THE GC OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS CONTINUED Levi was pretty solid in that
opponent went in off at the start of the match. Reg played a superb shot to 2-foot position in front of hoop 2, which Levi nearly peeled from corner 1, but it stuck in the jaws. After 4 positional shots to hoop 3, Levi ran it from 3 yards to the South boundary. Three good lengths of shot down to hoop 4 and Levi nailed the return clearance. However, he then missed 3 clearances in a row, enabling Reg to jaws and peel to level and control hoop 5. He then nailed the in-lawn clearance and wired Levi, virtually sealing his 2 yard hoop shot, but it wasn’t guaranteed. Levi was right to not play halfway and proceeded to take control with 2 balls in front, but left Reg an in-off of his own. Reg looked to be starting to dominate the game when he followed it with a centre-ball 12 yarder, but Levi hit back and won the hoop after Reg missed from the North boundary. Another deep position to guarantee a runner and a solid clearance then won him hoop 7 to regain the lead. Reg played into position at hoop 8 and waited by hoop 7, knowing Levi was going to send him straight back, but was left a double, and ran the hoop from the North boundary. Levi went for another in-off at hoop 9, which bounced to a foot in front, but Reg cleared it from the West boundary and it blocked Levi’s next clearance. He instead went for the hoop but hit the near wire, and Reg ran his 3 yard hoop to the North boundary. Levi played wired and levelled up again. They kept winning 2 hoops in a row, but neither could get a 2-hoop advantage. Reg was the first to get to 6, running an angled hoop 11 down to the South boundary after Levi missed from the East, but that allowed Levi to get another wired position, which he again achieved. Reg played deep to 13, but Levi played a fantastic shot to block the hoop at 2 foot in front. Reg then made a huge mistake and blocked his clearance. He played
the jump with a chance of getting ball or hoop, but just came off the wire, and Levi took the first game. Levi took two shots at Reg’s first ball at hoop 1, but missed both, and Reg ran it to the boundary. Levi played two great positional shots to hoop 2, blocking Reg’s clearance. He went for the bouncing jump but landed on top on the ball and it didn’t move, so Levi took the hoop for 1-1. After battling at hoop 3 for over a quarter of an hour, Reg played in and gave Levi a chance from distance, which he converted. He then got a fortunate double clearance at hoop 4, but cut Reg’s ball over to 5, so he tried to jaws 4. It went straight through, but Reg failed his 3.5-yard hoop 5. He got it in the end though, after a short battle, running it from the Eastern halfway marker on the boundary, and then with the next shot, ran hoop 6 from 10 yards to regain parity at 3-3. Levi wasn’t fazed, and after a brilliant block by Reg, he jumped to score hoop 7, somewhat fortunate, as he caught Reg’s ball on the way. Levi then smashed the return in-lawn clearance and ran hoop 8 from 6 yards with no wire, leaving Reg’s approach to hoop 9 completely blocked by 8. Reg tried to snuggle up to the next ball on the West boundary but went straight off. However, he was let off as Levi overhit both first approaches, and ended up getting yet another in-off, although the jaws would have been better. Reg half snuggled up to Levi as they approached hoop 10, and this was enough for him to miss the hoop, and Reg was level again. After some clearing, there were no balls near the hoop being contested. Reg was first to play back in from the boundary in front of hoop 7, but he may have lost the match when he tried to be too
department, as well as clearing more consistently, which allowed him to take the first game. Jack started game 2 with a good angled hoop which ran up to the North boundary, Jack was looking in control of the game as he cleared at hoop 3, getting his ball down to 4 and Levi wired from his other ball in front of the hoop, which he again ran to the far boundary. Levi scored hoop 2 and 4 after surprising 7 yard misses from Jack. Hoop 5 was another clearing battle, but Levi stole it with a boundary jump (after missing one from 5 yards). Another battle ensued at hoop 6, and when Levi missed and bounced to the West boundary, they had to start again, which doubled the length of the hoop. Jack eventually ran it after a rare miss from Levi. Jack took a rather aggressive approach at hoop 7 and 8 and missed from 6 and 7 yards, allowing Levi to take a 2 hoop lead. However, he immediately let it slip away as he missed his first 7 yarder, and Jack ran hoop 9 to halfway. It didn’t last long though, as Levi cleared Jack from hoop 10 and got his ball over to 11 and gave himself a chance to win the match in the next 2 shots. He ran the first, but the second was rejected back on the same line. Levi later went for another boundary jump, possibly thinking he might get second prize of the clearance, but mishit it, and Jack ran down do the South boundary. He had a good go at the flick to 13 but the ball bounced quite a bit and just missed the clearance. Levi swiftly ran the hoop to win 7-4, 7-5. Final After lunch, the finalists decided not to have a 5 minute warm up on the lawn, and subsequently struggled to take position at hoop 1, however, Levi played deep to give himself a chance, and it was Déjà vu for Reg, as his
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