England has earned the top seed for the 2026 MacRobertson Shield, setting the opening-round matchups for the Association Croquet World Team Championship Tier 1, scheduled for July 24-August 9 at four clubs across southern England.
Tournament Manager Mike Town announced the official seedings after the July 12 deadline for participating countries to submit their six-player teams to the World Croquet Federation.
England leads the four-team field with an average dynamic grade of 2565.17, followed by the United States at 2484.33, New Zealand at 2466.50 and Australia at 2325.00.
The seedings establish the opening Test Matches:
England vs. Australia
United States vs. New Zealand
2026 MacRobertson Shield Seedings
England — 2565.17
United States — 2484.33
New Zealand — 2466.50
Australia — 2325.00
The teams were seeded in descending order based on the average dynamic grade of the six players most recently submitted by each country before the final submission deadline.
The grades were downloaded from the Association Croquet Grading System at 16:00 UTC on July 13, 2026.
Multi-Venue Championship Begins July 24
The 2026 Association Croquet World Team Championship Tier 1 will be contested in three phases, with each phase consisting of two Test Matches.
The opening round will be held July 24-28 at two London clubs. Hurlingham and Roehampton will each provide four lawns for the competition.
The championship will then move to Sussex County Croquet Club near Brighton for the second round, scheduled for July 30-August 3. Sussex County will provide seven lawns.
The final round will be played August 5-9 at Surbiton Croquet Club in London, also using seven lawns.
Tier 1 Schedule
Round 1: July 24-28
Hurlingham Club and Roehampton Club, London
Round 2: July 30-August 3
Sussex County Croquet Club, near Brighton
Round 3: August 5-9
Surbiton Croquet Club, London
MacRobertson Shield Marks Historic Anniversary
The 2026 championship also marks the 101st year since the MacRobertson Shield was first contested.
A centenary dinner will be held Tuesday, July 28, at Roehampton Croquet Club. The celebration will recognize the competition’s history and its position as association croquet’s premier international team championship.
The first MacRobertson Shield Test, between England and Australia, was played at Roehampton on June 26-27, 1925. Appropriately, the same two countries will meet in the opening round of the 2026 championship.
Team Rosters
England — average dynamic grade 2565.17
Mark Avery (2531)
Jamie Burch (2592)
James Death (2619)
Robert Fulford (2572)
Jack Good (2488)
Samir Patel (2589)
USA — average dynamic grade 2484.33
Thomas Balding (2488)
Matthew Essick (2641)
Kyle Maloof (2304)
Stephen Morgan (2351)
Ben Rothman (2481)
Zack Watson (2641)
New Zealand — average dynamic grade 2466.50
Greg Bryant (2358)
Paddy Chapman (2586)
Edmund Fordyce (2435)
Logan McCorkindale (2564)
Felix Webby (2460)
Aaron Westerby (2396)
Australia — average dynamic grade 2325.00
Trevor Bassett (2182)
Lachlan Berryman (2222)
Stephen Forster (2358)
Greg Hill (2461)
Dwayne McCormick (2400)
Stephen Pearce (2327)
Lower Tiers to Be Played at Nottingham
The Tier 2.1, Tier 2.2 and Tier 3 Association Croquet World Team Championships are scheduled for July 22-27, 2026, at Nottingham Croquet Club in England.
Those competitions will precede and overlap with the opening days of the Tier 1 championship, bringing an expanded field of international teams to England for the 2026 world team championship program.
With the seeds and opening matchups now confirmed, attention turns to the first round in London and the start of nearly three weeks of international association croquet competition.