The Sunshine Coast Daily has reported that Margaret Melville took down reigning world champion Alix Verge 7-4, 6-7, 3-7, 7-5, 7-4 in the Australian Women's Single GC final at the Headland Buderim Croquet Club.

Apparently, ESPN is aware that mallet sports exist. They offered up this piece on the croquet variant of roque. Interesting timing -- the "world-wide leader" just missed a chance to cover a once every 3.5 years world championship to report on the near-extinction of roque. Oh well, keep your eyes open.

Speaking of variants, Croquet World has an in-depth piece on the upcoming Gateball championships in Shanghai, China. The article indicates that 600 players will participate. Very impressive. As for the game itself, I've never played, but I have to say those are some wide wickets.

Lots of positive stats to report on the Croquet Network front. For one, the Facebook group just edged over 100 members. Thank you to all of the people that "like" the group. In addition, the last digital edition of the magazine is closing in on 500 views, which by far surpasses the previous record of 279 for the College Nationals issue. And finally, the website itself is experiencing record setting uniques and views. The MacRobertson Shield was definitely a big driver, but it looks like more people are tuning in overall as the traffic increase has been steady (see chart).