Good morning from Bowdon.

Slightly more breeze this morning and we're expecting it to remain dry. An interesting days play ahead with the potential for GB to win or USA to close within 1.

GB have slipped into 1st gear over the last couple of days after remaining firmly in neutral for day 1. They'll be hoping to move to second or third gear over the remainder of this Test.

I personally thought that the match we were most likely to win yesterday was the battle of the Captains - Aiton v Soo - so that shows what I know.

The USA will be hoping for their first win out of Rothman today.

A big day for Aus v NZ today. They really need a whitewash to set up an interesting last day.

Jenny will be trialling a Pidcock today.

The players are out practicing. Grimsley and Soo are shooting at a little white ball on string

This match is on the show lawn in front of the clubhouse

The sun is out and it is almost pleasant.

Rothman U

Grimsley K

Aiton R

Mulliner Y

T1 U 14 yard narrow supershot

T2 R misses gently finishing 4 yards ESE of hoop 6

T3 This is amazingly aggresive. Grimsley shoots at R on a hoop 5 line. Hits it in the middle gently.

K has made hoop 1 with R still at the peg. Sends U 5 yards short of hoop 3 and does well to rush R within 2 yards of hoop 2. Should go round.

Good start for the Yanks who have the first break on all 3 lawns

T3 (cont) K is round to 4-b and has made a 3 ducks leave. It is only 18 yards N of C1 but the shot into C2 isn't very flat.

I'll have a good view of Ys shot coming up

Y shoots at R from A-baulk towards C2...............poor shot misses by 3 balls on the left.

Should be an easy finish for Rothman

He's rushed 4 feet to the W of hoop 1 and refused to play a croquet stroke meaning he'll either have to leave K behind or play a massive roll going to Y in C2.

Bad take -off, but runs hoops.

Misses 5 yard return roquet

Keith and Stephen are chatting about which way to take their 9 yarder. They opt for Keith to play R towards Y in C2.

R misses Y

U now has a 6 yarder at K for a standard TP...............hits

U croquets K to 4-b and it's immediately clear that he thinks he's overhit it. U stays on the lawn by 18 inches

Rothman hasn't managed to do much with the balls in C2 and has opted to rush back to the corner after hoop 2 meaning he'll have to play a reasonable croquet stroke to get the standard TP

No attempt made to get toward hoop 3. It's now floating 3 yards W of hoop 3. He does however play a good croquet stroke loading 4 going to K at 3.

Should be able to peel K with a take-off going to Y

K is jawsed and U has a 4 yard rush SE on Y which he plays well

U went back and rush-peeled K after hoop 4 and is now approaching 5 from 1 yard W of the hoop

The forecast for dry weather predictably means that it is now raining steadily

Rothman has reached 1-b with the penult peel jawsed. All looking like a USA 1-0 lead

K is peeled through rover before 3-b. It has stopped raining.

Rothman finishes. USA take the first +26TP (R)

GAME 2

Rothman U

Grimsley K

Aiton R

Mulliner Y

R 16 yard narrow supershot

K 14 yards N of C4

Y shoots at K from A-baulk......................hits

Y fails to get in front of hoop 1. R is 7 yards N of hoop 1 and K is 4 yards W of hoop 6.

Y plays 3 yards E of R. It's cross fingers time!!

U is taking the 10 yarder at K from B-baulk rather than the 14 yarder at R with K in the background.......................misses

Y hits R, rolls R to hoop 2 finishing with a rush on K to C2. Rushes K off 6y S of C2 and plays at thick take-off to U sending K to hoop 3. Good shot.

Now he needs to roll up to hoop 1 from the W boundary 2 yards N of C1.

Overapproaches and has 45 degree hoop. Fulford made this look trivial yesterday.

Discussion

The rain starts more heavily this time

I'm normally a big fan of joining up, but this hoop doesn't look that difficult to me

They're still thinking...........Y plays 5 yards E of C2 leaving a 9 yarder at R

U NE of  hoop 1 is shooting at K SW of hoop 3............misses

Steady rain means we're seeing some waterproofs emerging

R misses Y finishing in contact.

K is taking it's 9 yarder at U - I think they should play U at K

Hits

K has made hoop 1 but his hoop 2 pioneer is on the N boundary behind the hoop

He'll need a good backward take-off

Takes off short and retires to partner near hoop 3

R at hoop 1 hits U at hoop 3

A good croquet stroke from Aiton gets a rush to hoop 1 which is woeful finishing 6 yards N of the hoop

Good take-off leaves 1 yard straight hoop. Fails hoop finishing hard up against left hand wire. R and Y are completely crosswired.

K shoots at U near C3.......... misses

Surprisingly they are playing R to C4.

Y is 4 yards N of hoop 1

K (for 2) is 1 yard W of C3

U (for 1) is 2 yards W of K

Surprisingly, K has played and taken off to try and get a rush on Y to hoop 2, finishing at least 4 yards SSW of it

Rushes it 3 yards NE of the peg

K rolls up to 2 and runs a 5 foot hoop. Should go round now

K has a 4-ball break and is on hoop 5

K is on 4-b and has made a fairly horizontal diagonal spread. Y is at the peg.

K 4-B, all other clips on hoop 1

Y lifts to A-baulk and shoots at U.....................misses, hitting hoop 4 and bouncing to E boundary

U picks up a 4-ball break and has K as the hoop 2 pioneer

Ends up jumping through hoop 2 and fails to roll K into peeling position.

This will be delayed now.

It will also be very wet as it is pouring down

U peels K through 4-b before 6, but rushes Y 3 yards past hoop 6

Good approach and he's back in control

Penult peeled before 4-b. Just a straight rover peel to make it 5-8

Has rushed to short very angled position

Discussion

Looks like they are aborting........yes, it's going to be rover and peg

R has been croqueted 9 yards W of the peg. Y has been placed in rover. U has left a rush for K at rover from the max distance spot on the E boundary

Y hits R from A-baulk

This would be a good one to win

I have to say that the lunches have been superb at Bowdon.

Today we have a choice between minestrone, tomato or scotch broth soup.

With heated rolls or garlic bread.

The for mains we have ham, prawns, pork pies, salmon, eggs, cous cous, salad etc etc.

Puddings today are profiteroles, apple pie or trifle.

Given that I tend not to eat lunch when I'm playing, retirement is looking better each day!

Just when I was feeling happy and content.............

A sextuple leave

U has been croqueted 2 feet NNNWN of the hoop and it may be that K could hit it by running hoop 1.

K is rushed 4 yards S of hoop 1 and they are laying up in C3. I'd be tempted with running hoop 1.

Needless to say, I disagree with this choice of tactic.

I'd be fancying an MSL with U in hoop 2.

I've had a closer look and reckon K will hit U 90% of the time if it runs the hoop by far enough. It is an awful leave

Robert and myself can't believe it as Rothman turns down what we reckon is about a 50% roquet through the hoop on U and takes a 34 yarder which hills off.

That shot would definitely have hit U.

Rushes Y 3 yards in front of 1-b. Attempts the big roll going to hoop 1. Y hits the right hand wire of 1-b and goes off the West boundary giving the innings to U.

I'm not going to say any more about that.

U is joined with K near C3 with a rush to R.

R is 1 yard ESE of rover wired from Y in the middle of the W boundary

Rob doesn't like the leave because it gives R a shorter shot. I think it is ok because it encourages R to play

R hits U

Wouldn't it be nice if Y was on 4-b.

R is hampered after hoop 1

If we're lucky, he'll play to the side, K will shoot down and miss and Y will go to 4-b

He's played to the side

K shoots at Y, it's a 13 yarder for the match.

Misses badly.

R hits K. Sextuple number 3 coming up

R's rush on Y to hoop 2 finishes on the W boundary

Rolls up to the hoop with K nearby, has 5 foot angled hoop..........fails.

That should be that.

K runs rover, but doesn't get a rush to the peg. If he rolls to the peg and pegs one out, it won't matter that we're on 2 and 1-b

You have to make a leave peg and peg from here

K is attempting a roll up to the peg - this is wrong

U doesn't even reach the peg and he is very lucky that it hills to the side and K can still hit the peg.

U peg

R 2

y 1-B

R 3 Yards E of C2

Y 3 yards SW of C3

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

USA win +26TP (R) +19

Test score GB 8 USA 5

That was probably the most self-indulgent display I have ever seen from a GB doubles pair.