 K anti-Duffer

T2 R just S of C2

T3 U plays off the E boundary 11y N of C4 leaving rush to C2

T4 Y shoots at U........................hits

Mulliner has made hoop 1 with a rush and should be away

Hasn't done very well and now needs to approach hoop 2 off partner in C2

Good shot, 2 foot slightly angled hoop

Walks after it and sticks.

K is 2y E of hoop 3

U is 4y W of hoop 1

R is 5.5y N of hoop 2

Y looks like it is in the middle of 2

But probably is on a wire since the Aussies are taking U at K.

.............misses

R plays 9 inches W of C4

Y is on the right hand wire of hoop 2

K shoots at U..................hits. They can roll behind hoop 2 now and Y will have to play away East

UK are laid up N of hoop 2, with a rush for U to hoop 1

Looks like Y can't even play away E, they are looking at the W boundary................GB thinks

They've been through 360 degrees now

Y is playing away to the W boundary

Y is 8y S of C2 and U can cut K to Y

U cuts K 1y SE of Y

Beard has a cut-rush to hoop 1 and now has a 2 yard backward take-off

2 foot straight hoop coming up...........

Runs it, but has no rush

Excellent croquet stroke after hoop 1 gets a 3-ball break.

Beard was hampered after hoop 6, but coped

Beard is now on 4-b and is making a diaponal spread with R at the peg

Lunch will be taken

The players are back

No, they've gone again......

I hate to think how bad tomorrow might be if we're only 9-6 up overnight

Aiton is on the lawn and lifts R. He's walking towards B-Baulk to take the long lift at K.................

...............restalks...................

..................misses, but very nearly hits U

Landrebe has a 4 foot straight hoop 1.....................

Runs it and now has a choice of 8 yarders...................

Shoots back at Y at hoop 1.................hits

Landrebe has made the first 3 hoops and now has a 4-ball break

Jawses 4-b peel before hoop 6.

Rush peels it before 1-b and sends it as his 2-b pioneer

Tries to rush into peeling position after 2-b. I thought this was an error since Y is 2y SW of the peg and he'll struggle to get a tidy delayed double set up now

Landrebe rushes R (his 3-b pioneer) into hoop 4 - is it in worth than death position???? Or can he play from the 3-b side????

Ian Vincent is called to adjudicate on the position of the balls. Landrebe thinks he's ok to take croquet from the playing side

He's moving the balls into a variety of positions............

but none of them are ok and now he's looking at the backward take-off.

I think he should try bouncing it back off the wire now from the playing side

Red has moved as Landrebe tried to position K in contact. Vincent is correcting R's position.

Beard has come onto the lawn to help

Yes - Landrebe is now looking at playing the bounce back

He's using a roll instead of a stop shot...........

gets a good result and he's off again

Nails a massive cut-rush in front of penult - surely he didn't try that big a cut??

Hasn't got the angle to peel and hold for a rush to 4-b, so sensibly is concentrating on getting a rush to 4-b

U is left in front of penult for a straight double and K has a rush on Y to 4-b, which he plays well

Vincent tells me that he suspects Landrebe might have broken down at 3-b in singles - it was Beard who suggested the bounce back. Good doubles play from Kevin, well done.

The penult peel is short but slightly angled............

Peels it well and the peelee ends up 2y SW of rover

Landrebe doesn't have a deep ball for the rover peel.

Rushes to 18 inches and 35 degrees - not pretty - he'll need a good shot now

Would be so much easier with a deep ball

Good shot..............................U goes through by 2 feet and K finishes in the jaws

But then....................Landrebe only runs the hoop by ??mm -------can he hit anything.......calls a ref

Yes, he's hit Y and should finish now

Game 3 to Aus +25TP (L)

The fate of the 2010 MacRobertson Shield will be decided on day 15.

Oh my God!!!!