Kicking off this week, we are just a few days away from croquet's best attended event. On Saturday, Navy and St. John's will stage a five-match nine wicket battle with an estimated 2,000 spectators on hand. St. John's leads the series 22-5 and the Johnnies have won the last four years. For more details, check out the St. John's Croquet page. You can also find more on the official Facebook page or the student page.

Alix Verge was featured in a North Shore Times web post that tended to have a little trouble with some facts about croquet but offered some good quotes from Alix:

“I needed to stop playing golf and tennis because of arthritis and I’m a much better croquet player than I ever was a golfer. This is a low-impact sport that relies on tactical techniques rather than strength and can be played by anyone in any physical condition.”

The WCF website has posted updated team rankings. The top five rounds out as follows: 1) England 2) Australia 3) New Zealand 4) USA 5) Wales. In addition, tiers 2 and 3 line-ups for the 2010 World Team Championship have been announced:

TIER 2, DIVISION 1 (Hurlingham Club, 16-21 August 2010)

Wales 2,365 (I Burridge 2,438, D Walters 2,399, S Tudor 2,359, C Williams 2,265) plus M Evans 2,305.
Ireland 2,312 (E Cunningham 2,348, A Johnston 2,324, P Fitzgerald 2,324, S Williams 2,252) plus G Healy 2,067 and one other
Jersey 2,308  (J Le Moignan 2,524, T Le Moignan 2,507, G Carter 2,279, R Griffithe 1,923) plus one other
South Africa 2,303 (R Bamford 2,834, A Hobbs 2,262, William Louw 2,168, N Harvey 1,948) plus J Hanekom 1,746

TIER 2, DIVISION 2 (Compton Club, 16-21 August 2010)

Scotland 2,162  (M Murray 2,226, J Hopgood 2,185, D Magee 2,144, B Rannie 2,094 plus M Stephenson 1,957, C Morrison 1,913
Canada 1,885 (B Cumming 2,363, P Emmett 2,041, P Westaway 1,627, J Beharriell 1,508)
Spain 1,788 (J Riva 1,909, J Ojeda 1,793, A Alvarez-Sala 1,772, A de Diego 1,678) plus J Alvarez-Sala 1,648, L Azcona 1,572
Japan 1,731 (P Salisbury 2,283, M Yamada 1,763, K Moriyama 1,594, A Tanaka 1,465)

TIER 3 (Sussex County Croquet & LT Club, 18-21 August 2010)

Sweden 1,685 (A Varnas 1,975, S Carlsson 1,949, J Elebo 1,436, U Soderburg 1,381)
Germany 1,529 (W Usbeck 1,701, B Hess 1,619, J Vinnen 1,506, M Zander 1,290 plus F Olk 1,606
Czech Republic 1,494 (D Hajn 1,679, P Barta 1,493, I Martak 1,492, V Doskocil 1.349)
Belgium 1,451 (P Beaudry 1,734, J Swabey 1,539, A Morris 1,331, B Thys 1,200)
Norway 1,263 (R Michalsen 1,324, B Stene 1,274, S Olsen 1,254, L Holberg 1,200)