[<<] [>>] by Chris Williams
9th July 2006 (AC - Championships)

Reg Bamford and Robert Fulford, who meet in today's Opens final, are both aiming to win the Coronation Cup for the seventh time. Only John Solomon (10), Nigel Aspinall (8) and Humphrey Hicks (7) have won the Open Championship on more occasions.

The Coronation Cup is a magnificent gold cup, subscribed for by the members of the Croquet Association to commemorate the coronation of George V in 1911. The Ayres Cup, which is presented to the runner up, was until 1932 presented to the winner.

In the doubles final Chris Clarke will be aiming for his 10th Open doubles win. Nigel Aspinall won 11, with three different partners, Stephen Mulliner, William Ormerod and Jon Simon. The Clarke Fulford pairing will be aiming for the ninth win together, one behind John Solomon and Pat Cotter's record of 10. Clarke won one title in partnership with David Maugham.

Stephen Mulliner is the only player to have won the Open doubles with four different partners, namely Mark Ormerod, William Prichard, Nigel Aspinall and Reg Bamford.

Live Video of the Final(s)

Dave Kibble adds: Today's final will be the first to be available for live viewing over the Internet. Yesterday's experiment gave mixed results - most people were able to connect and view the video stream.

Samir and I were unable to find an under-cover position for the camera that allows a good view of hoop 1 and 4-back on Cheltenham's lawn 8, where the final will no doubt be played.

The quality of the video is set as a compromise between giving a reasonably responsive view over the network and being able to see the balls! I guess there'll be quite a few viewing today so I expect quite slow video, we'll see. Please disconnect if you are not watching.

The singles final (Reg vs. Rob) is scheduled to start at 10:30 BST; I guess the video will be up from about 10:00.

The doubles final will follow, but on a different lawn and may not be shown.

Email me if you want details of how to connect and don't already have them via the Nottingham list.