I spent today at Kelburn and I’m pleased to say that the lawns have improved in pace over the past couple of days. There was the odd fast patch in front of some hoops, but the main difficulty was caused by the wind which averaged 30 kmph and had gusts up to 60 kmph.
Read MoreSoo: Middle Player Battles Shaping Up #03
Two thirds of the way through the block stage, there is still all to play for for most of the field. One of the interesting features of this tournament (and one that more tournaments should emulate) is how the block rounds are ordered. With four players advancing from each block, the critical games should be those between the players in the middle of the blocks, in the #3 through #6 positions. Those players have already played the remaining players and will effectively play mini-blocks tomorrow.
Read MoreClark: ACWC18 Not Off to Great Start #03
I spent today at Paraparumu – a 4 lawn club with the top two lawns running around 10 seconds and the bottom two around 11 seconds. Regrettably, players partners and other spectators were banned from using the clubhouse. This is not the sort of hospitality that Croquet New Zealand expects from host clubs.
Read MoreSoo: Plimmerton is Tops For Challenging Conditions #02
The tournament opened with fine weather: mostly sunny and moderately breezy all day. With ground still damp from the recent rain, the notorious Atkins hoops are quite easy to run, up to a moderate angle. Conditions are most challenging at Plimmerton, with extreme variation in pace and significant slopes. Unsurprisingly, this is where games have been longest, and three games are pegged down.
Read MoreClarke: Plenty of Upsets on Day One #02
After visiting all five venues on yesterday's practice day, I spent most of day one at Waikanae with a short visit to Plimmerton in the early afternoon.
Waikanae is the furthest venue at about one hours drive outside Wellington and has a pretty five lawn club. The front four lawns are soft, green and over-watered, running at 10.8 seconds whilst lawn 5 is an excellent lawn with different grass and firmer subsoil, running at 12.2 seconds.
Read MoreSoo: AC Worlds Player Journal #01
Just getting to Wellington proved challenging on a stormy Thursday, when many flights had to abort approaches into the airport and divert to Christchurch, and other flights were simply cancelled. Luckily for us our flight made it in on a rather exciting first approach.
Read MoreClarke: 2018 AC Worlds Preview
The 2018 WCF Association Croquet World Championship starts this Saturday in Wellington, NZ. Five clubs are being used and I’ll try to send photos from each of them as the event progresses. There are eight blocks of 10 players with the top four qualifying for the knockout from each block, with ties on wins being broken with play-off games, so net points are irrelevant.
Read MoreBromley #11: Bamford Over Nasr 3-2
With great anticipation, the GC World Championship Final got underway at noon under picture perfect skies. Close to 300 spectators were on hand to witness the epic battle that was to unfold. In the best of five match, Reg Bamford of South Africa took the first game 7-6. That was followed by Ahmed Nasr of Egypt winning the second game 7-5.
Bromley #10: Bamford and Nasr - Round 3
It was a spectacular day of croquet at the highest level with two fiercely competitive semifinals. In the first match, Felix Webby, the 17-year old phenom from New Zealand took Egypt's Ahmed Nasr to the limit in a thrilling five-game match with both player's superb shot-making on display. Nasr was able to hold on and propel himself into tomorrow's showdown with 5-7, 7-2, 7-4, 6-7, 7-4 win where he will face South Africa's Reg Bamford for the third time in a World Championship final.
Read MoreBromley #09: GCWC Final Four Set
New Zealand Wunderkind Felix Webby continues to be unflappable as he secured his spot in the Semi-final of the main event. He will face Egypt's Ahmed Nasr in a best of 5 game match. Reg Bamford took out Jenny Clarke to earn his spot and Hamy Erian defeated his countryman, Mohamad Karem 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 to secure his place in the top 4.