Morning all, and welcome to Roehampton for the first time today. Getting used to all this new technology, so I'm afraid you'll probably have to bear with a few cock ups first thing.

Conditions overcast, not sure if we're expecting rain. Lawns measured 11-11.5 Plummers a couple of days ago. since when there's been a lot of rain, so conditions expected to be easy, with easy hoops. Will try and get an up to date reading asap.

1. K to E boundary

2. Y Duffer tice

3. U misses K

4. R hits Y

R going round

Grimsley's not got any faster since I last saw him play. And fortunately I seem to have avoided the bear hug for my baseball crack. Apparently he's actually been on the diamond at Yanhkee Stadium (RIP) with Micky Mantle

Grimsley approching 3-b, preparing for a spread

R duly reaches 4b with a spread, U very close to peg

5. K misses long lift into C4

6. Y rushes R direct to 1, has a nasty angled 1. Looked runnable, but rejects

7. u, close to the peg, may have a lift. Seems to be needing 2 refs to decide

U has a lift. Lifts to A baulk and hits double of R & Y

Beardo runs 1 with a 3 ball break, K in C4

Well, I say a 3 ball break. Fails to get a rush on his hoop 2 pioneer 5 yard S of hoop, so elects to rush to K in C4 but hits hoop 5

Punts Y towards W boundary lebvel with 1, joins K in C4 leaving a rush to C3

8 Y misses R by hoop 3 by nothing, into C4

9 K runs 1 with  Y @ 2

Runs 2 with hoop 3 pioneer closer to C3 than the hoop

Plays an excellent roll putting Y to 4 getting an in court rush on U. Takes off and gets a 4 ft rush on R to 3. Should go round now

Approaching 2b off Y with R in MSL position by 2, U's hoop

Needless to say when I get back from getting me & Jeff a coffe there's a big conference going on at 3b, and I've no idea why.

U is in or close to the jaws of 4, Y 4ft E of 4, K taking croquet from U, ref in attendance.

Anyway, K cobbles together an OSL, R in C2

10 Y misses U from A baulk

11 K approaches 2 from C2 sending R to 4. Grovels through 3 with a laid tp. Hits hampered shot but peel ends up 1 ft E of 4b. Delayed tp now.

U rolls into jaws of 4b after 4 and can't hit K, so escapes to N boundary 2 yds W of C3, leaving R joined with K and Y @ 5

12 R has a leave on middle E boundary, U @ 1, K @ 2

13 U hits R from 1

Makes 5 off R, rushes it to 1b. Rushes K to 6 & makes it. Now discussing speculative 5 yd 45 degree peel with partner. Played straight with these hoops I'd give it 66% chance. But allows too much pull with a split shot so it ends up 2 yds N of 3 via the near wire

Irish peel @ 4b sails through, U ending in jaws. Cannons black to 5yds NE of penult going to R. Sends R to peg getting rush on K to penult. Will be a leave for peg and penult now

Again a cobbled together leave: U&K middle E boundary, R W boundary 15 yds S C1, Y E boundary 5 yds N C2

14 Y lifts to C1 and hits R, rushing it to 3 yds S2. Top shot!

15 Y makes 1 off U, sends it to 3 going to K on middle E boundary. Rolls it to 2 yds N of 2 getting a rush on R to 2. Rushes K to N boundary after 2, sends it to 5 yds NNW of 4 and rushes R to 3.

Rolls R to peeling position, gets slightly hampered by the escape ball after running 3, but copes with roquet on peelee. 4b peel jawsed

Completes 4b peel after 4, pass rolls it to 1 yd SW of 6 going to 5

Jawses penult peel after 6. Looked easy enough, don't know why it didn't go through

Completes peel to 2 yds N of rover after 1b. Peel attempt goes through going to perfect 2b pioneer

Finishes

USA wins first game +4tp(R)

Test Score
	0	0

Match Score
	0	1

Lunch @ 12:46. Excellent synchronisation with my other match on lawn 2, so lunch for me too.

GAME 2

=====

1 K supershot

2 R to C2

3 U hits R, rolls it into lawn going to K

Gets hampered after 1 & 2, but copes. Plays an excellent cut to 3 on K by the peg. Approaches from 2 yds NW. Takes plenty of wire, and Murray controls a S bound rush

All under control approaching 5. No waiter/waitress service heare, so off to get a post prandial coffe

Usual fare in the Roehampton canteen, but excellent croissant and posh ginger nuts with coffee in the croquet pavillion. No McVitie's here, oh no.

Doug's run 2b without a rush, conference with partner re leave. R goes to peg as U leaves himself a 3 yarder on his 3b pioneer, which he snicks

During lunch Dougie confided, in best Tricky Dicky style, that there was no way he was going to lose to a bunch of players in <expeletive deleted> beanie hats.

U to 4b, Three Ducks

4 Y hits K from B baulk. Now running 2 with laid break. Really don't think we're going to see any mistakes frome these positions

Eschews tpo for a 1b leave, presumably to be followed by a tpo if Ben misses. Runs 6 with a bit of vigour, but copes well enough with 3 yard rush to 2b. Nasty little take off which needs to move U 9" to wired position.

U and K a bit open, but Y has cunningly got a rush on R to 1b, so is just continuing the break to 4b

I've just commented to one of the Aussie faithful on how impressed I am with the  flag the Aussies are flying proudly over lawn three with a severely hung over, red-eyed canary staring at the Southern Cross, only to be told it's a yellow kangaroo with red boxing gloves on.

Anyway, Y runs 3b with all the other balls there presumably in preparation for a Goacheric NSL

NSL it is: K 6 byds SW of 2

5 K lifts to C3 and hits R half ball on the right to leave it on the E boundary 2 yds from Y. Stops R all the way to 2 and hits 5 yd return on Y to leave a 7 yard to to get a rush on U by4 to hoop 1. Should finish if he makes 1

Approaches from 3 yds SE of 1 to a foot dead straight. a standard tp beckining on the other side

Update on the lawn speed, pretty much bang on 11 Plummers

Mean while Ben pokes the 4b peel 6" through after 3 and rushess back after 4 to collect it

Peels penult to 2 yds N of the peg after 6

Rushes peelee to 5 ft NE of rover after 1b. Peel hits far wire full on and stays centrally right in front, maybe in the jaws a bit even

Rush peels rover after 2b

Ear plug time as Ben pegs out.

No whoopin' and a hollerin' though, as USA clinch a 2-0 victory and 2-0 lead in the test

Landrebe & Beard lose to Grimsley & Rothman -4tp(R) -17tp(R)