This is going on shortly on lawn 1

Both the GB players are getting to play on the same lawn they played their previous singles on - that's poor

Lines UK

Soo RY

T1 K 9 yards N of C4

T2 R ?? S of C2

T3 U plays into C2, so R mustbe at least a foot S

T4 Y shoots at U...............misses

U rushes R to hoop 1 and ity finishes off the S boundary. Approaches to 3inches straight. That's the length I like!!

After hoop 1 U rushes R 10y N of hoop 1 and then rolls it behind hoop 2 going to Y near C2. It'll be a drive approach to hoop 2 now sending Y to hoop 3.

U has gone too far and going to retire to K on the E boundary

Y at hoop 3 is looking at the target of U and K

turns it down and shoots R at Y - 15 yarder.................misses

U has made hoop 2 with a 4 ball break

Meanwhile, I've just had a report of an "incident" at Heaton Park.

In the Westerby v Forster match, Westerby is game up and Forster misses the peg out on his TP and pegs a ball out. Westerby goes from 1 to the peg and lays up near C3 for his 4-b ball.

So, it is now 4B and peg vs peg.....last shot time for Forster.

Westerby has left Forster near C1 and thinks he's partially wired from the peg. He thinks he's got some other wires in play on one of his balls

At this point they stop for either lunch, the mayor's photo-shoot or both.

Whilst this is happening, Barry Keen picks up Forsters ball without marking it to test the hoops. Westerby screams No!!, but it's too late.

Anyway, back to lawn 1 at Bowdon and U has reached 4-b with a diagonal spread. R is at the peg

On lawn 3, Rothman has picked up a 3-ball break off the contact and should make it GB 10 USA 9 if he can hold his nerve

Y lifts and takes the long lift, narrowly missing K

K makes hoop 1 and has a 3-ball break

Rothman finishes off the contact. After a scrappy first game, a high quality game 2 gives the USA their second match of the day

Test score GB 10 USA 9

As much as I think Fulford is the best player ever, I have more confidence of Lines securing GBs crucial 11th point than Fulford

I'm going to hand over to James Hawkins to be able to sit outside and watch

As I take over commentary duties from Chris, I must concur.  Linesy is proving the Man of Steel this week, as he progresses steadily.

Of course, he has the home advantage - it's his club, he's got the Show Lawn, and the crowd are with him

For those who are unaware, Ian is Croquet Secretary of Bowdon, and it's his role to coordinate internal competitions, tournaments, and the staging of events such as this.  Many of the throng here have been coached by him, and most of us have been beaten by him.

So far, he's not even looked at peeling Blue.  He's now on 3-back, and is sending partner up towards 4-back.

Surely he'll not try the straight triple?  Ian's not a man for unnecessary risk, especially not now.

He's down on the ground, and there's some sort of straight 4-back stuff going on.  Red is to the left, which is kinda the wrong side for an escape ball.  I suppose he might settle for Penult and Peg, with a decent leave.

Much more the Linesy style.

So just one peel, as he rushes partner to Rover.  Red and Yellow are a foot apart at the peg.  He lines up his approach just as a car alarm goes off.

Red is two inches from the peg is a nice diagonal spread.  Ian's rubbing his chin as he looks for where to lay his rush.  Looks like he's pointing it at Rover.

Jeff picks up Red, and is taking the lift from the end of A-baulk at Black and Blue.  He stalks, stops, stalks again and misses through the gap.

Lines has the rush to Penult.  Bets are off for those predicting a British lead in this match.

Lines beats Soo +26

The home crowd like that.

Game Two

Applause for Brian and Don, as they give the hoops a good fettling.

We're off, and Jeff plays to the east with Yellow.  Ian takes Corner 2 with Black.  Jeff joins up.  Ian is taking the long shot at the double from B-baulk.  He calls on Brian Storey with a yardstick.  All the balls are checked, and Ian proceeds with his shot.

He has it.  Dead centre on the Red.

That was the point at which he should have called the ref, as he doesn't know where it went off.  It looks like Red and Yellow are a ball's width apart.

He rushes to 2, rushes to 1, and there's a scoring chance.  Still a lot of work to do, though.

A big overapproach, and a distinctly unrunnable hoop.  Linesy's having some thinking time.

A quick blast of that car alarm again.  Jazz practice has just ended at the Assembly Rooms.  It goes quiet.

Ian retires to the west boundary, level with the hoop, and Jeff shoots Yellow from Hoop 2 to Corner 4 for a wide join on the east boundary.

Ian plays Blue at partner on the boundary, and just scrapes it.

Yellow gets punted out to between 3 & 6, Red's left on the boundary NE of 4, and Ian rejoins in Corner 1.

Jeff shoots Yellow at Red, half a second before that damned alarm sounds again.

Ian finally gets a good approach to Hoop 1.

And 17 minutes later, someone finally scores.

He takes a rush towards Hoop 3, and it smashes full into the peg.  Red and Yellow are at least joined down by Hoop 4, so there's a chance of a rush to Hoop 2.

In the event, Ian gets a very good split, sending Blue a foot from Hoop 3, and he's a yard from the Yellow.

Some of the spectators have their fingers in their ears, as that alarm continues.  It finally stops, as Ian reaches Hoop 2 with something looking like a controlled break.

Whoah, Ian plays to get a rush on Yellow, and Black bobbles into a hole, leaving him a one millimetre rush up the boundary.

He hits it!!!!

A panic from your multi-tasking commentator, as I worried why Ian was running 3-back from the wrong side.

Hoop 4, James.  He's for Hoop 4.

Damn that car alarm.

They say the way to win is to play easy shots well.  Fulford is peeling Rover from very close and dead in front.  Surely nothing can go wrong here.

Fulford beats Huneycutt +5TP

Damn this technology.  And sorry if it spoils the suspense for those who are saving the Fulford match for later.

The home side are now a game up in each of these matches, and just need one win from the next four games.

Another clockwork break from Linesy, as he reaches 4-back with a diagonal spread.

Soo is up at the steps on top of the terrace, practising his swing.  Lines puts the Black clip on 4-back, and heads off to chat to some pals near Corner 2.

Soo has his shot from A-baulk, and hits Blue, to much applause.  The break is all on.

Red has Hoop 1, with a rush towards the bottom right corner.  A controlled break already.

A bloke with a big camera arrives and marches Ben Rothman up to Lawn 3 for some press photos.

Without wanting to disrespect the other players, Ben is the most photogenic of the 12, sporting an impressively long goatee beard.

Fair play to Jeff - he doesn't seem as bothered as we are by that car alarm, which has restarted.

I'll be annoyed if I find out it was my car all along.

Jeff's through Hoop 4, and it all looking easy.

Jeff is gesticulating to an imaginary partner - he points around the lawn, mutters, and nods to himself before making Hoop 6.

Red gets to 4-back, and leaves a diagonal spread, with Blue (Ian's Hoop 1 ball) at the Peg.

Gasps from the crowd as Ian's B-baulk shot misses.

The Brits still aren't home and dry.

The sun is coming and going, and there are bits of dandelion seeds blowing around on the breeze.

Jeff is digging out the Blue from the fourth corner, and has a Red and Black around his hoop (Hoop 4).

A boisterous roll out, and he has a long roquet on Red.  He's approaching from five feet alongside, and plays it as a take-off.

Tutting from the crowds.  It's the alarm.

Just a short burst this time, and quiet is restored.

Jeff's making Hoop 5, with balls over in the north east quadrant.  Nothing much close to peeling position yet.

He hates it.  He's played a roll and he steps back in disgust.  That was the shot which would have got him the rush on Red into position.  Nowhere near, and now he's having to roll Red back into play from just south of Corner 3.

Give it up, Jeff...

...unless you can roll Red full into the wire of 4-back, getting the rush on Black to Hoop 6.

Blue is tight against 1-back, Red is an inch right of 4-back, and he's making Hoop 6 off Black.

He sails through without any wire, and has a duffer tice shot at Black to hit back in, an recover the break.

He has the Red.  I don't think there was much of that showing, but he hits it squarely.

A slightly overhit split shot, sending Red a little way past 2-back, and getting no rush on Black.

That's pretty academic, as this was the one point where he didn't need a rush.

Any peeling?  I don't think so, as he sends Black and Blue towards Penult.

Soo approaches 4-back off partner.

An angled hoop, but it's through.

Jeff's just settling for a plain old ball-round-to-the-peg kind of turn.

Oh, hello?  What's this?

Jeff calls an umpire.  He's playing a half roll to position Blue in his diagonal spread, and has Brian Storey on to confirm that he doesn't hit the peg.

You don't see that very often.

Ian's out of his chair, as he comes on for his last lift shot.  Red's on 4-back, Yellow's on the peg.  Ian's on 1 and 4-back with Blue and Black.  Black is the ball beside the peg.

He brings Blue to A-baulk, and plays from a yard back from the end, so that he avoids Hoop 4.  He misses.

This all looks good enough for Jeff Soo.  He's got the rush to 4-back, but slightly overhits the approach.  Bit of an angle on the hoop...

...and it misses.  Ian (Black) is behind 4-back, and wired from the Red.  He's taking the shot at Yellow by Penult.  Another miss.

Soo shoots Yellow at Red and misses.

I guess he knows that the match is out of his hands now, and the result lies in the control of Fulford.

Ian shoots Blue (to the east) at Black (west), and misses.  He's joined near Corner 1, but with no rush.

Jeff just runs 4-back from dead in front.  This surprises the crowd who assumed it was a much more difficult shot.  He hits Yellow, and plays a take-off hard enough to reach Altrincham town centre.  It smacks full face into the peg.

Jeff takes the long shot, and misses.

Ian has three balls near Corner 1 by his hoop.  Yellow's a bit out of Corner 3.

Blue is for Hoop 1, Black is for 4-back.  Red is for Penult, and Yellow is for Peg.

And, at 4.50pm on the last day, we have our first "dead" game.  Ian has the chance to finish with a glorious triple, or Jeff has the chance to salvage a victory and make this a 11-10 win.  That could be important.

I'd barely noticed it, but David Maugham has just headed up to Lawn 3 for a sly practice.  Everything's all over for us, but he's back to work in 48 hours, for another round of matches.

Lines gets a good peel through 4-back, and the crowd give him a clap.  The break's looking healthy.

I've been informed by Chris Irwin our manager that the allocation of lawns is a bit more complex than a quick rummage in the games cupboard.

I claimed this morning that lawns were allocated by drawing dominoes.  Beyond the first day, it does get more subtle than that.  In a few days, it's going to get very difficult indeed as Chris juggles four teams on the seven lawns of Surbiton.

A crisp second peel from the boy Linesy.  He's for 1-back, and nothing alarming is happening.

Ian has a chance of rolling the Black through Rover on a split going to 2-back.  He gets right wire, and the ball bounces back to rest on the other upright.

He comes out of 2-back, and could have done with a bit more oomph in his shot to send Red to 4-back.  He clips Black into peelable position, and it's through on a take-off.

He's got Red with him at 4-back, Black at Penult, and Yellow at Rover.

Once we're finished here, the teams have a day of travelling.  The Brits are off to Nottingham for five days against New Zealand, while the Americans are bound for Roehampton in London for their match against Australia.

I won't be covering those as commentator.  I'm told that my role will be taken by Phil Cordingley at Roehampton and James Death in Nottingham.  Chris Clarke and Ian Vincent will, I'm sure, give their own input.

You'll detect from my tone that I'm heading towards a conclusion.  It's a pretty terminal position for the US team here, and...

Ian Lines beat Jeff Soo +26 + 4TP

Great Britain beat United States of America 12-9

This has been a very impressive showing by the visitors.  A bit of a jittery start from the Brits, but, from what I've seen, there's been a few jitters from all four teams.  It'll be anybody's game in the next round, and I look forward to it.

That's all from Bowdon.  Many thanks for your messages of appreciation.  For a shameless show-off like me, I've had a whale of a time.