CROQUET COACHING: How to Continue a Delayed Triple Peel CROQUET COACHING: How to Continue a Delayed Triple Peel |
Stephen Mulliner How interesting. I prefer to keep Option A open by at least going for the rush on the pioneer to Corner III or east of 3 and seeing how good a stopshot I can play to position that ball as a pioneer 3-4 yards short of 2-back. I don't want a rush on partner [peelee] to penult, instead it is better to rush it off the middle of the N boundary. Only then you make your choice. 1. If the 2-back pioneer is in good position for the roll-peel after 1-back (ie 3-4 yards N and a little E of 2-back so that a roquet from up to 3 yards away will not knock it past the hoop), I play a roll/pass-roll as required to position partner 1 yard N of penult and get onto the 1-back pioneer. I think it is worth trying the roll-peel because there is then a reasonable chance of doing the rover peel before 3-b or at least getting partner very tight to rover for an eventual straight peel. 2. If the 2-back pioneer is either too close to 2-back (so a 3 yard roquet after the roll-peel will knock it past the hoop) or too far away for comfort, then I revert to loading 2-b with partner as well with the intent that the 1-b pioneer will go to 3-b and the other enemy ball will be sent back to just SE of penult before making 2-b off partner with the chance of rushing partner back to penult after 2-b and peeling it at once, before rushing the other enemy ball down S. Horses for courses. I like rolling almost as much as stop shots. David Kibble I was intrigued by your not being able to estimate pull for the penult "death roll" peel. Firstly, the reason it's called a death roll is because many people who play it set-up the shot and then visualise the croquet ball going towards Rover (rather than the direction it would go if the hoop were not there) and so they hit the shot in the wrong direction and fail to get a rush to 2-back. Also the 2-back pioneer is often poor, so playing this line results in a potentially difficult 2-back. So, why is the pull difficult to estimate? Are you not getting close enough to penult for the peel? 6-12" should be easy. If you go for the 2-back pioneer placed from corner III you should be able to get a rush on partner and croquet it to a good position at Penult when getting onto your 1-back pioneer. The real advantage of Penult before 2-back is Rover before 3-back, avoiding the straight Rover peel. A good peel is therefore necessary, dribbling it through has no real advantage. Whilst I agree with the safely arguments advanced by the other contributors, a clean peel and a rush where you want after 6 implies good control, so I see no real reason why you shouldn't take the rush to III and place your 2-back pioneer, if it's good continue and place peelee in front of Penult, if not use it for the 2-back pioneer - the places you need to rush it to for the two options are not far apart so it makes no difference to the previous croquet shot. If before the "death roll" attempt, you are too far from Penult to be sure of at least hitting the jaws, leave it for later otherwise, as you imply, you risk not being able to get the balls organised for the Penult before 4-back. Having two 2-back pioneers is no problem - in fact it helps you get a good 3-back pioneer - if you are peeling Penult before 4-back, a good rush out of 3-back is really helpful, possibly even crucial, and a good 3-back pioneer assures this. Make sure that the auxiliary 2-back pioneer goes back to the Penult box before 2-back - then you still get the speculative Penult after 2-back and are covered if you don't get a rush out of 2-back at all. There's no doubt that it's safer if you don’t try to push the peels but take a relaxed approach - when you come onto sextuples though, getting the peels done early makes a great deal of difference. The variety is what makes peeling turns interesting, so don't stick with just one way of doing it, you'll go out of your mind!John Prince There is another [way to do this] option if you can rush accurately. After making six rush NE of the peelee and send the ball just SW of hoop six. Rush the peelee close to penult. Take off to one back make it with a rush back to the N boundary. Stop shot that ball to 3 back. Make the peel getting a rush to 2 back. This method was advocated by Cotter in his book Tackle Croquet This Way,and I'm fairly certain Keith Wylie favoured this approach himself. Both were very precise players. Antony Evans The stop shot in option (a) should not be too difficult, particularly if Dawson balls are used. If the death-roll peel to 2-back fails, provided the striker's ball is good then a second attempt going to 3-back is sometimes possible, where jawsing or better gives an easier finish than the delayed or straight double. There is also an option (c) which nobody has mentioned: rush to C3 after 6 (or take off after tapping H6 escape ball) and then send it back to SSW of penult, making for an easier peel after 1-back. However, you need to be certain of getting a good rush to 2-back; over-running is fatal, making this option very risky. However, it is easier to set up. The important point is to concentrate on getting a rush to 2-back and not be distracted by the peel. I should point out that I am a (much) less "reliable triple-peeler" than everyone else who has responded, so all the above could be legitimately ignored (as could most of my posts :-)). The best reason I have yet discovered for the name of the "death roll" was when I misjudged the pull completely and the peelee rebounded off the hoop, hitting my foot. Since I had not quit my stance under control this was, of course, a fault and end of turn. Truly deadly! |
Chris Williams Send the peelee down to 2-back leaving the hoop 6 pioneer near to hoop 6. Rush the peelee/'2-back' pioneer back to penult after 2-back giving yourself a 10% chance of a peel. If you are not in position for an immediate penult peel then set up for a delayed double, ie peeling penult before 4 back. David Maugham I'd almost always go for option (b), mainly because it's fairly rare that I get a rush into 3rd corner after 6, and even if I do, I have to have peeled by less than a yard for my stop shot to be able to get a rush on the peelee and get the croqueted ball to 2-b with Barlow balls. Putting partner to 2-b has the advantages that you generally are doing it from 10-12 yards closer and so are that much more accurate, and also there is the chance of rushing back after 2-b and getting the peel in then. If I have a rush towards III, then I will always take it, even though I intend to put partner to 2-b, there is no reason to play a take-off if you don't have to. If you go for the death roll option, then there should be no reason why you would not get the balls in position accurately, unless you don't go back to the peelee before 3-b (of course, just to contradict myself, here it might be worth playing a take-off rather than rushing the peelee back down to 3-b and croqueting it back again). Chris Clarke I believe that the keys to this are the accuracy of placing the 2-b and 3-b pioneers. Both are likely to be better with option b. As already stated, this gives you the chance to peel after 2-back and more importantly to get a rush out of 3-b. If you have a really good reliable stop shot and want to play line a, I would suggest placing your 1-back pioneers 2 yards south-east of 1-b to allow you to try the peel before 1-b if you play a few decent shots. However, if you are good enough to succeed with this option, you are plenty good enough to have completed option a. Robin Brown I go for option b almost all the time. Mainly because its much easier and safer. One or two other advantages are 1. You have a reasonable chance of rushing after 2-back to a position where you can peel or jaws at penult immediately. 2. You do not need a rush after 6 so your rush to 6 doesn't need to be quite so accurate. I find this relieves the pressure significantly. 3. After 1-back. You can place the escape ball for the Penult peel reasonably accurately before going to 2-back. this guards against failing to get the rush out of 2-back or if your 3-back pioneer is poor, you can rush to it after 2-back and get a rush on it while sending the peelee to penult. All in all, its just much cleaner and neater and the only disadvantage is that you forego the opportunity to peel penult before 2-back which is an unattractive proposition with a poor 2-back pioneer. And since you are sending your 2-back pioneer from corner 3 it is likely to be fairly poor. Edward Duckworth After years of persisting with option a, and losing many games as a result (duff pioneer at 2-back leading to giveaway of easy 4 ball-break for oppo with lift) I now favour (b). Only if lawn conditions are favourable for stop-shots and the peelee has just dribbled through would I go for (a) nowadays. Jonathan Kirby Ed is right, option (b) is safer and more reliable, and better in almost all situations. Option (a) means you get a chance at the death roll which gets the peel done early. This is only worthwhile if you think there's almost no chance of breaking down as a result of going for the death roll, and a good chance of getting something out peeling penult earlier. What you get out of it is a chance of peeling rover before 3b if you have a lot of control or are as good at long peels as Reg or a good chance to place the peelee very accurately for the straight rover peel. Neither of these are worth the associated risk for me unless the conditions are very easy and I'm playing well. |