England claims its 16th MacRobertson Shield title, holding off New Zealand in a tense final test at Surbiton.
England took an 11-7 win over New Zealand on Sunday to go 3-0 in the 2026 MacRobertson Shield to repeat as champions. The MacRob win is their 16th in a competition that dates back 101 years to 1925.
Team England took relatively easy wins in rounds one and two with a 16-5 win over Australia to open the competition at Roehampton and Hurlingham and followed that with a 15-6 win over the U.S. team at Sussex. New Zealand also breezed through the early rounds, getting a 14-7 win over Team USA and a 16-5 win over Australia to square off against England in the final round for the Shield title.
Played at Surbiton, the final test was close throughout and Sunday’s singles action started with England leading 7-6. Early on, Robert Fulford pushed that advantage to 8-6 for England with a 26tp-0, 26-4 win over Paddy Chapman. New Zealand’s Logan McCorkindale was able to level his match with James Death at 1-1, but Jamie Burch took a 26-24, 26tp-3 win over Felix Webby to push England up 9-6.
Jenny Clarke answered for the Kiwis with a 26-22, 26-0 win over Jack Good for 9-7. That was followed by NZL’s Edmund Fordyce levelling at 1-1 with Samir Patel, offering some momentum to the squad. But Mark Avery finished off his match with Aaron Westerby 26-22, 26tp-21 to put England at 10-7 and one match win away from the Shield.
That put a lot of focus on the Death/McCorkindale match, which was featured on the Croquet England livestream. The match certainly showcased the challenges of the lawns at Surbiton. Both players had multiple opportunities to close out, but McCorkindale had all the pressure to try to extend the test. Ultimately, Death was able to finish to claim the test and Shield for England with 26qp-9, 10-26tp, 26-25 scoreline that highlighted the lawn challenge and the close nature of the overall test.
In other Shield action, Team USA defeated Australia 17-4 to take third place in the event. That meant Australia had the honor of singing their national anthem at the awards ceremony.
The next edition of the MacRobertson Shield will be held in 2030 in New Zealand.
MACROBERTSON SHIELD WINNERS
2026-England
2022-England
2017-Australia
2013-New Zealand
2010-Great Britain
2006-Great Britain
2003-Great Britain
2000-Great Britain
1996-Great Britain
1993-Great Britain
1990-Great Britain
1986-New Zealand
1982-Great Britain
1979-New Zealand
1974 -Great Britain
1969-England
1963-England
1956-England
1950-New Zealand
1937 -England
1935-Australia
1930-Australia
1927-Australia
1925-England
NUMBER OF WINS
England - 16
Australia - 4
New Zealand - 4