THE CENTENARY MACROBERTSON SHIELD By Andrew Gregory and Marcus Evans
The centenary MacRobertson Shield (101 years after the first edition, thanks to a Covid-enforced rescheduling 5 years ago) was hosted by Croquet England across late July and early August. The first tests were held at Hurlingham and Roehampton. Matches alternated between the two clubs, so everyone experienced both. This was a Good Thing, and it helped that conditions at both were similarly excellent. I tried to count peeling turns, which shows two things: 1. I can’t count. 2. Approximate numbers of triple peels (TPs) - or better - per round: Hurlingham and Roehampton: 58 Southwick: 13 Surbiton: 17 England v Australia I feared a shellacking for the Australians, who were missing some key players and as a result had ranking grades of around 200 points per player lower than the England team. There has never been a 21-0 test in the Mac. That was avoided on the first day. Stephens Forster and Pearce were responsible for 4 of the Australian match wins, with 2 out of 3 in their doubles, and 1 win each in the singles. The only other Australian point was Greg Hill joining the exclusive club of players to defeat Robert Fulford in the Mac. Another admittance to an exclusive club came when James Death completed a sextuple peel later in the test, to secure the winning 11th point for England. He joins Paul Skinley (the first in 1979, in a doubles match), David Maugham and Stephen Mulliner (2 each), and Robert Fulford (14). Yes, fourteen!
NZ v USA On paper this was the closest Test. It was perhaps unfortunate to schedule it in the first round, but it was necessary to do so to maximise the chance of a straight shootout for the Shield in round three. Day one (Hurlingham) NZ win 2 out of 3 doubles matches. Day two (Roehampton) NZ win 2 out of 3 doubles matches. Day three (Hurlingham) A close day of singles with 4 of 6 matches going to 3 games. At the top Paddy Chapman beat Matt Essick in a three TP match. Zack Watson beat Logan McCorkindale, +2 in game 3. Wins for Balding, Webby and Maloof left the Test score at USA 5 NZ 6. Stephen Morgan and Aaron Westerby had a late start so were last to finish. One imagines their team-mates taking a keen interest, whether at lawnside or nearer the hut I don’t know, it was on court 2 so out of range of cameras. Westerby won the decider +4. Day four (Roehampton) NZ win two of the doubles 2-0. In the other match USA win the first with an Essick TPO, but then Westerby completes two TPs for a perfect day for the Kiwis. USA 5 NZ 10 (first to 11)
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