[<<] [>>] by Chris Clarke
9th July 2001 (World Championship)

Bamford beat Fulford -16tp +17sxp -3 +26sxp +26qp

Well, it was a fantastic final and here is my write-up of it interspersed with some personal opinions.

Game 1

Reg wins the toss and goes first
1. Super-shot (11 yards)
2. 3 yards east of super-shot
3. Reg dribbles at Rob's ball from near corner 1, missing
4. Rob misses 11 yarder
5. Reg to 4-back with spread, including mis-approaching hoop 2 and hitting Rob's 4th turn ball on North boundary and re-approaching.
6. Rob hits long lift and sticks in hoop 1. (poor)
7. Reg misses 15 yarder with hoop 1 ball.
8. Rob to 4-back, popping Reg to 2, leaving 4-back ball 2 inches in front of 2-back and laying up just north of level with hoop 4.
9. Reg takes one fingered lift with 4-back ball at Rob's balls. (I thought this was wrong - it was a 20 yarder with the forward ball at a target that had 1.75 balls in the middle of it). Misses
10. Rob finishes

16tp

Game 2

1. Rob lays super-shot
2. Reg to 18 yards south of corner 3
3. Rob hits Reg and goes to 4-back with defensive spread.
4. Reg misses long lift
5. Rob rushes into the peg and takes off the lawn trying to get behind partner.
6. Reg hits partner from the peg and goes to 1-back
7. Rob hits the peg
8. Reg finishes (good turn)

17sxp

Game 3

1. Reg lays super-shot
2. Rob misses super-shot, going 1 yard out of baulk.
3. Reg misses difficult hampered shot after hoop 1(poor)
4. Rob to 1-back, peeling Reg to 2, trying to get 1-back ball on/in hoop 3, but failing.
5. Reg misses
6. Rob peels rover straight, peelee sticks. He half jumps and finishes almost in contact with peelee, with hampered shot which he misses.
7. Reg to 1-back, laid up in corner 4, with rush to hoop 1, oppos cross-wired at hoop 2 - his hoop.
8. Rob corners in 3 (I thought this was wrong - should have cornered in 1.
9. Reg gets balls out for standard sextuple, but fails 4-back peel, getting rush to 3-back and has to do straight triple. Rushes 8 feet in front of penult and fails split peel. Goes to peg and leaves partner in middle of
east boundary, and Rob in middle of east boundary and second corner. Pegs out his peg ball. (I thought this was appalling - the ball in corner 2 was wired from Reg's ball, so Rob could just leave wired rush to the peg).
10. Rob leaves wired rush to the peg.
11. Reg dribbles at wired ball with excellent shot, sliding past the wire of hoop 2, but getting too much hill and missing.
12 Rob finishes

3

Game 4

1. Rob lays super-shot just on west half of lawn.
2. Reg goes 18 yards south of corner 3.
3. Rob misses to 2 feet west of corner 4
4. Reg misses partner from a-baulk.
5. Rob misses Reg with super-shot ball.
6. Reg to 1-back
7. Rob misses
8. Reg finishes (good turn)

26sxp

Game 5

1. Reg lays super-shot ball
2. Rob hits, chipping it west and decides to go for 2-ball break. Fails easy hoop 1.
3. Reg to 3-back with spread
4. Rob misses by some way
5. Reg finishes (less convincing turn than his sextuples, but fair do's, I couldn't even manage one peel when I tried a TP to win the worlds!

26qp

An excellent match, with less hitting than I had expected and more peeling. I thought that Rob was better tactically, but that the rest of Reg's game had a slight edge. These two players have been substantially better than the opposition all year and played an excellent match which kept everyone thoroughly entertained. Congratulations to Reg on an outstanding performance.