GAME 1

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1 Y 13 yd supershot

2 K to inches S of C2

3 R misses K, coming back on in contact on the W boundary

4 U misses R&K

A quick check suggests in his two singles v. Australia Ben Rothman's opponents took croquet once, made no hoops, and lost 26tp, 26tp. Daresay he'll be hoping for more of the same today, and this is a good start as he runs 2 and picks of K in C2 with a ball at 3

Goes to 4b with a spread

6 Paddy lifts K from the peg and misses short lift from A baulk

7 Ben has to be favourite for fifth consecutive 26tp singles now as Y starts this turn

Approaching 1 from 2 yds in front, but has had to send partner to 2, so a bit of work to do

No problem with hoop, but no rush on K sending U to 3, so now rolling it to escape position at 2 with R already there. Plan is to roquet K first after 2 sending it to 4 getting a rush on partner to 4b. Has left K a bit short for that, it's on the playing side of 2

Forced to roquet R first after 2, has a speculative attempt to put it to peeling position from the W boundary. It's gone to 3 yds S of 4b, can't tell how far off line it is. Consequently has to send out the hoop four pioneer from the W boundary too, it goes 2 yds past the hoop and leaves him a 4yd roquet on the hoop 3 pioneer. Copes. 4b peel attempt is from 3 yds fairly straight

Peel attempt rejects, now looks like its about an inch dead in front. He's come out of this with a pretty good position, but I can't help feeling it's all been a bit agricultural. From whta I've seen of him over the last week, he looks perfectly capable of playing a precision delayed tp instead. Still, whatever works for you...

Can't rush peel before 5, so sets up for delayed peel going to 6

Peel goes a foot through, and is approaching 6 from a foot dead in front. Hoop 6 pioneer is sent to 3yds NNE of 2b and peelee goes to penult before 1b. Can have a go at the death roll if he fancies

Death roll goes through to 2yds N of peg

Rushes peelee across to rover after 3b, but take off peel bakc to escape ball misses the hoop. Will have to be straight now

Straight peel goes 6 yds through. Finishes

Rothman beat Chapman +26tp

Test Score
	1	4

Match Score
	1	0

GAME 2

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1 K peg high supershot

2 R misses dribble from C1

3 U hits R shooting hard into A baulk if he misses. Hoop shot goes straight into wire at 1, so Ben still not conceded a hoop for five game.

4 Y hits 6 ydr from A baulk. Runs 1 cleanly, centre balls 4/5 yd return roquet and is away

Approaching hoop 5, no pops attempted, so ball to 4b

Reaches 4b with a spread, K 2yds off maximum distance on W boundary

5 K hits short lift from A baulk. Surely Ben will concede a hoop now?

And he has. K running 2 with a standard tpo if he wants it

Which he does, as the 4b peel goes through almost to the boundary after 3

But a powerful and accurate rush to the N boundary after 4 means evrything is back under control before 5

Penult peel goes all the way to rover after 6

Rover peel jawsed going to 2b

Pop attempt after 2b clangs back to 1 ft dead in front of 1

No further attempts at the pop, pegs off Y. U on E boundary with hoop 4 in play for rolling up to 1. K to C2

6 R lifts to U and attempts roll up to 1. Has 3/4 yd hoop, slightly angled. Clangs to the side and slightly N of the hoop

7 U hits K in C2. We thought R must be hampered from the shot at C2, but my spotter says not. So that was a risky shot from Paddy. But of course having hit now has a good chance to finish with a ball at his hoop

Runs 1 with no rush. Just needs to get some kind of tonk on K, 3 yds SE of the peg, to 2. Rushes to Middle of W boundary. Rolls to 3ft, very slight angle. Runs 2 and should finish

Balls on blades of grass as he runs 1b from 3"

And having said that, no forward rush after 1b, and 3b pioneer sails 4 yds past

4b pioneer is 7yds S of the hoop, but gets forward rush after 3b so should be fine

Balls back on blades after 4b. Only conceivable problem is getting a rush to the peg after rover, as he's making it off partner. But forward rush after penult deals with that. Finishes

Rothman loses to Chapman -13tpo

Test Score
	1	6

Match Score
	1	1

Time for some hoop fettling...

GAME 3

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1 Y 13 yd supershot

2 K misses from C1 to 5 yds beyond peg

3 R centre balls K from end of B baulk

K goes to 2, R has 5yd rush on Y to 1. Clips it, so 6 yd backward take off to 1. Clubs it, so 3yd hoop.

Runs it with a forward roquet, and is away

So after no shots hit in game 1, don't think any have been missed apart from 2nd turn dribbles since. Maybe they should think about shooting hard on turn 2...

R to 4b, 3 Ducks

4 Nice straight swing and U clips Y.Makes 1 but rushes escape ball back on to the wire, so has to leave it behind. Will need a rush back after 2, but should still get a standard tpo opportunity

Aussies have just been spotted leaving their team huddle in the gazebo down by lawn 7

Having collected the balls for the standard tpo down by 3/4b, decides against it and sends oppo 4b ball to 5 instead. Not really sure why the change of tactics compared to game 2. Escape bwll was N of 4b which is not ideal, and needed a gentle roquet on peelee, but all looked playable

Runs 6 with a rush to hoop 1, where the other two balls have been left. So 1b leave, and the brains trust is thinking it might be a full hammer sextuple attempt rather than the tpo, otherwise he'd probably have done the 4b peel after 3

Lays up tight in C3

5 Y misses tea lady, but Ben was interested in it all the way

Y to 3, U rushed to S boundary, sent to 2 going to 1

Both oppo balls at 3/4b, so must be a tpo

4b peel goes through 4yds from 1ft dead in front

Rush of peeleeto S boundary after 4 crashes into rover and stays there, possibly in the jaws

Big think. Pioneer looks fairly well Due S of 5, so stopping peelee down to penult looks fraught with cross wiring danger

But that's what he's gone for, and roquets pioneer after with apparent ease. Peelee gets to 1 yd NW of peg, doesn't get a rush on it after 6, but puts it to excellent, 2ft peeling position from 7 yds away. Peel is jawsed after 6

Peel completed after 1b, rushed down to rover. Should be a rover peel attempt going to 3b

Ends up too far away from peelee for a controlled rush, so sets up for rush across after 3b

Rover peel clangs away after 3b, so will be straight now

Rover peel irished throuhg 6yds. Partner rushed directly to E boundary level with 6, two off

7 Lifts to contact with U, croquets off S boundary behind 1 trying to approach sending U to 2. Rather unlucky leaves U a lift

8 U lifts to A baulk, snicks Y into the lawn a bit and takes off short of position at 1b. Takes possy

9 Y retires to C3

10 U runs 1b to a bit N of peg high. Runs to C4

11 Y lifts to A baulk and attempts position. Doesn't look runnable. RoT's muttering about finding Impasse Rules

12 U goes to C1, Y's shot at it being hampered by hoop 1

13 Y to S boundary 2/3yds NE of end of A baulk

14 U hits Y, cutting it to 2/3 yds W of 3b

Rolls to 4ft very slight angle in front of 2b. Crashes through to S boundary

Hits Y in the process. Rolls up to long, angled position at 3b, Y to just off N boundary behind 4b

Takes 2 yd position

15 Y attempts to take position at 1, overhits it by about 4 yds

16 U runs 2yd hoop to N boundary. Hits back of 4b trying to get position

17 Y takes 1yd position at 1

18 U takes 1ft position at 4b

19 Y runs 1 to peg high. Has 18 ydr at U, or can attempt position at 2. Tries latter, gets 2ft position

20 U runs 4b, runs to E boundary 5 yds N of C4

21 Y didn't have position, so it takes it now

22 U goes to W boundary 10 yds N of C1

23 Y runs 2, getss 4 yd possy at 3

24 U to W boundary level with 2

25 Y gets good possy

26 U to C2

27 Y better possy

28 U to 2 yds E of C2

29 Y to jaws of 3

30 U to 5yds E of C2

31 Y runs 3 to 1 yd S of 4

32 Y eschews position and goes to W boundary level with penult

33 U gets 4yd in front of penult, open

34 Y rushes U to 3yds SW of C3

Rolls up to 4. Well short: 6yds, with U level with hoop. clangs hoop to 5 yds S of U

34 U centre balls Y, takes off for possy at penult

Gets 3yds in frontrejects, spins to 2 yds SW of hoop

Presumably couldn't take better position for giving Y a lift

35 Y misses U to 7yds E of C2

36 U misses 12 ydr at Y

37 Y rolls to 4, great attempt but too far W. Looking for a wired spot in front

Goes just of E boundary 12 yds N of C4

38 U takes 5 ft possy at penult

39 Y misses U to N boundary 3 yds E of C2

40 U hits far wire full on, spins through by about an inch

Runs up to 18" in front of rover

41 Y shooting at U, with a rush to 4 if he hits

Hits hoop 2

42 U runs rover

Paddy looking for a wired position on a boundary somewhere

Has found middle of E boundary, don't know if it's wired

43 Y lurking between hoops 2 & 6

44 U calls on umpire for shot at the peg

Centre peg to complete a disastrous day for the USA, as NZ completes consecutive 5-1 singles days. The momentum can change back, but it's a big ask as they say from 7-2 down.

Chapman beat Rothman -26tp +13tpo +10tpo

Test Score
	2	7

Match Score
	1	2