Morning all, and welcome back to Surbiton for Day 3 of the final MacRo tests. I shall be covering the GB v. Australia singles. specifically Aiton v. Beard and Lines v. Clarke first thing. Conditions overcast and, depending on what forecast you believe, carrying on like that or sunny periods. It will be warm with a max. of 25. Wind southerly, 15mph. Rain forecast later, but not until ten tonight.

A disappointing day yesterday for GB, as they were pegged back to 3-3 after the second round of doubles. The Australians' shooting was apparently on song, as they hit a number of 30+ ydrs to save the day. GB will be hoping for the law of averages to kick in in their favour today.

Chris Farthing, our hoopsetter-in-chief, has told me that there has been no overnight rain and that he detected some signs of the ground firming up. So he's hopeful that the hoops may start fighting back today.

GAME 1

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1 K to E boundary 12 yds N of C4

2 Y to C2

3 U misses K from A baulk

4 R misses target of U&K from B baulk to 4 yds S of K

5 U rushes K towards R, but no cannon. Powers hoop 1 rush to W boundary to unrunnable position and retires back to K on E boundary

6 R misses 20 ydr at U from hoop 1

7 U makes 1 and rushes back to E boundary N of R. Rolls K to 4 and gets a N bound rush on R. Rushes to 3 and will have to approach hoop 2 from C2 for the break

Good approach to 3/4ft slightly angled, but clangs

8 Y hits U in jaws of 2

No rush on R, and 27 yd take off to get a rush on K by hoop 4 goes down wrong line. Rolls up to 1 from 4 short, retires to N boundary 1 yd W of C3, joining with R

9 U centre balls Y, probably something of a target with R. Makes 2 off R and rushes it to middle of N boundary. Will need to approach 3 from C3. Has got K to hoop 3, so it'll be a stoppo approach sending Y to hoop 1

Clangs very angled hoop 3

10 R misses 15 ydr at Y to middle of W boundary

11 K plays, rolls U to 2 going to R and rushes Y into the jaws of 1 and now has a laid 4 ball break

Carelessly get cross wired from U at 2,  but is sure of hitting it if he runs 1b. But he can't

12 R misses 14 yd target of U&K from hoop 3

13 U plays, approaches 3 with an 8 yd backward take off, runs difficult hoop by a ft only, so picks off 14 ydr at K by hoop 2 for a break

Makes 1b, but fails to get Y glued on hoop 2 for the reverse NSL

Rushes partner to W boundary level with hoop 6 after 3b, and is now glueing Y to 2. Y hits the near wire from the west, and bounces across to the far wire. Must have a shot on K as U retires to C2

14 U centre balls 8 ydr at K. Rolls K to 2 going to U in C2, so now has to roll U over to E boundary trying to get a rush on R 5 yds N of 4 to hoop 1. No rush, rolls up failling to get position, has a leave

15 K misses 22 ydr at R from hoop 2, giving R a laid break

16 R has stodged to 1b so far

Now to 4b with a spread, K (for 2) on the peg, U (4b) 2yds off W boundary just N of the peg. This is not very good, as it just lets the hoop 2 ball play for free

17 K duly plays and hits long lift. Makes 2 but sticks in 3 trying to run with control with a laid standard tp

18 R (for 4b) plays. Rolls U to 5 ft in front of 3, rush peels K to 1 yd in front of 4b and lays up for Y a yd off S boundary midway between 1 & 5

19 K misses 27 ydr at R

20 Y runs 1 with R & K in attendance. Gets K half way to 4 after the hoop and rushes R down to 4b. Approaching 2 from 3yds SSE with a laid tp if he makes it

4b peel through by 8" after 3, rushed to 6 after 4

Everything under control after 5, until Y misses a 6ft roquet on the hoop 6 pioneer, ending up on the N boundary

21 U goes to the peg. Awful leave: R&Y 3yds N & S of 1 & 2 respectively, U&K on middle of E boundary, K with a rush to 4

22 Y hits 11 ydr at R from A baulk, rushing it to 2yds W of peg

Has got balls to 2b & 3b, but is rolling up to 1b from the peg. Short, so leavs Y a rush to 1b out of C2. Didn't seem to think about leaving a rush for R instead

23 K misses 27 ydr at Y from 2b into C2

Makes 1b with K&R in attendance. Rusehs K to 3b and rushes to 2b from there

Makes 2b with a Northbound rush, so can easily set up for penult peel going to 4b

But elects not to, as u goes all the way to 4b. Pusillanimous, pathetic and gay are but three of the adjectives which have been suggested to describe this play.

Sorry, that should be ghey.

Y reaches the peg, and pegs out U. R croqueted to 2yds off W boundary level with 2, Y pegs out

Good leave. If you decide against finishing.

25 K takes possy at 4 from end of A baulk

26 R runs 1 yd past possy at penult

27 K runs 4 and runs 1 ft past possy at 5

28 R takes possy at penult, but not wired

29 K mises R by nothing from 5. Probably not a full target

30 R runs penult to 2yds off S boundary. Short taking possy at rover, 1 ft to W of hoop

31 K clips 25 ydr at R from N boundary. grovels through 5, cuts 5 yd roquet to 4 yds W of peg

Rolls up to 5 ft angled 6, runs it with a rush to 1b

Approaching 1b from 1 yd WSW, so not likely to get a forward rush

But approaches to 3", and misses slightly hamoered roquet trying to rush it down to 2b

Cluster of refs now deciding whether it was a fault. Fault is given, so K is replaced

Apparently the players decided between themselves it was a fault

32 R takes off from K and clangs rover

33 K has a wiring lift, takes possy at 2b from A baulk, wired form R in unrunnable possy at rover

34 R takes wired possy at rover

35 K shoots at sliver of R it can see, misses hitting hoop and staying there

36 R finishes

Lines beat Clarke M. +6

Test Score
	5	3

Match Score
	1	0

GAME 2

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1 K anti-Duffer, 1yd off E boundary

2 R to a ft S of C2

3 U to E boundary leaving a rush to 5

4 Y clips short shot from A baulk, K going of 6 yds N of U

Rushes to 5 yds E of 1, approaches to a ft and runs it with a rush pointing at hoop 4

Rolls U to 5 yds S of 3 and rushes K to middle N boundary. Has to approach 2 from C2. Which he does extremely well, so should be away

Rushes back to N boundary after 3 with a ball at 4, so definitely on his way now

At which point he promptly clangs 4. Sometimes I'd swear they do it on purpose

5 U hits 10 ydr at R from hoop 5. Puts it to 2, but can't get a useful rush on Y which is close to hoop 4. Leaves it there and lays up with partner by C1

6 R hits 22 ydr at K from hoop 2

Has all the balls as he approaches 5

7 R arrives at 1b, lays up in C2, K 4yds NE of hoop 4, U 8yds NNE of hoop. Again not the world's greatest leave considering he had control all the way. I should have said a ball glued to 4 would be compulsory

7 K centre balls short lift from B baulk

Has all the balls for a tpo as he approaches 3, but smart money says it's ball to 4b

Ball to 4b it is

Going to be a spread with R glued to the peg rushable to 1 but not 4. It's OK, but something with R glued on the back of 1 would be better. Or even this but reversed

8 Y misses long lift into C4

9 U runs 1 with a ball at 2 and Y in C4, delayed tp for the match

Y is safely dug out of C4 after 3. But not totally unpredictably is sent towards 5 for a 4 ball break, rather than to 4b for a delayed tp. K duly sent to 6 after 4 as confirmation. Now, where have I left my Coomentator's Book of Adjectives?

Rushes pivot in to 2b pioneer after 1b, but shouldn't be a problem. It isn't, and 4b ball finally makes it to 4b after 2b

R is put to rover after 3b, thus avoiding any temptation of attempting a straight tp

I think we can safely say Linesy has decided to play well within himself

Mrs Fulford fails to stifle a somewhat disloyal chuckle after reading that last remark

Reaches the peg with a more or less horizontal spread, R 5 ft off middle of E boundary

10 Y misses R into C4 from B baulk

11 Linesy is taking croquet on N boundary having run 4b and with partner at penult. Should be another point on the board for GB, guaranteeing a lead going into tomorrow's doubles

Lines beat Clarke M. +6 +14

Test Score
	7	3

Match Score
	2	0