MacRobertson Shield Day 14 - In the balance

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Robert Fulford with all of his MacRobertson Sheild doubles partners

Doubles day saw Robert Fulford's 100th match win which is some acheivement! not only were we present for this milestone but witnessing a great turn from Skip to clinch his match v Paddy and Edmund.

Burch and Avery lost a very tight first game and couldn't regain control game 2 going on to lose 2-0. This put pressure on the other pairings but you wouldn't know it. Fulford and Good won 2-0 with Rob pegging out after a very calm finishing turn. There was still more excitement to come. at 1 game a piece, Paddy Chapman went round and pegged out James Death leaving the captain in the unenviable position of being the single ball player on a very tricky lawn. He went on to run a magnificent 6 hoop break to win the match 2-1

A good day with a 2/1 margin, levelling the test at 3-3

Pictured is Rob (centre) with all of his MacRobertson Shield doubles partners (L-R William Prichard, Stephen Mulliner, Chris Clarke, Samir Patel, Ian Lines and Jack Good).

Additional reporting from Chris Clarke:

Today, James and Samir won game 1 quickly +26 against Paddy and Edmund. Jack and Robert went two breaks down to Felix and Jenny before Felix failed to finish and Jack picked up a break and pegged Jenny out giving contact. Robert soon gained control in the pegged out endgame and produced an excellent finishing turn from hoop 6 with the balls starting near corner 3. The third doubles also had a close ending which went the way of Aaron and Logan +3.

In the afternoon, Paddy and Edmund levelled +14 in a game where Edmund finished off the contact with a brilliant turn. Aaron and Logan took NZ into a 3-1 lead +17. Robert and Jack clawed England back to 2-3 with a comfortable +21 win that was Robert's 100th match win in the Mac - an extraordinary achievement.

The final match to finish was a thriller. The deciding game saw James round to 4-b first and Samir looking in control of a tp until a disastrous approach to h5 left the croqueted ball blocking the hoop shot. After some interplay, Paddy hit and completed a double peel to peg out James. Samir approached h5 off the contact and ran an angled hoop into his h6 pioneer. After making h6, he shot at Paddy's ball in C3, but missed. Edmund mis-approached h5 and retreated to a wired position. Samir hit a 10 yarder and played a superb finishing turn under great pressure to leave the Test tantalisingly poised at 3-3 with six singles to be played tomorrow.

USA lead Aus 6-3. Many congratulation to James Carlisle on winning his first Mac match.

Livestream: YouTube

Details: Website

Results: Croquet Scores