Tournament News
Notes from Charles Jones, Manager of Team New Zealand
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
November 2: Disapointing finish to MacRob Day 2
The New Zealand Team had a disapointing finish to Day 2 of their Test Match against Australia at the World Series at West Palm Beach Florida. After being ahead 2/1 at lunch they slumped in the afternoon to end the day 2/5 down and 2/7 down after two days of the 21 match test.
With Dennis Bulloch and Greg Bryant winning in straight sets in the morning and John Prince losing in straight games to an in form Trevor Bassett the team was looking good at lunch given that we were 1 game up in two of the remaining matches and playing the decider in the other. However success alluded the team with Toby Garrison and Brian Wislang losing narrowly in their 3rd matches to Bruce Fleming and Martin Clarke respectively. In the remaining match Peter Parkinson was beaten decisively 26/0 in the 3rd game of the match. Again it was a day of being out hit by the Australians and making too many unforced errors.
After their defeats by all countries at the 2000 series Australia is after blood this time and in my opinion has fielded the strongest and most focused team I have ever seen. But all is not lost for New Zealand and the team is in good heart and will come back against Australia in the three doubles being played tomorrow. With 12 matches remaining in the test Australia need 4 more wins to reach the 11 they will need to take the match but the “Black Mallets” will be doing all within their power to stop them. We are still positive we can win this Test. As they say in America “Keep on rooting for us everyone”.
November 3: New Zealand Struggles on Day 3
Things looked promising at lunch today with New Zealand having won 1 match in straight games and we were 1 all in the other two. Unfortunately both matches were lost in the 3rd.
John Prince and Brian Wislang played very well to beat Bruce Fleming and Martin Clarke 26TP/1 26/9.
Toby Garrison and Dennis Bulloch lost to Stephen Meatheringham and Stephen Forster 0/26TP, 26/24, 1/26. In this match Australia was very unlucky not to take the match in straight games after Methringham missed a short shot after the last hoop on his way to pegging out in the 2nd game.
Greg Bryant and Peter Parkinson lost to Simon Hockey and Trevor Bassett 10/26TP, 26/13, 9/26TP. Hockey picked up an excellent lift shot in the 3rd to get the innings back for Australia as the game could easily have gone the other way. This gives Australia a 9/3 lead in the Test with the first team to reach 11 the winner. New Zealand will still be fighting tomorrow to get back into the match. Thank you for all the messages of support.
November 4
Currently the score is 13/5 to Australia with 3 doubles to be completed today. The rookies in the New Zealand Team (Bulloch and Parkinson) are both playing very well with Parky doing two triples yesterday and Dennis (Bulloch) winning all his singles in straight games in the test. We look forward to our next match against the USA and am sure the MacRob veterans will be out to show what they can do.
November 5
New Zealand completed the First Test against Australia today with the winning margin to Australia 15 - 6. This was a severe beating but one that the Australians deserved with their excellent play and they should be a force to be reckoned with against the Brits contrary to Jeremy Dyer’s predictions on Nottingham.
The New Zealand team is looking forward to the next test against the United States of America and this will be the first time we have played the Americans on home ground with their home crowd support so it should be a good one.
November 6
Well today we have commenced the Test against the United States and it has not been without its drama. Firstly we were all woken at 4am with the loudest thunder and lightning display possible. This combined with the rain that had been falling all night resulted in the lawns being flooded on our arrival at the courts.
By 1100 hours the courts were playable (they drain very quickly here) but there was one small problem. Earlier in the day a New Zealand player had gone out to the car to get a change of shirt but he managed to lock the keys in the boot of the car when doing so. This of course resulted in 4 NZ players having no mallets to play with and even though the locksmith was supposed to arrive at 1100 there was still no sign of him (not surprising considering that half of Palm Beach County's roads were flooded). The manager kindly gave us 15 minutes grace and fortunately at 1115 hrs the locksmiths car came thru the gate much to the relief of the NZ Team. Our only other alternative was to smash a window but we were not sure how the rental car company would react to that.
So another exciting day in Florida with results to come thru shortly. Have a good day everyone.
November 7
New Zealand started with a hiss and a roar against USA on Day 2 of their Test. Bryant and Parkinson defeated Stark and Taves in straight games 26/9, 26TP/0. Garrison and Bulloch defeated Fournier and Drake in straight games 26/9, 26/4. This left the two countires tied at 2 all. However USA then won the unfinished match from the previous day in a tight struggle with Fournier and Drake coming back and beating Bryant and Parkinson 26/22. This put the USA in a 3/2 lead.
In the final match of the day Prince and Wislang are tied in a 3rd unfinished match with Louw and Rosenberry after losing the first 9/26TP then winning 26TPO/18. It was dramatic as the Florida evening drifted in and the spectators could not see the last half of the final break being played. The game then had to be pegged down and this was very difficult as it was a cross pegged leave and one of the balls was only technically wired and it was dark. With the help of golf cart lights the job was completed and Prince and Bryant now have a lift shot when the game restarts.
November 10
NZ fought back brilliantly to take 4 of the last 6 games on day five of their Test against USA. Unfortunately this was not enough and NZ went down 12 - 9.
The last days play results were Prince beat Taves 26TP/0, 21/26, 26/15, Bulloch beat Louw 26/6 10/26, 26/24, Wislang beat Drake 26/16/ 26TP17, Parkinson beat Rosenberry 26TP/9 25/26TPO, 26TP/17, Garrison lost to Stark 1/26TP, 26/23, 0/26TP, Bryant lost Fournier 13/26TPO, 0/26TP.
NZ is really positive going into the final test against Great Britain and is very keen to salvage some pride over the last 5 days.
November 11
NZ had an excellent 1st day of their test match against tournament favourites Great Britain taking the lead 2/1. This was the first time GB had been headed at any stage of the tournament.
Results were, Garrison and Bulloch defeated Maugham and Avery 26TP/1, 26/16OTP(Maugham), Prince and Wislang defeated Fulford and Clarke 3/26TP, 26/25, 26TP/0, Bryant and Parkinson lost to Burrow and Mulliner OTP19/26, 5/26TP.
We await the results of the second day with interest and the team is positive and looking forward to more good matches
November 12
In a battle where there is little love lost between the two teams Great Britain fought back on Day 2 of their Test match with New Zealand to level the score 3/3.
While the first two matches never looked in doubt for GB, the 3rd between Garrison and Bulloch and Burrow and Mulliner caused much excitement after Garrison missed a 5 yard single ball peg out to take the match to 3 games and with the final game being a rather see saw affair with New Zealand finally getting home.
Results were Prince and Wislang lost to Maugham and Avery 12/26TP, 22/26TPO, Bryant and Parkinson lost to Clarke and Fulford 1/26TP, 14/26, Garrison and Bulloch beat Burrow and Mulliner 26/13, 25/26, 26/12. Of course today (the 3rd day) is a very auspicious day for John Prince and a proud day for New Zealand as John plays his 100th MacRob match. Unfortunately I have to report he was dispatched rather quickly by Robert Fulford 2/26 Sextuple peel, 0/26 Fifth Turn Triple.
November 13
New Zealand is still hanging in after Day 3 of their Test match against Great Britain. In a day where no match went to 3 games so there was probably not the suspense of the other days excepting for the Wislang/Avery match where Wislang could have easily taken both games which was dissapointing for the NZ supporters. The results were as follows.
Prince lost to Fulford 2/26sxp, 0/26tp, Garrison beat Clarke 26tp/0, 26tp/9, Bulloch beat Burrow 26/0, 26/18, Bryant lost to Maugham 0/26tp, 14/26tp, Parkinson lost to Mulliner 9/26, 16/26tpo, Wislang lost to Avery 23/26tp, 21/26.
November 14
WOW
The atmosphere is electric this morning in West Palm Beach after NZ edged to witin one win of GB after the result of Day 4 left GB ahead 8/7. Even though GB have won the shield already they do not want to lose in any shape or form to old rivals New Zealand. This morning NZ has gone 1 up in 4 of the 6 singles, 2 down in one of the others and 1 down in the remaining match.
The highlight of the morning has been Toby Garrison hitting the tea lady to take the first game off Fulford and in the second game which is in progress he hit the tea lady again but failed to make anything off it. Fulford then smacked a long shot and reset completely wiring Garrison from his balls. Garrison replied by jumping over hoop three to hit Fulford in corner 3. Wow what a morning.
Yesterday’s results were: Bulloch and Garrison defeated Fulford and Clarke, Prince and Wislang defeated Burrow and Mulliner, Bryant and Parkinson lost to Avery and Maugham.
November 15
Well what a final day it was at West Palm Beach with New Zealand going down 11/10 to GB and USA going down 11/10 to Australia. The NZ team fought hard and the match could have gone either way at the finish. Results were Garrison beat Fulford 26TP/6, 26/19, Prince beat Clarke 26/22OTP, 26/9, Bryant beat Burrow 26TP/7, 26/24, Bulloch lost to Maugham 26TP/20, 0/26TP, 26TP/21, Wislang lost to Mulliner 0/26TP, 1/26TP, Parkinson lost to Avery 9/26TP, 16/26.
Hope you have all enjoyed these daily results and look forward to seeing you all back home in a couple of days.