Plate, Bowl, and of course Main KO quarterfinals were played today. The Shield (for players knocked out in the round of 16) has a doubtful level of interest. The widely dispersed venues are probably a factor (participation in the Bowl was also on the low side). Now that the tournament is in its final stages it feels like a unified event again. Those on hand to watch the Main KO quarterfinals were treated to four great matches, each with its own character.
Read MoreClarke: Top Four - Chapman, Mulliner, Bamford and Riva #08
We were treated to four interesting matches at Kelburn today. The sun was out and there was no breeze, so conditions were as benign as they could be. By early afternoon there were a couple of faster patches near hoops on most of the lawns which made breakplay that bit more interesting.
The first match to finish was Chapman v Patel. It looked like a straight games victory for the Kiwi before he failed rover when about to peg Patel out in the third. Patel took that game, but Chapman then won the fourth.
Read MoreClarke: A Wild Day of Playoff Action #05
Today was the day that the croquet really started to heat up. We had game after game of excitement and tension. Possibly the most exciting game was played at Kelburn between Jim Nicholls and Sam Murray. Time was called with Sam on rover and peg and Jim on rover alone. Sam had a tough 4 yard rush down the East boundary with his ball for rover to Jim’s ball and opted to play his peg ball, roll partner towards rover and peg out to equalise.
Read MoreBromley #07: Five Players Undefeated
This evening as I am writing this, there is still much that is going on behind the scenes to set up the Knock Out Draw, Plate matches, and venue allocations and start times. There were several playoff matches going on into the late afternoon that had a bearing on all of these things being finalized.
Read MoreBromley #06: GCWC Block Action Winding Down
Sherif Abdelwahab and Mohammad Kamal continued to put in impressive performances today with both players now 7-1 with one block match remaining.
In Abdelwahab's second match of the day, he faced George Coulter, age 20, the older of the two brothers from New Zealand who are absolutely fantastic shooters! The "young guns" are well-coached, composed and wonderful young men