Day Two of the AC Worlds Championship Knockout saw intense action on four courts at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. With the Mark Avery (ENG) versus Andrew Johnston (IRL), pegged down, the field is now at nine players. That match is expected to start shortly after 8:00 a.m. eastern time this morning with Avery up 2-1.
All of the matches were double-banked for the day and that slowed the pace, but a few matches finished quickly with Matthew Essick beating fellow USA teammate Tom Balding 26-0, 26tp-1, 26-0 to advance. He’ll face the winner of the Avery/Johnston match.
James Death (ENG) was able to go 3-0 against Stephen Morgan with a 26-0, 26tp-4, 26-15 score to move onto the next round where he will face world #1 Robert Fletcher (AUS) who advanced with a win over his brother Greg, 26tp-9, 26tp-5, 26tp-22 in what was a relatively inactive match. Robert’s final peeling turn was executed with what looked like perfect precision.
World #3 Reg Bamford (ZAF) was able to get through in three versus Jose Riva (ESP), but it was again an interactive scoreline at 26tp-10, 26tp-10, 26tp-11.
Australia’s Stephen Forster in play against Zack Watson on Court 7
On the same court, Australia’s Stephen Forster and Zack Watson (USA) offered up a five-game thriller for the lively gallery watching from the NCC veranda. Watson tripled to take game one, but Forster stormed back with triples in games two and three. Watson answered with a triple in game four to force the decider. Game five would not see a triple finish and featured a lot of twists and turns in the end game. It concluded with Watson working a three ball break as he was 2v1. On his final turn, he had both balls for peg and no rush to the peg. He opted to croquet red out about three yards east of the peg and then pegged out yellow. Forster lined up from near H2 and promptly hit in for the easy finish to take the match 0-26tp, 26tp-12, 26tp-3, 3-26tp, 26-25.
But it was court 11 that drew the most attention as Ben Rothman (USA) and Robert Fulford (ENG) faced each other in a marquee matchup. Rothman tripled in games one and two to turn up the pressure. Fulford took game three 26-18. He has also had opportunities in game four, but it was Rothman who picked up a potential final peeling turn. But that went awry, when he got cross-wired at hoop 2. Fulford was not able to get in though and in fading light Rothman worked to pull together a turn that featured a couple of amazing roll-ups and some real testers on hoop shots.
The drama continued as he was unable to get the penult peel and had to instead work a straight peel finish in poor light conditions. But he prevailed to win the match 26tp-1, 26tp-1, 18-26, 26tp-9 and become the second US player through to the quarterfinals.
There he will face New Zealand’s Logan McCorkindale, who was able to get past Alain Giraud (ENG) in three straight, 26-21, 26tp-4, 26-7, in a match that went deep into the afternoon based on a long battle in game one.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 SCHEDULE
Court 6
#1 Robert Fletcher v. #10 James Death
Court 3
#3 Matthew Essick v. winner of #5 Avery / #15 Johnston
Court 11
#29 Stephen Forster v. #4 Reg Bamford
Court 7
#7 Logan McCorkindale v. #14 Ben Rothman
The Shield
The Shield is a best-of-3 knockout, and will retain the draw from the main Knock Out Stage. Tom Balding required at 10:00. Alain Giraud has a bye and is not required Friday, although if he and the winner of Watson v. Riva both wish to start their semifinal tomorrow afternoon, that will be arranged if feasible. All others required at 8:30.
Court 5A
Greg Fletcher v. Stephen Morgan
Court 5B
Zack Watson v. Jose Riva
The Bowl
All players required at 8:30.
Court 8A
Jack Good v. Samir Patel
Court 8B
Edmund Fordyce v. Brian Cumming
Court 2A
Stephen Mulliner v. Marcus Evans
Court 2B
Jenny Clarke v. Euan Burridge