Tournament News
Day 12 Report: Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Today’s scores
Test Match standings
9:10 AM. Brits, Yanks hope to bounce back
Great Britain trail New Zealand by a match and will naturally look for a steady 2-1 or 3-0 result from today’s doubles round to get back on track. Australia v. United States are in singles today, and USA hope to right the ship after yesterday’s disappointing 0-3 start.
10:10 AM. Some quick first games, but the wind is strengthening.
In the AUS v. USA singles, Bassett, Fleming and Forster have run out first-game triples for Australia; Drake and Stark have done the same for the United States. Bassett’s game was the first to finish, after about 35 minutes of play.
GB’s Fulford and Clarke have won the first game in the GB v. NZ doubles. Fulford’s triple was made easier by a “death roll” that put peelee through both penult and rover.
11:00 AM. Australia extend lead to 4-0.
Trevor Bassett (AUS) needed only about an hour and a half to beat Jacques Fournier (USA) in straight games. Australia lead USA 1-0 on the day and 4-0 in the test match.
Toby Garrison (NZ) broke down at 4 with one peel done, and Matthew Burrow (GB) attempted the double peel on Dennis Bulloch’s (NZ) ball. But despite assistance from his partner Stephen Mulliner (GB) on lining up the five-yard peg-out, Burrow missed and sent the croqueted ball off the lawn. Garrison took the gift and finished with a routine four-ball break. GB are leading in the other two matches.
11:30 AM. Fleming makes it five.
Another efficient triple peel from Australia’s Team Captain, Bruce Fleming, has put the Aussies up 2-0 on the day and 5-0 for the test match. Simon Hockey (AUS) and Curtis Drake (USA) are now in turns that could win their respective matches. Shooting is excellent in the Forster (AUS) v. Rosenberry (USA) match, that is, assuming Forster really did mean to hit the in-court ball when he hit the lift in game 1.
Bryant (NZ) is in play in his match (NZ trailing by a game); Avery (GB) has just hit the lift in game 2 (GB leading by a game).
1:20 PM. Yanks stop the bleeding; Brits take the lead.
With apologies for the time since the last update, but this reporter keeps getting pulled off to be interviewed by other reporters.
Curtis Drake (USA) put his team on the board with a straight-games win over Stephen Meatheringham (AUS). Jerry Stark (USA) emerged from near death against Simon Hockey (AUS) to make it 2-5 for the test match. And Wynand Louw (USA) has given the Americans their third win of the day, beating Martin Clarke (AUS) in two games. Rosenberry (USA) and Forster (AUS) are in game 3.
Toby Garrison (NZ) needed only to peg out the striker’s ball from about five yards to win the match, but he missed and Stephen Mulliner (GB) went round. Several turns later Matthew Burrow (GB) picked up a three-ball break to level the match. They are now in game 3. GB won the other two matches in straight games and lead 2-0 on the day, 3-2 for the test.
2:15 PM. Aussies earn 3-3 split on the day; lead 6-3.
Stephen Forster (AUS) beat Ken Rosenberry (USA) in three games to put Australia up 6-3 after two days of play. The second to last turn of the match, Rosenberry had done the three peels of a TPO, but missed a short roquet before scoring rover. Forster needed only to play out the routine four-ball break to win the match.
Dennis Bulloch (NZ) played an adventurous turn that included two peels on partner Toby Garrison’s ball, with Burrow and Mulliner (GB) on 1 and 1. Mulliner hit the lift and failed 1, having inadvertently croqueted partner into the jaws of 1 from the south boundary. The Brits have the innings and the game has lots of life left in it.
3:00 PM. Garrison and Bulloch save the day for NZ.
Mulliner went round and Garrison missed the lift, but Burrow went off the lawn trying to pick up Garrison’s ball in corner IV. With Bulloch’s ball at 4 and Garrison for rover, the finish should have been straightforward, but it would take two turns for Garrison to finally peg out for the win, more than two hours after missing the short shot that could have finished the match in game 2.
New Zealand have split the first two days’ doubles with Great Britain, an excellent result given NZ’s struggles in the first two test matches. But with a strong performance in singles tomorrow, and with some help from the AUS v. USA doubles matches, GB could clinch the Series tomorrow.