MacRob - Report #11 (21 November)

Report courtesy of Eileen Soo

Mac Day 3, US and Australia at Shepparton

Day 3 was doubles at Shepparton. It is a beautiful club with a wonderful sense of hospitality. We had a lovely homemade lunch and tea, along with solicitous care from the ladies in charge of the catering. The Americans got their first taste of homemade Lammingtons -- I think we'll request extras for our next visit. It is no hardship to travel an hour to get there, if we're going to have such a great place to play.

Court conditions were good, with a moderate pace and a few odd patches or bare spot. For those coming from Court 1 at Rich River ( the ice rink), the pace probably seemed glacial. Most players seemed to adapt well, with only a few overrolls or poor hoop approaches due to misgauging the speed of the court. Unfortunately, the US only took one match, but the two lost matches went to three games. There was certainly no shortage of croquet today.

On court 1, Danny Huneycutt and Bob Cherry played Bruce Fleming and Martin Clarke. Fleming took the first break in game 1, Huneycutt missed the lift, Clarke tripled and pegged out. Fast and clean.

Game 2, Huneycutt got in first but just rearranged the court after Clarke missed short shot at the US balls on the east boundary. Huneycutt left Fleming's red ball in corner 2, but moved Y to behind hoop 3 and rejoined partner near corner 4. Cherry, playing blue, got a cannon just outside of corner 4, managing a clear rush on yellow to hoop 1. Cherry made several difficult plays to pull red out of corner 2 and bring black out of the corner 4 area. His only small difficulty was some bald patches behind hoop 3, but he was given relief by oppo and referee. Cherry left a diagonal spread with yellow at peg. Clarke lifted yellow for the long shot and missed, leaving Huneycutt to start with black. After some scrappy back-and-forthing, Huneycutt got a rough-and-ready break going. He managed two peels of his triple before a series of deep pioneers and less than perfect rushes resulted in an angled shot at 3back. Red had a 3 yard shot at blue, allowing Fleming into the game. In his usual no-fuss style, he took the break around leving a diagonal spread with blue at peg. Huneycutt took the long shot and missed, giving Clarke a chance. A 5 yard roll up to hoop 1 left him with a poor hoop shot, which he missed. Huneycutt was then in again and took his ball to rover. His leave placed yellow near 4back and red close to the west boundary, peg high. Yellow hit in but took a couple af attempts to get a break started, then only progressing to 3. Black then hit in to finish his break, with an eye on peeling blue at rover. He got the straight rover peel with control but roqueted blue coming through the hoop. A long peg out attempt left blue near 6, red near 4, and yellow behind 2. Black, of course, pegged out. After a brief lunch break, Fleming lifted red to B-baulk and hit in on yellow. Coming through short at 4back, Fleming missed a long shot on yellow as the penult pioneer, being unable to roquet blue. Fleming missed, allowing Cherry to hit in and peg out.
Final score 26-12.

Game 3 began on the wrong foot for the US, with Huneycutt leaving black at a very short Duffers tice. Clarke hit in with yellow as the third ball and moved black to near peg, then joining partner on the east boundary. Cherry shot at yellow with blue but missed. Fleming took red for a reasonably uneventful 9 hoop break, with only a small matter of a jawsed rush at 5 requiring a little care to fix. Huneycutt took the long shot with black and missed; Clarke then started break with red. An upcourt rush after 4 went right into the jaws of 4, requiring attention after scoring 5 to get the break back on track. The triple began to look less likely, as Clarke has no 6 pioneer, had to use his intended escape ball at 4b to make 6. Clarke took the break to peg, leaving an unwired diagonal spread with black near peg. Huneycutt and Cherry now had a chance to turn the 21-0 game around, since black had a shot at blue from beside the peg. Huneycutt made the roquet and started his break. After scoring hoop 2, a rush on red towards hoop 4 clanked right into hoop 5. This left Huneycutt scrambling to pull balls in place to make hoop 3. A long roll-up gotblack to an unmakeable position by hoop 3. After careful consideration of red's potentially wired position 5 inches in front of 5, Huneycutt shot black to midway on the West boundary. Fleming made the roquet on black and finished up in short order.

The match on court 2 also went to three games, but that was mostly due to errors by the Aussie team. The US played competent, clean breaks but failed to make the long hit-ins and long roquets that would have let them take control.

Game 1 began with a break to 4back by Watts. Stark lifted the yellow ball from peg postion, missing the long shot. Dumergue took the next break but broke down at 5. Stark took over with yellow, setting an NSL with black by 4. The Aussies lifted black for the long shot but missed, letting Bidencope in for his break to peg with red. A few bits of bad luck with ball postions required careful consideration before he made a reasonable, though unconventional leave. Black missed its lift, allowing Stark to take yellow to peg and finish the game.

Score of 26-14.

Game 2 began with a fairly normal opening. Stark took blue to the east boundary a little south of 4. Watts shot red to just outside corner 2. Bidencope shot black to one yard above hoop4, about 2 yards north of partner. Watts shot yellow at black and hit. The break never got started as Watts stuffed hoop 1. The play became scrappy, with several chances by both sides. Watts got control and took his ball to 4-back, setting an NSL with black at 4. Bidencope lifted black for the long shot and missed. Play again went back and forth, with Bidencope getting his nine and setting an NSL. Red missed the long shot; Stark tried to get started but clanged on 1, with blue sitting on the left upright. This proved a problem for the US in subsequent turns; the Aussies deliberately forced black to shoot as they rearranged the balls on court over the next few turns. After Dumergue scored 2, he and Watts debated how to get blue off the upright and into play. They decided to leave it there, forcing red to do some heavy two-ball work to get around the court. He made it though 5 but stuffed 6. A miss by black at yellow allowed red to make 6 and pickup the break, finally moving blue off the upright when making 2-back. Red made it to peg and set a diagonal spread with blue by the peg. Blue missed the long shot, allowing yellow to finish up.
Score of 26-9.

Game 3 had scrappy play, with the Australians stuffing hoops and the Americans missing the long shots left by the Australians. The game took awhile to get going, as both sides spent time rearranging the balls on court until Dumergue was able to get a rush to 1 and start his break. His only slow down was the rush of his 5 pioneer to the jaws of 5 from the wrong side. Luckily, he had enough ball on the correct side to do an Irish peel and continue to an NSL, with blue jawsed in 4. This looked like an oopsie, as Watts came out to consult on the rest of the leave. Bidencope lifted black to the B-baulk for the long shot and missed between red and yellow to corner 4. Watts came in, but had to get blue out of the jaws of 4, so he was unable to start a break. This left blue (by 3) or black (by 2) long shots back to red and yellow in corner 4. Bidencope took the shot through a reasonable opening in the furniture but missed. Yellow was then off on a break with one peel, only to stuff 5 from what seemed to be a straight on shot. Stark played blue and made a tidy break to end with an NSL, yellow on 4. At this point, red was on penult, yellow on 5, blue on 4back, and black for 1. Yellow took the long shot and missed, letting black in. Black scored 1 but then got poor position at 2. Bidencope tried the short, angled jump shot but missed, landing close on the playing side of 2. Red took a shot from near 3 and hit, resetting the court with a rush for yellow onto midcourt. Black went for the long roquet and hit, so Bidencope was off on his break. He looked for the triple peel, but a couple of poor strokes resulted in no reasonable peel shots. After consultation with Stark, Bidencope set a flat diagonal spread but with blue and black set closer to 4-high. We later found out this was due to a mistroke when placing yellow at peg. At this point, the crowd was uncharacteristically quiet. We had a good gallery of spectators who were all following the game intently. Whether American or Australian, this one had become a nail-biter. Sideline instructions from Stark to the balls during Bidencope's play ("Sit down!", "Slow, now!") were clearly audible. Unfortunately, we think that Dawson balls don't understand Amerincan English.

Watts started with yellow after hitting the short shot from A-baulk. A poor cut rush on red left him far from 5, so he chose to rearrange the court and retreat with partner in corner 1. Black attempted to hit red or yellow but missed, so Watts was in. Watts' confident but careless style was truly evident during this break, with several pioneers placed about 3 yards from their usual position and a few hoop shots that were more difficult than necessary. He is a great shot, so all worked out, but not without some real speculation from the sidelines about whether he would finish. The contrast with his teammate Fleming's careful style was never more evident.
Final score was 26-21.

Court 3 had its share of excitement, with Rich Lamm and Jeff Soo playing Trevor Basset andStephen Forster to three games and a win. The first game was pretty unexceptional, Forster having the first break with black. Soo followed with yellow in a solid break, popping Bassett's blue to 3. Blue took the long shot and missed, letting Lamm get started. An unfortunate take-off after three put red out of bounds near blue at corner 4. Basset took his break to 1-back, with two peels done, but stuck in the jaws at 1-back. Lamm picked up his break but a few hampered strokes made his life difficult. A hampered stroke out of 3-back left him a longer shot at his ball near penult, which he missed. Blue came back in the game, got the rover peel, and pegged out to win the first game.
Score 26-18.

Game 2 had the unusual sight of a Standard Opening -- the classic, yet one I've not seen in test play often. Forster hit in with black on the tice and took his break 'round, setting an NSL with yellow on 4. Lamm took the short shot with red and hit black. He took his break to 5, but stuffed it. Black hit in on yellow, then peeled red on the roquet, leaving it behind 2. Yellow went to near 1, and blue was left with a rush towards two. So far, a very classic game. Yellow hit, allowing Soo to start his break, popping blue through 1. At 1-bakc, though, he got in a tangle, needing to jump blue to score. His jump shot hit the crown and bounced back. Blue then had an easy start to his break but got a hampered stroke out of 3 and faulted on his sweep shot through the hoop. Red got with the balls spread about the court but managed to pull a break together. Unfortunately, a failed roquet after 1-back let blue back in, only to jaws at 5 with a too gentle hoop shot. Lamm was able to resume his break and go to peg. The leave was a bit off, blue having a shot on black from near the peg, so red went to corner 2 and placed yellow near corner 4. Bassett shot blue hard at black, losing blue to the nearby streets through a gap in the bottom of the fence. Play was delayed until someone went all the way around the fence to retrieve the ball. Blue reset the court. Lamm shot red at oppo balls but missed. Play became scrappy after this, with several break attempts ending in wide joins. Black got the next break together but got fouled up near penult, allowing Soo to finish his break with yellow and peg out.
Score: 26-15.

Game three began with a lot of back and forth play -- roquets were made but shots went off or the player failed to get hoop position. Soo managed to get the first break with yellow and set a good leave -- an NSL variation with black on 4 and blue a bit off 2. His approach to partner on the east boundary was a bit off, so In order to get good boundary position, he jumped partner to get both balls on the boundary, 1 yard apart about 4-high. Blue took the long shot but a bounce of the ball took the shot wide. Lamm took red to rover on a fine break, setting a diagonal spread with blue at peg. Blue's short shot went awry and clanked off hoop 4 to the boundary. Yellow came in but got a poor apporach to 4-back. Soo opted to retreat to corner 2, leaving red by penult, blue on east boundary, and black deep behind 3. Forster shot black at blue but missed, allowing Soo to take the shot on yellow, hit, and finish the game.
Score: 26-0.

During parts of the play, the Austalian players who were finished spent time practicing their roquets and two-ball work. They looked pretty serious, especially Bassett. We're looking forward to tomorrow -- singles at Rich River --to bring up the American score. The US team is in a serious mood. The court assignments put Lamm on the ice-skating rink of court 1, which should suit his game. Soo is out in the hinterlands on court 6. THe rest of the team is on the predictable courts 2-5. Weather predictions are for 37C (about 100F) and chance of thunderstorms. Locals tells us there is no question of IF we will get the thunderstorm, it's just a question on when. Maybe the rain will slow down the flies.