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.

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.

GAME 1

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And we're away on lawn 2 now too

1 U to E boundary 10 yds N of C4

2 R 12 yd, slightly long, Duffer tice

3 K misses U into C4 from B baulk

4 Y hits Duffer. Leaves R in the middle of the lawn and doesn't get a rush on U. Takes off to K in C4, no rush on that either. Rolls to 4ft dead in front of 1. Walks all over it.

Now rolling up to 2 from 5 yds E, and runs from 2 ft at a slight angle. Rushes close to U on the E boundary, so has a 4 ball break now for the first ball round

Rich approaching hoop 5 now under complete control, no attempt at any popping

Having some lawn repairing now as Rich claims and is granted relief for special damage as he approaches 1b. Probably an old hoop hole

Spread coming up here as Rich has just run 3b with a forward rush

Fails to get a rush on U to get it directly to hampered position on the peg, so slightly untidy position means he ahs to roll himself and partner to the E boundary from the peg. Looks like U could be a bit open to K, but R&Y are joining so probably not. It's a very flat spread

5 K misses long lift into C4

6 R rushes Y into U. Will ensure a good rush to 1, but Y is going to be a good 9 yds from 2

Good rush to 2 however means he's approaching from 5 ft almost in front and now has a 3 ball break with K in C4. Rushes to 4 ft short of it after 2

Has all the balls in position for the delayed 4b peel going to 6, but out of nowhere sticks in 5, running at a slight angle but from very close. Sound it like it was straight into the far wire, and reasonably gentle trying to get a forward rush

7 K hits Y down by 4b, takes off to R, roquets it N to complete the running of 5 and sends it to 2 getting his rush on partner to 1. Sticks in the middle of a slightly long hoop

8 R misses 17 ydr at U from hoop 2

9 K runs 1 and rushes U to 2 with Y still at 3 for a 3 ball break

Now approaching 5 with all the balls

Angled hoop 6 needs a roll type jump shot to run, but run it it does

Running 2b, going to leave oppo 4b ball on the back of 1. Has left more than half a target from the end of A baulk, so will presumably have to come back and adjust it

Makes 3b off partner and a thick tajke off to R near the peg puts it to 2 yds of E boundary level with 5. Take off from R leaves it on the peg, hampered from a shot towards hop 1. Y is adjusted to good position on the back of 1. Retrun to partner clips hoop 4, leaving K, the 4b ball, a 3 yd rush on U, the hoop 1 ball. pointing at about hoop 6

10 Y misses R by the peg, narrowly missing hoop 6 to the N boundary. R doesn't look very rushable to 1

11 U misses 3 ydr at K

12 R hits 17 ydr at Y from the peg. Takes off to U&K leaving Y on the middle of the N boundary to be picked up after running 6 hard. Now making 2b off partner, not putting 3b pioneer to 4b. So straight triple now,or ball to the peg with a leave

Well, I say that, after 2b Y is croquet more or less into the jaws of 4b from somewhere near 3b. The more I practice, the luckier I get, I suppose...

Y duly rushed peeled and sent to penult before 4b, so straight double required now

Untidier position than it should be has penult escape ball 6 yds S of hoop, so has to do a strong penult peel in order to make sure strikers ball gets down to it. Inevitably peel goes clean through to a yd off S boundary. Needs to be a good rush to get it to peeling position from here, but if he does everything else is in good position. U is nice and deep. Rushes short og hoop, so no chance of peel

Makes rover and rushes partner directly to W boundary about level with 6. Takes off back to rover, manages to get U 3yds off E boundary level with rover, and K in the jaws of rover

13 K lifts to A baulk and misses R by nothing to N boundary 3 yds E of C2

14 Y cuts R up to 7 yds NNW of 1, takes off and gets workable rush to rover, makes it with no rush

Negotiates 9 yd take off to R and finishes

Skinley lost to Lamm -17

Test Score
	1	2

Match Score
	1	0

GAME 2

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1 K to maximum position on E boundary

2 R to C2

3 U hits R from B baulk, rolls it to 6 yds S of 2, trundles back to K leaving it an 8ft rush pointing at R

4 Y misses K into C4 from B baulk

5 Over cuts rush to 1, powers approach from 5 yds  1yd past to un-runnable position

6 R misses Y in C4 from hoop 1

7 K misses 7 ydr on U at 2 from W boundary, going off E boundary 1 ft N of C4

8 R rushes Y to hoop 1 leaving K 1 yd N of C4. Sticks in the middle of an angled hoop

9 U misses 18ydr at Y from hoop 2

10 Y plays, rushing R back to S boundary. Stops it out to 3 yds off boundary behind 5. Runs 1 with a S bound rush

Takes rush to S boundary, excellent stop shot gets U most of the way to 3 and rushes to 2 yds SW of hoop 2. Should be first ball round

Another excellent Surbiton lunch today. Choice of chicken or ox cheek casseroles. I'm trying both

Looks like Paul has found a pretty extravagant way of arriving at an NSL. Too tricky to go into detail while I'm eating

U is 1 yd off W boundary level with 6.

11 K is not rushable to playing side of 1, so U is lifted and misses long lift into C4. Must say if you're going to lift the hoop 1 ball, might as well take the short lift, which is generally flatter if not musch shorter

Makes 1, but with no rush, so partner is left just off E boiundary until after 2

Rushes  to 5 yds S of 4b going to 3, and rolls to good peeling position. Peel is jawsed after 3

Peel completed after 4. 45 degree penult peel after 6 now being attempted. Jawsed

Penult peel rushed down to 1 ft W of rover after 1b.Should get a rover peel attempt going to 3b

Peel goes through by 6-8" going to 3b. Plain sailing for the equaliser now

Lamm lost to Skinley -26tp

Test Score
	1	2

Match Score
	1	1

Lunch

GAME 3

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1 U to E boundary 11yds N of C4

2 R Duffer tice 1 yd E of penult

3 U hits K from B baulk

Rolls K to 7 yds S of 2, gets 1 ft rush on R pointing at middle of W boundary. Good cut to 1 yd W of hoop 1

No rush after hoop, croquets R to 3 and gets 3 yd straight rush on K to 2. Rushes to 1 yd more or less straight in front, should be round

And indeed is, 3 Ducks leave

4 Y clips R from B baulk

Perfect 4 ball break as he runs 3

When I say break, obviously I mean tpo, as 4b peel is jawsed

Peel completed after 4, penult peel goes through peg high after 6

Grovels through 1b, has a 3yd hampered roquet

My spotter says it looks very ugly

Expert sweep throught the hoop effects the roquet and on we go

Rover peel goes 8" through going to 3b

Completes the tpo, leaves R on E boundary with hoop 4 in play for the roll up to 1, Y in C2

5 Takes contact from R and sends it just W of peg approaching 1 to an angled 4 yd position. Lovely smooth hoop stroke goes through a yard, and 10 yd roquet goes 5 yds towards 3. Now has to approach 2 from C2. Approach is short, hoop un-runnable

K retires to C3

6 R Retires to C1

7 K misses 18 ydr at Y into C2

8 Y joins with red on S boundary 2yds E of C1

9 K misses R in C1

10 R stops K to 1, and has stoppo approach of Y. Clangs 4ft straight hoop, offering it all up for K

11 K roquets R through 1, sends it to 3 and is now running 2 from 1ft dead in front

Skinley approaching 4b from 2 ft dead in front. Hvaing peeled R through 1 at the beginning of the turn, just need to peg out Y before finishing for the clips. Wonder if that's ever been had in the MacRob before?

Runs rover off Y with a perfect rush back to the peg for the clips (having all the clips in one's pocket in a single turn). Taps Y and takes off to the peg! Can't believe it! What a wasted opportunity

Lamm lost to Skinley +17 -26tp -13otp

Test Score
	1	5

Match Score
	1	2

NZ taking a firm grip on the test