Morning all, and welcome back to Roehampton for the final day of the Australia v. USA test. Today there are six singles, and those of you who were tuned in at the end of our broadcast last night will know that with the USA leading the test by 9-6, they only need two more matches to clinch the win. It will require a comeback on the scale of Lazarus for Australia get the five they need to pull this one out of the fire.

In the wider context of the battle for the Shield, given that GB are in an even stronger position, leading New Zealand 10-5 as they do, a USA win will probably give GB the luxury of not needing to win their final test in order to retain the trophy.

Weather is currently trying to decide whether to be sunny as yesterday, or overcast and showery as for the first three days. Lawnspeed not measured, but unlikely to have changed much from the consistent 11 Plummers it's been all test.

GAME 1

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And we're off

1 Y to E boundary 10 yds N C4

2 K to W boundary 1 ft S C2

3 R shoots at Y from C3, snicks it a yd into the lawn. Rolls to leave Y a rush to C2 from E boundary level with 5

4 U hits incourt ball from B baulk, rushing it to 1 yd in front of 3b

Sends R towards 3, then sends Y to 1 going to K in C2. Hits hoop 2, so joins K leaving it a 1 ft line rush to 1

5 Y misses U&K from 1

6 K hampered after hoop 1. Hits the 3 ydr with a sweep.

Rolls U to 3 going to R a yd off E boundary just S of 3. Excellent shot gets something he cuts to 2 yds W of 6.

Take off to hoop 2 pioneer looks favourite, but he rolls R to behind 2 and gets a rush on the pioneer towards C3. Cuts it to 3yds NE of the hoop, good stoppo approach, runs 2 and has all the balls now

Dougs running 3b heading for a spread

Spread it is, Y 4 yds off W boundary, 3 yds N of 6. U&K slightly off E boundary, leaving flatter long lift for oppo

5 Peter lifts R and misses long lift by a foot into C4

6 U clangs 2 ft 45 degree hoop 1 full into far wire and bouncing open to hand the 3 ball break to Y

No fowrard rush after 3, so takes off to C4 to extract R. Could set up for the delayed tpo, but I imagine we'll just see an equalising ball round

Roger that as K is sent to 6 after hoop 4

Should have pointed out before that on Saturday we were graced with the presence of the player formally known as Nigel Aspinall. He was in fine fettle, but had managed to arrive without knowing any of the results to date. And I mean any, I'm not talking just second series.

While I've been concentrating on my other match Peter has collected everything for a 1b leave. U&K flat cross wire, R on E boundary 2 ft S of C3, 4yd rush on Y to 2. U & Y cross wired, everything else open

7 U misses R into C3

8 R makes 1 off K and rushes to 3yd 45 degree peeling position at 4b after the hoop. Peel goes through by about 2". Early peel gives a chance to pop partner through 1b after 2, but hasn't occurred to him or has rejected the idea.

For a second it looks like Peter is going to do the 4b peel again to show it wasn't a fluke, but now set up for penult peel after 6

Severely angled peel is jawsed and 2b pioneer Willocked

Rush peel completed after 1b, rover peel clangs off going to 2b. No rush on it after 2b, so sets up for the rush across after 3b. Excellent rush and the peel is done after 3b

Apologies, turns out that was an optical illusion and rover peel is being straight Irished

Y rushed to middle of E boundary directly after rover, K & R off

9 U fails to approach 1 off Y sending it to 4 yds SE of hoop. Takes open position

10 Y to 8 yds N of 4

11 U runs 1 and overhits position shot at 2

12 Y to 5 yds SW of peg wired from U. Chris Irwin has gone off to dig out the impasse rules

13 U takes position

14 Y misses to N boundary W of line of hoop

15 U runs hoop to N boundary with a rush to C2

Approaches 3 putting Y to 2yds off middle of E boundary, but runs 4 ft past

Takes angled, open position

15 Y to 4yds SE of C2

16 U takes good position at 3

17 Y takes good position at 1b

18 U runs 3, takes position at 4

19 Y runs 1b, attempts 5ft 45 degree hoop, failing to 1 yd W

20 U lifts to A baulk and hits 6 ydr at Y. Rolls to 1 yd 50 degree position at 4. Bounces off to E boundary

21 Y gets great [position at 2b

22 U hits 20 ydr at Y. Rolls past position at 4, Y due S of hoop. Runs away to W boundary level with 2b

23 Y to 4 yds SE of 1b

24 U overhits position at 4

25 Y fails position at 2b

26 U take sposition at 4

27 Y to 2 yds off boundary by 2b

28 U runs 4, lurks on S boundary 2 yds E of middle

29 29 Y moves a yd closer to 2b

30 U take sposition at 5

31 Y misses 12 ydr to E boundary

32 U runs 5 takes possy at 6

33 Y to 5ft angled possy at 2b

34 U runs 6 takes possy at 1b

35 Y runs difficult 2b takes poaay at 3b

26 U runs 1b off S boundary. Takes possy at 2b

27 Y runs 3b takes possy at 4b

Actually, rather than take possy at 4b, inexplicably (to me, at any rate) goes to C3

28 U runs 2b, misses 20 ydr at Y

29 Rolls to perfect 18" position at 4b. And clangs!

30 U hits half ball 3 ydr at Y. Takes off to 3b, takes open position

31 Y to 8 yds SW of penult

32 U runs 3b by 8 yds. Long think

Before U to 1 yd off E boundary level with 4b. RoT is reaching for the impasse rules in earnest now

33 Y to 2yds W of peg

34 U to 4yd position at 4b

35 Y has a 12 ydr at U. But goes 7 yds W of peg

36 B attempts 4 yd hoop and clangs to 4yds WNW

Lost the link there, got to a position with Y on E boundary 7 yds S of C3, U cross wired 3 yds from 4b.

Turn numbers now approximate:

40 U to 2yds S of 6

41 Y centre balls 13 ydr U, sends it to 4 yds SW of 5, takes position at 4b

42 U centre balls 20 ydr at , rushing it to N boundary 1 yd W of line of 4b

Stoppo approach into jaws of 3, takes possy at 4b

43 Y to W boundary level with penult

44 U runs 4b, goes to 1 yd off N boundary midway between 4b & penult

45 Y to E boundary 12 yds S of C3

46 U overruns possy at penult

47 Y misses 13 ydr at U to W boundary

48 U to E boundary 12 yds S of C3

49 Y to C3

50 U to 18" position at penult

51 Y misses U from C3

52 U runs penult, goes to 1 yd E of rover wired from Y

53 Y fails possy at 4b

54 U takes possy at rover

55 Y misses U, bounces off wire to S boundary

56 U runs rover, hits 5 ydr at Y, finishes for an excellent 1 v. 1b come from behind win

Landrebe lost to Grimsley -4otp

Test Score
	6	9

Match Score
	0	1

GAME 2

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1 R to E boundary 9 yds N of C4

2 U to C4

3 Y misses R from A baulk

4 K missed target of R&Y from A baulk

5 R makes 1 and 2 by rushing backwards and forwards between hoops and C4. Clangs more or less impossible hoop 3 to E boundary

6 K hits U 5 yds W of 4 from hoop 3. Takes off to Y in C4, sends it to 4yds W of 2 and lays U a rush to 1 on S boundary 3 yds  E of 4

7 Y misses 30 ydr at U

8 K plays, pokes U into lawn getting a poor rush on Y to R. Rushes to E boundary level with 4, so has to have a leave. Sends Y to 1 ft in front of going to R, R to 1 yd off E boundary wired from Y by 3. K has a rush to 1 on the S boundary 3 yds W of C4

9 Y hits 30 ydr at U clipping it into C4. Gets U out to line of hoop 4 and approaches hoop 1 well from 2yds to the side off K.

Runs it and rushes K to middle of S boundary, getting ruah on U to middle of W boundary. Cuts it to 4yds N of there and rolls up to hoop 2. Grovels through 2 ft 30 degree hoop and roquets U to N boundary just W of middle.

Takes off to R 1yd off E boundary but fails to get a rush to the hoop. Rolls up from E boundary and again grovels through a 2 ft 30 degree hoop. Escape ball is on line so call of ref looks out of courtesy only

Centre balls 4 ydr and is away

Y now for 3b, looking like a reverse spread, Doug presumably having remembered R is for 3. Reverse spread it is. U on E boundary 8yds N of C4, R&Y on W boundary 11 yds S of C2, K by peg

Hopefullythey'll break for lunch now

No such luck as:

10 K misses long lift into C2

11 Rushes Y to 3yds N of U. Gets it to 4 with rush on U pointing at hoop 6. Cuts it to 3yds NNE of 3. Good approach and he's away again

No forward rush after 3, electing to go and collect K from C2 after 3. Still, he's a big boy so imagine he'll cope with this roll going to 4 & 5. Which he does

The advantage of picking up K after 3 being that it's easier to set up for the 4b peel going to 6, which is what he's doing now

Runs 5 with an E bound rush, as my stomach begins to grumble

Cuts it rather further N than intended I think, and can only get it 7 yds short of 1b. Peel goes through to1 yd off N boundary. Runs 6 with both K & U around the hoop.

Roquets U, takes of to Y and sends it to 2b getting a 4ft rush on K to 1b, abandoning the peeling pro tem

Approaches 1b from 4ft more or less straight. K to penult after the hoop for the possibility of a peel after 2b, U to 3b

Gets a good rush after 2b, but slightly off line means no peel attempt. Sets up for peel going to 4b

Rushes down to penult after 3b and is peeling penult from 6", very slight angle. Peel goes through by 5 yds and rushes well to 4b sails through, but pumps 5yd return back level with the peg

Can't rush peelee as far N as he'd like, so it ends up 5 yds N of rover and will need an accurate rush to peeling position to finish

To get the rush has had to leave a ball at the peg, so there'll be no deep ball

Rushes to 5 ft at 15 degrees. Peel sails through and gets 3" hoop position. If the peel had jammed he'd have been hosed. As it is he finishes for an absolutely terrific fighting victory

Landrebe loses to Grimsley -4otp -26tp

Test Score
	6	10

Match Score
	0	2

USA now within 1 match of victory