Good morning from Surbiton. I've been allocated Aiton's and Mulliner's matches today and I'm confident I'll be getting the "winning win" from one of these two.

A heavy grey sky this morning with forecast for 3 inches of rain tonight and strong winds - lovely England in August!

The players are practicing.

After Lines (Bowdon) being put on the front lawn on day 5 of the first Test, and Aiton (Nottingham) being put on the front lawn  on day 5 of the second Test, we now have Mulliner (Surbiton) on the front lawn on day 5 of the Third Test.

That has to be a home advantage.

I'm privileged to have been promoted to Head Commentating Table today and am currently in awe sat next to "Whispering Phil" who is wearing a tie today.

He has insisted that he wants to commentate on "Intimidator" Lines

T1 K 11y N of C4

T2 R just S of C2

T3 U shoots at K from A-Baulk................misses narrowly

T4 Y takes double at UK from B-Baulk..............misses

Landrebe has made hoop 1 and is picking up a break. Needs to take off behind the ball in C2 from 8 feet

A fraction short, but should be adequate

He's playing a stoppo sending R to hoop 3 holding for hoop 2.

Godd shot - 2 foot straight hoop. Takes loads of wire and now has a 5 yarder at K for a break........................hits

Landrebe is at hoop 4 with a tidy break

Landrebe is round to 4-b and has made an NSL with Y at hoop 4

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

Today is already starting to feel like day 5 at Nottingham

Landrebe has made hoop 1 and has a 3 ball break

Landrebe has made hoop without a rush and has the balls positioned for a delayed TP

Landrebe fails 4-b peel before hoop 6

Landrebe leaves his 2-b pioneer at 4-b and jawses the 4-b peel on the way to 1-b

After 1-b he sends Y to 3-b going to the jawsed peelee, but he can't see it because R is in the way.

Tries to rush R onto U, but fails. Sends R down towards 2-B and rush-peels U through 4-b. Takes off from N boundary to get 3 yard straight position at 2-b.

Fails hoop giving away the world

Mulliner has the first peel of a DPO after hoop 6

Walks after his 2-b hoop stroke and can't hit R behind the hoop. He's got a 7 yarder at the peelee at rover................

Mulliner rushes the peelee into his penult pioneer before penult and now doesn't have any room to send it to rover.

Croquets it to rover and leaves himslef a 4 yarder on K at penult.

He now has to approach penult from 3 yard............

Overapproaches................but it's possible..................

Fails jump shot

Landrebe may have forgotten his contact..........takes on 3 yarder at Y ........

................hits. That should be game one.

My ex-boss Paul Day is sitting next to me and says "that was just #$%&"

No beating about the bush with a transport boss.

Landrebe has a 5yarder after 2-b..............

................snicks it

Down to a straight rover peel from 9 inches straight

Peels it by 7 yards and can hit Y, though calls a ref. He hasn't got a deep ball, so still a bit of work to do to get a rush to the peg

Does well and gets a 3 yard peg out..............

..............misses!!!!!

Y is 2y WSW of hoop 4

R is at the peg

U is 11y W of hoop 6

K is at the peg with 1 shoot left.

Normally, I don't like pegging myself out, but I would here

Sorry, I was wrong, he was live on R

Landrebe rushes R 11y W of C4 and is looking at trying to play R into Y

I think this is ingenious, but wrong.

Misses the cannon and pegs K off.

R finished 14y S and 2y W of C3

R lifts to A-Baulk and is taking 7 yarder at Y................

..............hits gently

U is 2 yards inlawn, so decent chance of a break

Plays big roll, but is short. Sends Y down near C4 and lays up behind hoop 2

Landrebe shoots at RY...............hits hoop 2. Laid break for Mulliner

The team breathes a sigh of relief as U is sent to 1-b rather than as an escape ball.......well done Stephen

Now, can he make a good leave

Backward take-off needed to 1-b

Copes and gets a forward rush

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mulliner has destroyed his break to play a stoppo approach to 4-B sending Y to penult for a straight 3-ball double

One of the worst decisions I have ever seen

He's played a poor hoop stroke at 4-b and after a minute checking whether it is through, he calls on a referee................

Not through.

Offers of consolatory cake for Robert would be much appreciated

No. Come on Chris. Don't beat about the bush, tell us what you really think

Always a pleasure Whispering Phil.

Just to remind readers, GB can still lose the Shield

Game 2

T1 U 14y supershot

T2 R dribbles at U, missing finishing 6y S of hoop 3

T3 K misses R into C4

T4 Landrebe takes the double from 2y E of C1 .....god shot hits R - that should be a ball round

Doesn't get a rush on the supershot ball.

Landrebe is trying to cut it near the abll in C4 - rushes it 3y E of hoop 4

Good take-off gets rush to hoop 1.

Now needs to approach 1 from 3 yards......

He's made 1 and has a 4-ball break

Landrebe is trying to make a diagonal spread

It's a diagonal spread with U at the peg

Has to dribble back to R on the E boundary with his last shot - good length

Mulliner lifts U and is shooting at R from B-Baulk

...............hits

Mulliner has made hoop1 ..........TPO, pops or...............sextuple????

Almost misses his hoop 2 pioneer

Fails hoop 2 from nowhere

R is in the front of hoop 4 and has a lift. Y has a 2 yarder at a bit of U in hoop 2

Landrebe takes his wiring lift with R and is taking a 7 yarder at Y, possibly with a bit of U as well

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

Mulliner has run hoop 2, but by nothing.............can he hit Y???

He's looking at hitting Y off the wire of the hoop..............

No, he plays away to 3y W of C3, cross-wiring himself.

How can you possibly end up cross-wired???

Rhys Thoms, the ref, says that he did what he tried to.

Y joins R on the W boundary 12y S of C2.

Mulliner is looking at taking K (2y SW of hoop 3) at RY

K retires to C4

The crowd has just said "Stephen's last shot in his last Mac is to go into C4"

That's harsh even by my standards. I thought K to C4 was playable.

Landrebe makes hoop 1, but only snicks his rush after the hoop

He's rolling up to hoop 2 from 10 yards.........

Gets a 5 foot angled hoop and is taking it on...............

Smooths it through to the boundary

Snicks his 3 yarder after the hoop. What now??

Rolls Y over 4y S of hoop 3 going to U. Good aggressive line of play.

Plays a stoppo sending U aggressively to hoop 5. Excellent shot leaves a 3 foot straight hoop.

Runs it and has a 5 yarder at Y................

Cut-rushes it to 4-b.

Maybe the crowd are right.....

Jawses the 4-b peel before hoop 6

Y is rushpeeled through 4-b and sent to 2-b anfter hoop 6

Misses 4 yarder after 1-b.

K lifts and takes a shot at Y at 2-b with U in the background..............................misses

Sorry for the interruption whilst GB won the Shield.

Landrebe missed and Mulliner ran a good hoop 3 to pick up a break.

Mulliner has now completed a DPO.

K is near C4

U is in C3

R takes croquet from U, rolls it well behind 2-b going to K.

Takes off from K to 2-b and has a 3 yard angled hoop.............

fails to W boundary

U shoots at K...............hits

Leave UK 6y N of C4

R 25Y W of UK

R shoots at UK.................misses

K rushes R South and sends it to hoop 2, but doesn't get a rush on U. Tries to roll off hoop 1 from near C4. Over-rolls by 4 inches.

Retires to guard C1

R plays to C4

Good pick-up from Mulliner who rushed back to C4 after hoop 4 and now has a 2 foot hoop 4 for the game.............runs it - that should be 1-1.

It's starting to look more like 6-0 than 0-6

Hampered after hoop 6............Colin Irwin goes to referee................

hits

Finishes - good turn

Game 2 Mulliner +6

Game 3

Very brief commentary.

Mulliner gets the first break and goes to 1-b....that's fine with me, we've won now. He can go for octuples for all I care.

I should also comment that history shows that Mulliner is much more likely to complete it now that it is a dead game

Mulliner is moving at twice his previous pace and swinging through the ball now there is no pressure.

He's done two peels before hoop 6.

It's fascinating to compare the players sextuple attempts when the games mattered with those afterwards.

3-b peeled before 1-b. He'll be peeling 4-b before 3-b

Sorry, called away for WCF stuff.

Had to rush to rover from 7 yards and had 2 yard peel, but coped. Different game when it's over.

+26SXP