instantreplay
Last Ball Options
By Dylan Goodwin
I’m definitely not qualified to write a true six-wicket tactics column, but since I am still early in the learning process, I thought it might be help- ful to others to document key lessons that have come along. Hence, the birth of the Instant Replay column.
I thought I’d open with a recent end game scenario that presented itself. I was in a handicap game (U.S. rules) and had come down to the last ball. I had used my partner to set up a two-ball break that started at wicket two. I was down by four wickets, so I needed to get through the fiſth wicket to tie (Figure 1), which I was able to do. My opponent/coach was in corner four with red. Yellow had staked out and red was for wicket two.
As I came through wicket five with my black ball, I failed to get any kind of a rush on blue toward six (Figure 2). Aſter making my roquet, my coach stopped me and asked what I was going to do.
Te reality is that I was going to take off for six and try to score that wicket (Figure 3) for the win. His point was that with the advantage of having yellow off the court it might be a good idea to roll blue up as well (Figure 4), hoping for a good set for black, but leaving blue (for four-back) an option in case things didn’t work out. If I didn’t like the hoop shot for black, I could set a rush for blue. Even a missed hoop, might give blue a play.
On top of that, immediate rotation was in favor of blue and black as well with yellow off the court.
In the end, I opted for the split and rolled blue up with black and actually got a good set for the hoop shot, which I then scored for the “win.” I could have won the other way as well, but the new op- tion made both shots a lot more “comfortable.” Sometimes it’s nice to take the pressure off. •
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croquetnetwork.com | may-june 2011 2 1
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