Good morning and welcome to a rather chilly and overcast Nottingham.

Greeted this morning as I walked through the gate with a poster advertising the test between Eng and NZ from Aug 1974!

The lawns we have this morning are

Fulford v Chapman (lawn 1)

Lines v Wright (lawn 2)

Mulliner v Skinley (lawn 4)

Maugham v Westerby (lawn 5)

later we have Aiton v Clarke and Beijderwellen v Bryant

My money is on a quick win for Stephen to wrap the test up and then potentially a few sextuples with the pressure off

I will be covering lawns 1+2 and Chris is taking 4+5

Sit back and enjoy the day with us.

Presentation has been made to the groundsman who has been up since before dawn each morning while on paternity leave!

Players are out practising

And we're off

Paddy (K) supershot 3yds NW of 5

Rob (R) after a good think heads to B baulk and plays 8 inches S of corner 2

Paddy shoots with U at R from B baulk....

.... misses just left leaving a 2 ball width gap.

Rob walks up and down the lawn thinking about which shot to take and is shooting at the balls in corner 2, hits R half ball into the corner

Rob has a break, making 1 from 1yd ENE of the hoop

Rob is setting up for a sextuple.

Wiring is very flat, but good according to my eyewitness, Rob is putting R (1) 3yds S of corner 3 and Y (1back) 1yd NE of 3 

Y is hidden from K&U,  As Paddy started stalking his shot, the club phone rang out.  Shooting with K from E of 1 hits right half of R

Paddy having made 2, rushes R back to hoop 1 for the first POP,  can he manage to fit 3 POP's into the break?

Set up for a possible POP after 4 but rushing R to 2, found the peg.  All set for the second POP before 6

Rushed to 2in N of 5, take off hilled out from hoop, clubbed it through, rushing K 5yds N

No POP before 6 as he rushed it past the hoop, second POP done after 1back.

The leave is U (1) in corner 4,  R (3) mid E boundary, Y (1back) 8yds S 1yd E of corner 2 and K (4back) 1yd N of U

Rob lifts R and is taking short shot from A baulk....

hits U

R punts U in lawn a bit, rushes K off behind Y, pokes K in a bit and rushes Y to 2yds infront of 3

Rob is setting up for the delayed TPO, making 4 off K&U and Y at 5.  Sent K to 5ft infront of 4back and U to 2yds WSW of 4back it is all set up

Peel jawsed before 6, gets the death roll to 2back, overhit by a yard, approaching 2back from 8ft straight

Rushes K 2ft past rover after 2 back, rolls it over to 3back for another chance very shortly

Rushes K back to 1 just off straight in front of rover, failed the peel, bouncing 18inches W of rover and gets a rush N on Y

Tidies K back in front of rover after 4back

Peeling rover from almost in the jaws...

irishes it through by 3yds

Y is 11yds S of corner 3, pegging out K from 3yds and R as well. Chris is surprised!

Paddy takes contact and is rolling up to 1 putting Y to 3yds SE of 2, U bounced off 5 and finished 3yds NE of 1, takes 1yd 40degree position.

Rob looks at Paddy's position and then takes similar position NW of 2, Rob said Paddy's position is slightly easier than his own

Fails 1 to an unrunnable position, Rob runs 1back to 5inches short of S boundary...

Rushes U 5yds from 2back....

Makes 2back, rushes to near 5, approaches 3back putting Y halfway up the lawn, runs hoop with forward rush....

has a controlled 2ball break now

approaching rover from 4yards...

Runs rover to the commentary box

Finishes +13TPO

1-0 to GB

One more game needed

Game 2

Rob (Y) supershot 3yds W of 5

Paddy (K) shoots from end of A baulk missing to 5ft E of corner 2

Rob (R) shoots from B baulk missing K into corner 2

Paddy (U) shoots at K....

....rushes K into the corner

cannons K along N boundary to infront of 3 rushing R right next to Y, good rush to 1. 

Makes 1, Y to the middle, rushes R to K, one more good rush and the break is perfect...

Nails it, round he goes

Making 1back, no POPs

Leave is R near W boundary, 10yds S of corner 2.  Y on the back of hoop 1.  K&U 11 yards N of corner 4 with a rush pointing at R

Rob lifts Y off the back of 1, misses long lift.

Paddy picks break up making 2 with Y still in corner 4,  setting up for the delayed TP

Paddy jawses 4back before 6, rush peels after 6.  Death roll to 2back coming up.

No death roll as he has rushed it a bit far E, just a take off to 2back

No rush after 2back, down to the delayed double

Penult peel before 4back was good, peelee is 2ft W of rover as he comes down to rover for the finish.

Peeling from 1ft in front.  Peels deep and can only see the short ball. Has a rush on U pointing at mid W boundary, cuts it to 4yds from peg.

Paddy finishes +26tp

1-1

Where is the 1 win going to come from?

Paddy (K) supershot 3yds W, 2yds N of 5

Rob (R) 1ft south of corner 2

Paddy (U) shoots at R....

.....misses leaving big double for Rob

Rob shoots at the double after some crowd movement caused a refusal, missing on the right. Advantage Paddy

Paddy slightly overapproaches 1, runs 35degree hoop and hits 4yarder after.  Finishes digging R out of corner 2,sends it 4yds short of 3 and gets a rush on Y to 2

Break is now under control and round he goes.

A quick crowd count and we are up around the 40 mark, not bad for a working day.

Paddy coming to 2back,  looks like another ball on the back of 1 for the leave

No, its a spread, Y 1ft off the E side of the peg, R 4yds E of max distance W boundary.  K&U 11yds N of corner 4 with rush pointing at R&Y.  Very nice controlled break

Rob lifts Y, takes the long lift, misses on the left to corner 4.  A chance for Paddy to put a point on the board today for NZ

Paddy makes 1 and is off and running..

Paddy has a 4yd peel effort having rushed back after 4...

Didn't try, just rolled it into position

Paddy looks at the top of his game today, very focused on the shot in front of him.

Has a 2ft 40degree peel attempt before 6, jawses the peel getting a good rush to 6.

Rush peel after 6, partner goes to 2back

Paddy rolled U 5yds SE of penult after 2back having rushed NW of the hoop with a long angled peel attempt.

Paddy peels penult from 1yd before 4back

U is 1yd in front of rover before penult

Paddy peels rover from 1ft straight, no deep ball, 4th ball by the peg, could it get in the way?

Nope, brings 4th ball down to partner.

Paddy finishes from 2yds

-13TPO +26TP +26TP

Test score

GB 10-7 NZ

Where is the 1 win????