Morning all, and welcome back to Surbiton for Day 2 of USA v. New Zealand. The winner of this test guarantees the runner's up spot, and would take the whole shebang were GB to falter against Australia. New Zealand gained the advantage, edging yesterday's doubles 2-1. Today is six singles, USA needing to at least split them to stay in touch.

GAME 1

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1 K 13 yd supershot

2 Y to 9 yds E of peg

3 U centre balls Y from B baulk rushing to E boundary level with 4

gets 5ft rush pointing at middle of S boundary putting Y all the way to 2. Rushes to 4ft SE of hoop 1, runs 1ft hoop with a forward rush and is away

Conditions today are mainly sunny with some cloud cover moving in, and a gusty wind, probably not too strong to trouble the players. Lawns were measured at 11.5 Plummers last night, so speeding up a fraction.

For those aging hippies amongst you, this bit always feels like Arlo Guthrie's rendition of Alice's Restaurant at the Newport Folk Festival in the late 60s. But instead of waiting for the chorus to come round on the guitar, we're waiting for 4b to come round on the lawn

"You can get anything you want. At Alice's Restaurant. Exceptin' Alice"

Aaron coming up to 3b now. Going to be the 3 Ducks leave. (Basically three balls in a line from the maximum point on the W boundary pointing at the peg).

4 R takes "short" shot from B baulk, missing K by nothing

Aaron is approaching 1 with complete control, and barring mishap will take game 1 with a standard tp. The point about the 3 Ducks leave is that it does give you a standard tp if oppo misses, but it also gives oppo a laid break, and tpo if s/he wants it, if they hit. So very black & white

4b peel jawsed after 3. Not quite sure why, as it was from close and without much split

Peel completed before 5, collected to penult after. Has run 6 a bit vigourously, so left with a gentle 7/8 ft roquet to make on partner to leave it in peeling position. Copes, penult peel is jawsed from a bit of an angle

Rover peeled to 2yds off S boundary going to 3b

No problem collecting after 3b.

No forward rush after making penult off partner, so has to leave it behind. But gets a rush back after rover no problem for 1-0 NZ

Huneycutt lost to Westerby 26tp

Test Score
	1	2

Match Score
	0	1

Seem to be having some inter game hoop fettling by Rhys Thomas the ref. Not seen any of that in any of the games I've done comentary for previously. Rhys is now looking for George's full hammer repair kit, apparently some kind of hole in front of 1b. Chris Farthing, hoopsetter-in-chief for these tests, informs me a squirrel dug a big hole in front of rover on lawn 3, and inded you can see the evidence of repair.

GAME 2

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1 Y to E boundary 9 yds N of C4

2 K long Duffer tice

3 R hits Y, thickish take off to K getting a rush to 1. Makes 1 with no rush, but good croquet stroke gets a decent rush on Y towards 2. Leaves this short, and sends Y off the N boundary in approaching 2 to 3ft dead in front

4 K hits 7 ydr at Y from end of B baulk. Rolls Y to 2 and rushes R to K, has a laid 4 ball break if he negotiates hoop 1

Backward take off from 6yds N of 1 to 3ft in front. Runs it cleanly leaving a 7 yd return, which he centre balls

Has to leave K at hoop 1, no rush after 2, and doesn't get a rush on it rolling Y to 4 after 2. Takes off to hoop 3, and ends up with a 3ft hoop which he clangs

5 R hits 6 ydr at U, rushing it to the N boundary. Takes off and gets a rush on K by 1 to Y at 4. Runs hoop 2 from a foot and cuts Y into C3

Sticks in 3, leaving break for U

6 U now playing R's break

U to 4b with a spread, oppo ball for hoop 1 on the peg, ball for hoop 3 on W boundary a bit N of peg high. U&K on E boundary just N of line of hoop 5

7 R centre balls long lift rushing K to 2 yds N of C4. Rolls K to 4 and gets a rush to 3. 2yd backward take off, sticks in hoop

8 U hits R in jaws of 3 rushing it to the N boundary. Has a leave for K: R 4 yds W of 2, Y 1 yd SW of 1, U&K on middle of E boundary, K with a rush to a bit E of C2

9 R centre balls 31 ydr at U&K

Stabs at short, angled hoop 3 and clangs off 4b ball

Aaron plays with 4b ball and has same leave again, give or take

11 R clips K from 25 yds. Could get a draw by repetition here

No, R makes 3 this time and has just run 4 with all the balls

Approaching 3b heading for an NSL with oppo 4b ball on hoop 4, other ball 2 yds off W boundary a bit N of the peg. Perfectly respectable leave, taking advantage of the parity: if oppo misses with hoop 1 ball, it leaves a standard tp

12 Lifts hoop 1 ball anyway, misses short lift from A baulk

13 Hits 4 ydr on K, sends it 7 yds W of the peg, rushes R S of U on hoop 4and gets good rush on it to hoop 1. U goes to 3 after 1, has to leave partner by the peg to take of to K for a rush to hoop 2

Approaches from 2 yds dead in front. Now needs to get a decent rush on R by the peg for his standard tp

Rushes to approx. 5 yds SSW of 4b, and rolls it to what looks like good peeling position

Good enough, and 4b peel jawsed after 3

Completes peel after 4, and is in perfect position for penult peel after 6

Peel goes 2yds through after 6

Y seems to have come to grief by 3b. Stuck most of the way through, and was refused relief under the (relatively) new law which awards a replay of the ball can stick on any axis

14 Once again Aaron gets to play with the 4b ball and have a leave: Y roqueted back through 3b and sent to 1, R rushed to W boundary 2 yds S of C2, U&K on E boundary wired form R by 3, K with a rush to C2

Excellent leave: any miss by R&Y gives a good finishing chance, whilst giving the oppo the chance to corner and finish anyway

15 Going to have to be the latter as Y retires to 1 ft N of C4

Rushes U to 2yds S of R, not the greatest of starts, wanted to be in C2. Stuffs U to 3 yds SE of C2 and rushes well to 4ft dead in front of 1. Wandering over for a closer look at Y by C4 before deciding where he wants to rush to after the hoop

Runs 1 cleanly and has a 4ft cut rush to C4. Rushes to S boundary behind 4. Take off gets R 4ft off S boundary, rushes Y to 6yds SW of 3. Excellent thickish take off gets Y most of the way to 3, and gets a 4ft rush on U to 2

Runs 2 cleanly, leaving a 5 yd S bound rush on U. Speculative roll up to peeling position from 16yds looks like it might have some chance

Taking off for position at 3 from a yd SW. Looks to have good position for the peel attempt, but it rejects and I can't work out where it finishes.

Rushes to E boundary level with 5, gets a cut on R to 4, and is approaching with 4 yd backward take off. Crashes through to S boundary and has 3 yd N bound rush. Aaron now returns to 4b for close inspection of peelee's position

R sent to S of 6, so maybe U rush peels. Or maybe just a bad shot

 Y goes to 1b, and looks like U has been left in rush peelable position going to 6. It has, as it's rushed through to the N boundary after 6, and rolled to penult going to 1b

Rushes to 9" in front of penult after 1b, so having a go at the death roll. Absolutely immaculate shot: peel sails through penult into the jaws of rover, striker gets a 6" rush on 2b pioneer 1 ft from the hoop!

Needless to say peel completed after 2b, should be first point of the day on the board for the Kiwis. It is

Huneycutt lost to Westerby -26tp -7tp

Test Score
	1	3

Match Score
	0	2