[<<] [>>] by Jenny Williams
26th November 2006 (The MacRobertson Shield)

Just a few notes from Day 9 at the Mac... a day of dead rubbers in the GB v USA match, seeing Rob continuing in his sextupling form, Chris's unbeaten run come to an end, and the kiwis fighting for survival.

In approx order of finish, and with details to follow from Phil:

First to finish was Dave v Jeff on the quick bowling green. I haven't heard any details on that as lawn 1 is a bit out of sight from the main croquet lawns.

Rob v Jerry

Game 1

Rob got the first break and went to 1back
Jerry hit the tea lady and went to 1back with a less-than-perfect leave
Rob hit and not-really-wired leave at hoop1 and finished. +20 SXP

Game 2

Jerry had a supershot
Rob missed shooting gently at it
Jerry went to 4back
Rob hit the long lift and went to 1back (I presume with a pop given the +16sxp score?)
Jerry missed
Rob finished.

Chris v Danny

Game 1

Chris won the toss. Went to East Boundary about 10 yards north of C4
Danny had a 14 yard tice
Chris missed partner into C4
Danny missed to about 13 yards past partner (i.e. about a yard south of hoop2)
Chris shot up the boundary and missed into C3
Danny missed up the boundary into C2
Chris shot south, hitting partner, but misapproached 1 and joined up
Danny hit from hoop1 to 4. He never really got the break together though and missed a 6 yarder before hoop 4.
Chris went to 4back popping Danny's other ball to 3
Chris's leave: hoop3 ball in hoop2, hoop4 ball about 6inches north of C4, him laid up tight in corner 2.
Danny lifted the ball in hoop2 and shot at partner in C4. Missed.
Chris finished.

Game 2

Danny anti-duffer (max distance-ish position but a couple of yards in from the boundary)
Chris lagged about 11 yards from the edge of B baulk towards C2
Danny hit Chris's ball, rolled it to the peg, and left himself a rush
Chris took his shortest shot (at the ball at the peg) and missed
Danny to 4back with a diagonal spread.
Chris lifted the ball at the peg and hilled off the long lift
Danny had a not-completely-committed go at a delayed TP - then did an STP where....
... he irish peeled rover, and striker's ball went about 2 yards through, partner ball went about 2 yards south of this - and the escape ball was about 2 yards south of that.
... he decided to try to jump partner to hit the escape ball (giving Chris some feelings of hope...), but the jump stroke went flat and into partner.
So he had a leave.... rolled partner to next to the peg, left one of Chris's balls 7 yards away from it, and the other in anti-duffer position, and pegged self out.
Chris missed 7 yarder.
Danny hit 2foot pegout.

Game 3

Chris had a narrow supershot
Danny dribbled at it from the end of A baulk and hit - then approached 1 with a thick take-off
... finished short, and went three yards east of the peg (so now both balls peg high)
This left a free shot for Chris into corner 2 - which he took - and missed into C2
Danny hit partner and went to 4back with a diagonal spread
Chris lifted the ball at hoop2 and shot at partner at the peg from the end of A baulk giving himself the extra percentage chance of going off the peg into the ball - but missed.
Danny finished - scoring the first point for the USA team in this test.

Mark v Bob

Not much to report here - except that it was all very rough.
In the first game Bob got to 4back and peg.

Game 2

Mark did all three peels but then tried to peg out through rover - and missed.

Keith v Damon

Game 1

Damon failed an STP - ended up peeling rover from 4 yards when against 1 and 4back and failed. Ended up putting partner in the jaws of Rover and pegging out
Keith's balls: 4back ball just north of C4, hoop1 ball on west boundary level with 6.
Mindful of the 3ball TP which was on offer... Keith lifted his hoop1 ball and shot at partner from the end of A baulk. Missed
This left a perfect double for Damon when he ran rover - which he hit.

Dunno anything about game 2

Game 3

Damon went about 12 yards up East Boundary
Keith went to just out of Corner2
Damon hit partner from B baulk, took off to corner 2 and roqueted Keith's ball.
Now an unconventional choice:
Damon croqueted Keith's ball towards the ball on East Boundary leaving a 3 yard rush
He then put striker's ball to where the rush was pointing.

Keith hit from Corner 3. Went to 4back with a diagonal spread.
Damon took the short lift and missed.
Keith finished.

Probably not too many photos taken today, as Jonathan was last to finish - against Rich Lamm on the sand pit (er, lawn 6)
It was a very rough match.
Only bit of info:

Game 2

Jonathan got to 4back and peg (seems to have been a fair bit of this today)
Rich hit the lift, but mis-approached 3back
Jonathan played his peg ball and had a leave
Rich missed
Jonathan finished.

Meanwhile over at Shepparton with the kiwis wanting a good day to stay in the match:

As expected, Aaron and Paddy won quickly against Trevor and Stephen

Robert and Brian were game up and got to 4back and peg with a leave against Martin and Bruce (Martin 4b, Bruce 4) and things looked hopeful for an early 6th match point...
but Gary reports that the Aussies won +5TP. No news on game 3 yet - hopefully Aaron might have some news as Shepparton has wireless and the folks from the Christchurch Press want to know asap.

In the third Greg and Shane lost the first against Ian and Harley... in 5 hours and 20 minutes.
Then the Aussies had a quick +26TP (Watts) to close out that match.

So the present state of play is:
GB 17, USA 1
Australia 9-5 with 1 to play

Tonight: the referees' BBQ

Tomorrow: Brits at Shepparton finishing off the GB v USA test with 3 doubles matches, NZ v Australia singles with the kiwis needing a very good day (and the Brits hoping they get it as that would take a bit of pressure off the final test)

Tuesday: is a rest day before the final round of test matches.