THE MAC CONTINUED
Day five (Hurlingham) The conditions were benign, the players by now match sharp, so we saw a feast of peeling. Of the 16 games, only 4 had no letters. First to finish, Zack Watson beat Paddy Chapman 2-0. Next Matt Essick beat Logan McCorkindale in a three TP match. USA 7 NZ 10 It fell to Aaron Westerby to secure the test in another three TP match v Kyle Maloof. They were on the show court so you can watch it back on YouTube. Westerby’s final turn had some interest. After that USA were deflated, the final test score was 14-7, though it felt closer. The key advantage for NZ was that several of their players had come to the UK weeks before the event to acclimatise by playing tournaments. Round 2 The rubric stipulated that the winner of one Test play the loser of the other. That is England v USA and NZ v Australia. Following a lengthy legal wrangle, Croquet NZ felt compelled to select Jenny Clarke for the second and third round. Greg Bryant was the unlucky player to make way. While neither test was especially close, there were many exciting games. This is because the lawns were quick, thus there were fewer TPs, more often clips would be 4-back and peg. Pegging out the opponent is also more tempting in
tricky conditions. More than once I saw players two breaks down going all the way round to peg out the opponent, conceding contact. There was an amusing incident on day two on lawn 4. Paddy Chapman had reached peg and peg. Greg Hill was 4-back and peg. In making his leave he inadvertently pegged out one of Chapman’s balls. He was only alerted to this by his vigilant opponent. Luckily the peg-out was in a croquet stroke so Hill could still make a leave. The Australian won the game +1 (and eventually the match 2-1). My match of the round is Robert Fulford v Matt Essick (day five, lawn 7). This was potentially historic as at this point Fulford had won 99 matches in the Mac (including Doubles). This was on the same day that Stephen Forster had become only the fourth player to play 100 matches in the Mac. The only previous AC match between these two was the 2023 World Championship final, which Fulford won from 0-2. Game 1: Essick pegs out Fulford, backward clips 2-back and 4-back. Fulford has finishing turn, fails rover. Essick hits a 25-yarder, then a brilliant croquet stroke sets up the finish. Game 2: Essick is on 4-back and peg. Fulford goes round and pegs out oppo, conceding contact. Balls left on south boundary and in 2nd corner.
Continued on page 8
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