Morning all, and welcome back to Surbiton for Day 4 of the final tests for the 2010 edition of the MacRobertson Shield. After good days for both GB, who took yesterday's singles against Australia 5-1, and NZ, who swept their doubles against the USA, NZ are poised to clinch at least the runner's up spot, and GB can get at least one hand on the trophy. Despite some significant anticipatory celebration at last night's barbeque, I fully expect NZ to do just that, but in both their first two tests GB have got to a dominating 8-4 position, only to put their supporters through the mill before clinching. So I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Weather today is cloudy, with sunny periods and a maximum temperature of 22. Haven't had the official lawn speeds this morning, but last night they appeared to have speeded up a bit, and George Noble was hopeful of reaching 12 Plummers on some.

After a baptism of fire in the first two tests, Jenny Clarke has recovered admirably to be undefeated thus far in this. Jim Bast had been a powerhouse in doubles with Danny Huneycutt prior to this test, but they've lost the winning touch in this. But Jim was the only Yank to score a point in Thursday's singles, and will no doubt be intent on completeing the double today.

GAME 1

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1 R 11 yd supershot

2 K 5 ydsW of middle of E boundary

3 Y centre balls 17 ydr at K from B baulk

4 Y runs a longish angled hoop 1 and has a 3 ball break now approaching hoop 4

Jenny playing this break extremely tightly, so no doubt she'll reach 4b at the moment

K is rushed back towards the middle of the W boundary after 2b, so looking like the Ducks

3 Ducks it is, but with hoop 1 ball in court, 4b ball nearest the boundary

5 U hits K from A baulk. Grovels through 1 by an inch, but has an easy 4 yd roquet on a fairly straight escape ball and is away. Watched for courtesy

U has progressed safely to 3b, and is heading for an NSL. But as on lawn 1, he's sent partner out as his 3b pioneer, and has ultimately got the oppo balls the wrong way round: hoop 1 ball on hoop 4 when it should be the 4b ball. Doiing it this way allows oppo to lift the hoop one ball and still leave a delayed tp if it misses. It is these things that can make all the difference at this level

6 R (for hoop 1) is duly lifted and clips U, the in court ball, to the E boundary 2 yds S of K. Easy pick up, and will yield a standard tp if hoop 1 is negotiated

Poor rush to 1 means approach is from 6 yds W. gets a very close hoop, but at about 40 degrees

Powers it through by 4ft, hits 4 ydr on escape ball, and should be away

4b peeled by 3yds after 3. Hoop 4 pioneer is 5 yds NW of the hoop, and escape ball is rushed only peg high after the peel, so this position could be tidier

Excellent couple of strokes has R running 4 from 6" dead in front with a ball tight at 5

Penult peel goes through 1 yd from 6" straight after 6

Runs a good 1b which is too angled for comfort

30 degree 3 ft peel jams on near wire and stays there going to 3b

R gets a tight forward rush after 3b, so is leaving peelee where it is for the moment

K sent up to rover before penult. No rush after, so U is rolled to escape ball position. K is rushed on top of peelee. Should be no problem but there's not going to be a deep ball

It's an in-court cannon!

Rover peel Irished 7 yds through from 3" very slight angle

Has some antipodal peg watching of the rush after rover from Rhys Thomas. Finishes

Bast lost to Clarke J -17tp

Test Score
	2	10

Match Score
	0	1

No games finished in the other two singles, so could be a race between Skinley & Clarke for score the test clinching point

GAME 2

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1 K 11 yd slightly wide supershot

2 R to maximum point on the E boundary

3 U misses R from A baulk. I was right on the line of that, and it was centre balling until the last 4 yds

4 Y misses target of U&R from B baulk to E boundary 8 yds S of balls

5 U rushes R to Y, Y in court and has just run 1 from a ft dead in front for a laid 4 ball break

While I was getting coffee, U has stuck in hoop 4 from nowhere

6 Y copes with rushing from hoop 5 to hoop 1, runs it and is away

Has also got the balls the right way round to do an NSL: 3b being made of U, for 4, with K about 3yds NE of middle of W boundary

Has a more angled hoop than is comfortable, so runs it firmly and roquets U to 5 yds NE of 4. Leaves it there and rushes off to lay up in C2. So kind of a reverse OSL, but with the peg ball a yd off the middle of the W boundary

7 K misses long lift at U into C4

8 R rushes Y to E boundary level with 3, and a thick take off to K in C4 sends Y to 4b

K gets most of the way to 2, and R gets a 4ft rush on U, 3 yds off E boundary, which is cut to 3yds E of hoop 1. Slightly angled hoop is run cleanly, leaving a 9yd return roquet

Hits it solidly enough and has a standard tp now. But unless disaster strikes Skinley in the next couple of minutes, won't be having the clinching point

4b peel jawsed after 3

Peelee is rushed to the N boundary after 4 and left there

Good ruah after 5 enables peelee to be collected, but not in good position for peel after 6. Roquets escape ball first after 6, so first opportunity for penult peel will be death roll to 2b if she fancies it, pioneer is 7 yds N of the hoop

Takes off from Y at penult after 1b leaving it 2 ft dead in front, getting a good rush on dodgy 2b pioneer . There'll be another opportunity for a detah roll going to the 3b pioneer 8ft N of the hoop. Escape ball just tapped after 2b, so penult peel willbe attempted going to 3b. If there were any codgers around at the moment, they'd all be nodding with sage approval

Chris Patmore has just announced his crowd estimate as 95, so should easily make 3 figures this pm, if we haven't already

Penult peel scrams through to peg high, and has a 4ft rush on K to 4b

Beautiful rush to 2ft dead in front. Will be extremely disappointed not to finish from here for the first layer of icing

Could have gone either way, but opts to rush peelee down to rover and take off back to penult, rather than rushing N of penult and stopping it back down. Penult pioneer was level with the hoop. Had it been any distance S she'd probably have done it the other way

Deep ball is 5 yds off S boundary. Peel is Irished 7yds through from 8", very slight angle. Finishes for a thoroughly professional 13 turn match win

Bast lost to Clarke J. -17tp -23tp

Test Score
	2	12

Match Score
	0	2