Opens Friday: Commentary on Maugham v Aiton

[<<] [>>] by Andrew Gregory at Surbiton
8 Jul 2011 (AC - Championships)

<p>Greetings from Surbiton. I'll be commenting on lawn 1, where Keith Aiton has taken a 2-0 lead (26tp 19tp). In Game 3, Keith's clips are on 1 and 3, David Maugham is on the lawn, his red clip is still on 1, and he's just finishing his firat break with Yellow. He's gone to hoop 6 (it's SuperAdvanced), with a diagonal spread. 14-30 Actually Dave had gone to 1-back. Get the first commentary mistake in early, I say. Keith missed the short shot, Dave's looking to make 3 more hoops with Yellow. =14:36 Dave has indeed gone to 4-back. Black (for 3) is East of hoop 4, Blue (for 1) is 15 yards S of 2nd corner. Red and Yellow have tight rush out of 2nd corner. Keith shoots Blue from where it lies at Red and yellow. Misses to the East. =14:39 Dave (Red) gets Blue into lawn a bit, rushes Yellow South of hoop 4. Yellow is croqueted most of the way to hoop 3. Black is rushed 3y NW of hoop 1. Makes hoop 1, but has no useful rush. =14:43 We're now in one of the heavy showers that have been intermittently sweeping over the lawns. I'm just inside the hut, getting in the way of a darts match between Dennis Bulloch and James Death (I guess Andrew Johnston must be in play!). Black is now near hoop 4, Yellow rushed to N of hoop 2, and he's now approaching 2 from the W bdry, sending Blue to 3. Makes it, is now attempting to roll Yellow over to 4-back from behind 2. =14:45 The shower's over already. Dave is attempting to peel 4-back from a good ten feet. The peel goes through by about 6". He's in full control. =14:52 Dave's playing nicely enough. Two peels done, should be able to get the rover peel before 3-back. On lawn 4 Reg and Samir are starting game 3. Reg made one hoop on 3rd turn, Samir has just hit in. Dave has not got into position for rover peel, so it'll have to be a straight rover peel to finish. =14:54 Dave has peelee one foot in front of rover, just making penult. =14:58 Reg is back in on lawn 4. Dave's Irish peel at rover goes well. He wins the third +24tp. Keith leads 2-1. I must admit the current excitement is a 3-ball ending on lawn 2, so if you're reading this as it happens, I direct you to Chris's commentary =15:01 G4T1 Keith Blue 9yN of 4th corner. G4T2 Dave Yellow to (just out of?) 2nd corner G4T3 Keith Black hits Blue from A-baulk, taking off to Yellow. OK the lawn 2 excitement is pretty much over, so I welcome back my loyal readers! =15:03 G4T3 Yellow is croqueted about 15y S of 2nd corner, a yard into lawn. Black has rush on Blue to Yellow. G4T4 Dave misses Black from A-baulk. =15:06 On lawn 4 Reg has taken his first break to 1-back. Diagonal spread. Lawn 1: G1T5 Keith picks up break with Black. =15:12 Rutger is thinking that this will be his firat OQP. Samir has lifted the ball not at the peg to 3rd corner, missing into 4th. Reg has chance for 3 sxp match. Keith in full control. Looks to be going to 1-back. =15:15 G4T5 Keith's black clip is on 1-back, the other 3 clips are on 1. Diagonal spread. =15:18 I should say that, unlike Reg, Keith has left his rush for the 1-back ball. G4T6 Dave lifts Yellow from near the W bdry, shoots at Black from end of A-baulk. Misses 16-yarder. =15:22 On lawn 4 Reg has peeled 1-back after 2, going to a ball near 4. He leaves himself a good 8-yard roquet, copes. G4T7 Keith has stuck in 1-back, leaving Dave a 4-yarder at ball in hoop. =15:26 G4T8 Dave (Red) hits. With Blue waiting North of hoop 1, should pick up break. He takes off to Yellow (near 4), then takes off to Blue. Reg is setting up for 2-back peel before 5. =15:31 G4T8 After some thought, Dave has left the Blue ball at hoop 1. Yellow is at hoop 3, he's just made 2 off Black. Looks like Reg's 2-back peel succeeded. For the first time since I've been here. The sun is out. And it's back in again. =15:37 Reg has peeled 3-back going to 1-back. Peelee goes about 8y through. His 2-back pioneer is waiting at 4-back. G4T8 Dave is thinking of POPping Blue through 1 before 5. Has done so. He now seems to be putting a 1-back pioneer out - he'll be conceding contact. =15:40 Reg has failed to get rush on peelee to 4-back, rolls up, he's shy of his 2-back pioneer. He now has to roll off 2-back from more than 20 yards. Leaves 7' hoop. Makes it. Fist! The 3-back pioneer is at 4-back. G4T8 Dave has POPped Blue through 2 after 1-back. =15:45 Reg has jawsed the 4-back peel before 3-back. G4T8 The Black ball (for 1-back) is in 2nd corner. The yellow ball (for 1) is very near 4th corner. The Blue ball (for 3) is 12y S of 3rd corner. The Red ball (for 4-back) is in 1st corner. =15:49 Reg has now got a straight double peel to finish. G4T9 Keith thinks. Lifts Black into contact with Red. Thick take-off (Red moves 5y) to Yellow. Thin take-off to Blue goes 4' past ideal. Rolls over to 1-back. Leaves rush to 1-back. =15:53 G4T10 Dave: Yellow misses Red (26y). He's currently bemoaning his luck (70% have hilled off, apparently). Reg lining up straight rover peel - maybe 3 or 4 feet in front. =15:57 Reg's rover peel goes 2y through. He's now deciding whether to run rover gently, or jump over peelee. The latter, probably just to please the crowd. G4T11 Keith: Black makes 3 hoops (now 4-back and 3). =16:02 Reg finishes his 3 sxp match. Very impressive. I was trying to count how many times I would have broken down trying to play the break like Reg, but I ran out of fingers. So there's just one quarter final in play, and it's the match on lawn 1: G4T11 Keith is making a reverse diagonal spread. He's leaving Red at the peg, but I don't think he's found the correct blade of grass, leaving Dave a 12-yarder. More thinking. Black retires to 4th corner, conceding the innings. =16:08 G4T12 Dave is standing by Yellow (near E bdry). Surely he's not thinking of shooting Yellow at Red, which is defended by Blue? No, Yellow at Black would make more sense. He's lifting yellow to A-baulk - in fact 1st corner. Shooting at Blue. Misses to 3y S of 2nd corner. What was wrong with Red at Yellow? =16:15 G4T13 Keith: Blue hits Black (32y). Takes off to Red, rushes it 1' S of Yellow. Rushes Yellow to 3. Grovels through hoop. Cut-rushes Yellow near 2. Takes off to Red. Rushes Red 2y W of 4th corner. Makes 4 off Black. Now rushes Black back into 4th corner. This is pretty good play... =16:21 G4T13 Keith: Black makes 5 off Red, but without useful rush. He's now rolling to Yellow (near 2) from a few yards in from E bdry. Rushes Yellow a few feet W of 6. He's in almost full control now. And a good roll gives him all 4 balls, making 1-back off partner. Can he finish? =16:23 G4T13 Keith gave himself a chance of peeling 4-back after 1-back, but the rush wasn't good enough. His 3-back pioneer is at 3-back, so STP required for finish... =16:29 G4T13 Keith has sent Red well North of penult. Apparently this is the play when you're attempting an STP, so you can bombard peelee. My expert analyst liked having a 3-yard pioneer, disapproves of STP attempt. And Keith has given up on STP, gets posthumous peel. So in a minute or two it'll be penult and peg v 1 and 4-back. =16:33 Sorry read "3-back" for "3-yard" in previous comment. Just as well I've got an eagle-eyed sub-editor! G4T13 Keith makes rover off Yellow (for 1). Red is at the peg. So reverse diagonal (near horizontal)spread coming up. He's got Red in the right place this time. =16:36 G4T14 Dave lifts Yellow (the backward ball) to B-baulk. Shoots at Black (17y). Misses. =16:39 Dave is still shaking his head in disbelief. G4T15 Keith has easy finish (from penult and peg with ball at the peg for his pioneer). Makes penult. =16:42 Rothman has just beaten Dawson on lawn 2, in the Plate i believe. G4T15 Keith finishes. =Aiton beats Maugham +26tp +19tp -24tp +17 =16:44 We're expecting some Doubles action soon. I'll create a new news item to commentate on this.</p>