Morning all, and welcome to Surbiton for the final throes of the 2010 MacRobertson Shield. As expected, New Zealand rapidly clinched their win over the USA yesterday to guarantee no worse than runner's up spot, going on to win five of the six singles available. They have a healthy lead of 15-3, and taking two out their three doubles today would ensure they will have won most matches in this edition of the event.

GB meanwhile consolidated their five out of six of the previous days singles by edging the doubles 2-1, so now only need one match to clinch the Shield for the seventh consecutive time. Should be looking at some fast play this morning, as everyone will be keen to score the clinching point

We've had some early drizzle, and it's going to remain overcast, but no serious rain forecast. Lawns remain belligerently around the 11.5 Plummer mark.

GAME 1

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1 K to E boundary 10yds N of C4

2 R to C2

3 U misses K from A baulk

4 Y misses target from B baulk, hilling off into C4

So my privelege to commentate on The Intimidator today, as he menacingly rushes to a ft W of C4 and gets a rush on Y to C2. With the likes of Mulliner on an adjacent lawn, I'm not betting the mortgage on him being the clincher.

As Y is creamed off to a yd E of C2, Ian turned to me to ask which ball he was playing. Possibly illegally, I told him.

U has now rushed to 4yds SE of hoop 1 and approaches to 2/3ft in front

Not much backswing on the hoop stroke, which consequently only just gets through. Can't hit anything, so joins 4 yds N of K in C4

6 R hits 22 ydr at K in C4 from hoop 1

Approaching 1 of U from 4ft, runs it from 9" and rushes to 3. K is 3yds off middle of the E boundary, and R gets a rush on it to W boundary level with 6. Choice of ways to make 2 now, but likely to be a stop shot approach from C2 sending a ball to 4

Looks pretty good, running the hoop from no further than 3ft in front. Runs it to the N boundary and centre balls the 6yd return. Will go to 4b now

Crowd not especially big at the moment, either people didn't get the message about the early start, or they're lying in until closer to a likely clinching time

As Beardo approaches 5 from a ft in front, the Aussies are in play on three of the four lawns. The elephant in the room is whether this could turn out to be another Nightmare in Nottingham

R approaching 2b now heading for a spread. Another occasion when, faced with a position which has some parity in it, we are going to get a leave with none

Spread it is, U 3yds off maximum position on W boundary. Rush on partner slightly hampered by the peg, so having to roll to the E boundary from 9yds away. So balls are 4/5ft in-court, so the long lift should be a bit flatter than it might have been

6 The Intimidator duly lifts K and is lining up a shot at Y from B baulk into C4

Which he centre balls with menace. It's been a good last minute for GB, as two of their lift shots have been hit, and one has been the missed Aussies

K rushes to 6" W of 1, has a ball 4yds W of 2, so should be away

Rushes nicely to C2 to get behind the hoop 2 pioneer. Runs 2 from 6" in front, so is away

Linesy's obviously not playing with total confidence at the moment, hopefully a ball round will loosen him up a tad

Approaching 1b with both oppo balls in attendance, I fully expect R, the 4b ball, will be glued on 2, U's hoop, very shortly

And there it goes

I had assumed he was having a reverse NSL, but has stuffed Y to 4ft E of the peg and is laying up on the E boundary %yds N of C4. Y has an 11/12 ydr at R on hoop 2, but probably not much more than half a target

The sun has broken briefly through the heavy overcast sky

7 Y is taking the short shot from A baulk: should be do or die

Misses

8 U has a laid standard triple, hard to see how even Linesy can avoid putting the peelee to 3/4b before 2

Indeed K almost found it's way into the jaws of 4b

Even grovelling through 2 can't put it off, as both balls are rolled across to 3

4b peel through a yd after 3

Collected after 4. No forward rush after 5, but excellent roll means evrything's under control coming to 6

Manages to miss the peelee in running 6, and ends up knocking it to unpeeleable position with the return roquet. It now looks to be an inch or two dead in front going to 1b, so with a bit of control should be able to rush peel it after

Gets a 3ft straight rush on it, and creams it through by all of 2 feet

Rushes peelee down to rover after 2b. No chance of peel going to 3b, and not going for the rush across after option. Peel will be a straight now

Grovels through 4b, but looks trivial to hit escape ball and peelee is not much more than a foot dead in front of rover, so should be fine

Peeling from 6" dead in front

Irished 6yds through and finishes

Lines beat Beard +17tp

Test Score
	10	5

Match Score
	1	0

That was an hour and fifty minutes for 17tp. Personally I'm happy for him to take two hours for a plus 26 in the next

Situation is now that GB is game up in two, game down in a third, and Mulliner is attempting to pull the first out of the fire from 1 & penult v. ballbox alone

GAME 2

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1 R to E boundary 7 yds N of C4

2 U misses R from B baulk to a ft W of C4 on the S boundary

3 Y centre balls U from A baulk

Rolls U to 8ft of E boundary level with 5, and has a rush pointing at middle of W boundary. Overcuts it, only a yd beyond line of hoop 4. Can have a speculative roll up putting escape ball peg high or N thereof

Which he does, getting 5ft fairly straight hoop position

Decides against it, retires to the E boundary joined with U

4 K misses long shot into C4

5 Y makes 1, rolls R to 3 going to 2, and is away

Makes 2 and pumps hoop 4 pioneer 3yds beyond the hoop. Given that K has to be dug out of C4, that's much better than a yd short

Top tip, that

Suddenly out of nowhere Y sticks in 1b, leaving K a 4 ball break. As you do

Initial roquet peels Y to 2b

Approaching 3b, looking like some sort of spread, but can't tell exactly which yet

Regular spread it is: Y, for 2b, very tight on the peg

7 R misses long lift into C4

8 Linesy has a finishing turn opportunity to lift the Shield

Rushes to 2 yds E of hoop 1, takes off to 9" dead in front, runs 1 with no rush

Rushes to 2 yds E of hoop 1, takes off to 9" dead in front, runs 1 with no rush

Now deciding whether to send hoop 3 pioneer out rolling straight to hoop 2, or go via R in C4

Opts for the former. There would have been a lot of furniture in the way of rolling R to 3 going to 2, so perfectly reasonable choice. Plays his longish take off approach to 2 to 9" dead in front again

Delayed tp there for the taking, but to date he's often declined this sort of opportunity

If he were aware that Keith Aiton is on a controlled standard tp to clinch on lawn 1, he'd probably be feeling under a bit less pressure

Now facing the most difficult shot in croquet: taking off from hoop 3 to C4

Walks all over the 4ydr he leaves himself!

Has set up for 4b peel going to 6

Pauses before 3 ft straight peel attempt to join in celebrations as his skipper clinches the Shield for the Brits down on lawn 1

Jawses peel before 6

No rush after 6, completes peel and sends peelee out as 2b pioneer

18" rush back to penult after 2b

No chance of peel now, so sets up to do it going to 4b

No forward rush after 3b, so needs a good roll down to penult now

Finds one. Penult peel through by about 1" from 15" pretty straight. Don't realy see why he played that with as much roll as he did. Didn't want it to go down to the peg, but even so

Sticks in 4b. Muppet!

9 Y, for 2b, plays: should see a couple of hoops and a full hammer, non-lift leave

Looking like a cross wire at 1, laying up in C3

It is, and a good one as the oppo 4b ball is just off the W boundary, lengthening the shot for the ball oppo would rather play

Of course, as I was getting beer at the time, could just be that the 4b ball randomly ended up there. But happy to give the benefit of the doubt

10 K misses shortest tea lady by nothing. Of which Linesy's body language leaves us in no doubt

11 Approaches hoop 1 to 2ft slightly angled from 5 yds to the side, runs it by 2". Is going to need a sweep to make the roquet

Misses! Didn't look that difficult

12 Linesy now has a N bound rush, a ball at hoop 2 and partner, for rover at 4b, his hoop.Easy finish with a straight rover peel

Makes 4b. Peelee croqueted to 2ft pretty straight in front of rover

Peeling from 10" dead in front. No deep ball. But hey

Peel Irished 4 yds through. Finishes. A rock solid match depsite the pressure

Lines beat Beard +17tp +16

Test Score
	12	5

Match Score
	2	1

And that's me signing off. It's been a hoot, hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have