And then there was one

[<<] [>>] by Dr Ian Vincent at Wellington, NZ
9th February 2018 (World Championship)

Stephen Mulliner is the remaining English representative in the AC World Championship, though two of the others are based in the UK. The quarter finals were played on adjacent lawns at Kelburn, the headquarters club, on another day of warm sunshine and light winds. Knowledgeable spectators saw four good matches, which all eventually went to seeding. Paddy Chapman was first to finish, beating Samir Patel by three games to one. Stephen then followed, beating the other New Zealander, Greg Bryant, by the same margin. The match between the youngest players went the distance, with Jose Riva coming back from 2-0 down to beat the 19-year old Ed Wilson. Their seniors, Reg Bamford and Simon Hockey, were last to finish, with Reg winning 3-1.

The semi-finals tomorrow are at the Wellington club, presumably on the two lower lawns. Reg Bamford plays Jose Riva, with the other match being Stephen Mulliner against Paddy Chapman.

If you want to read more about the organisation of the event (and particularly the profiles of many of the players) go to http://www.sporty.co.nz/2018acworldchampionships

If you want to follow the progress of the championship in near real-time go to https://croquetscores.com/2018/ac/wcf-world-championship/main-ko indeed if you click on the commentary button you can follow play of the some of key matches as they happen. A different commentator covered each of the four matches today. Hope you enjoy it, but aren't tempted to stay up too late: the start time tomorrow is 9am (8pm GMT) and the matches will again be best of five.