MacRobertson Shield Day 13 - The final begins

Today was the first doubles day of the last test.

Jack and Rob played Paddy Chapman and Edmund Fordyce on lawn 2 (livestream lawn). Jamie and Mark played Felix Webby and Jenny Clarke on lawn 3. And James and Samir played Logan McCorkindale and Arron Westerby on lawn 4.

New Zealand came flying out the blocks having the vast majority of the play early on in all games.

New Zealand won the first on each of lawns 2 and 3.

In the meantime, Samir had snuck round to 4back (hoop 10) enabling James to do a tidy tp.

After lunch, Jack and Rob were unable to turn the tide in their match and lost a more interactive game -12.

Lawn 3 was now game all and James was completing a tpo!

Jamie and Mark lost the third game -6.

All was not lost though, as skip reminded calm in the remnants of James' turn. Finished off a controlled 3-ball ending to win 2-0.

1-2 from the day but lots to be pleased about and the team is looking forward to the next 4.

Additional reporting from Chris Clarke:

England and NZ went into the final Test unbeaten to create a winner takes all Test match. There was little to choose between the teams in their respective wins against Australia and the USA.

The Surbiton lawns have not been running quite as quickly as last year's opens, but continue to create a good challenge for all players. Triple peels are possible, but difficult.

The first two days have featured six doubles matches. NZ's top pair of Paddy Chapman & Edmund Fordyce put NZ on the board first with a comfortable +24 +12 win against British Open doubles champions Robert Fulford and Jack Good. England levelled at 1-1 with a +4tp(D) +2tpo(D) win for James Death and Samir Patel over Logan McCorkindale and Aaron Westerby. Despite having the speedy James, the match still took 8 and a half hours. The final match of day one saw Mark Avery and Jamie Burch trying to extend their 15 match unbeaten Mac doubles streak against the NZ number 3 pair Felix Webby and Jenny Clarke. In the deciding game, Jenny took a break to the peg with Felix and Mark on 4-b, but Jamie hit the short lift and embarked on a triple peel. With two peels still to do, Jamie failed 4-b giving Felix the easiest of finishes to give NZ a 2-1 lead overnight.

Livestream: YouTube

Details: Website

Results: Croquet Scores