A RIPPLE of polite applause signalled the end of another match, and Keith Aiton looked worried.

Croquet Tests are made up of 21 individual matches, and in the Nottingham Test that ended yesterday, Great Britain had finished day four in the lead, 10 matches to five. For the Kiwis to win the Test, they would need to win all six final-day matches.

By 4.30pm, they'd won four.

The tension was heightened because this wasn't any old match; the Test was a MacRobertson Shield clash.

"This tournament is more a test of nerve than almost anything else in croquet," said Keith, who plays his club croquet for Nottingham.

This year's shield takes place within the context of a 17-country world competition. But for the four MacRobertson sides – in addition to Great Britain and New Zealand, Australia and the US traditionally compete for the shield – this is the pinnacle.

The four sides cross mallets every three or four years, and it rotates between their countries. It last came to Britain and Nottingham in 1996. Before that, 1974.

The 2010 Nottingham Tests have taken place in less-than-ideal conditions at the croquet club nestled between University Boulevard and the lake on the University of Nottingham campus. While matches have not been rained off, the pitch has taken a lot of water. In croquet terms, that makes for a slower, less skilled game.

In addition to a ball that simply rolls more slowly, you also get hoops that sit more loosely in the earth. Hoops stuck into dry, rock-hard earth do not move or give, forcing players to play careful, skilled shots. When it's wet, it is easier to just muscle the ball through the hoops.

"Then it just becomes a slogging match where skill goes out the window," said Charles Jones, president of the World Croquet Federation, who is in the country as manager of New Zealand.

The Nottingham pitch, he said, hadn't made it to that stage – and in general it's an excellent, well-tended ground – but it was slower than usual.

As the day wore on, Chris Clarke patrolled the perimeter. As a player for Team GB he's been among the world's highest ranked players, but persistent back injuries have forced him out of competition.

He now lives in New Zealand and his wife, Jenny, plays for the Kiwis. She was taking on British captain Keith later in the day. (There's no gender segregation in competitive croquet).

But as he talked about the match, he used the word "us" when talking about the British team.

Like any injured sportsman, he made it clear the sideline was no place to be.

"It's a lot easier playing," he said of high-pressure times like yesterday. "There's nothing I can do when I'm sitting down."

Another British player waiting his turn later in the day was Rutger Beijderwellen. Originally from the Netherlands, he moved to England "to follow a croquet dream".

Rutger's got a unique method for dealing with pressure.

"I like imagining a perfect spectator," he said. "It'd be a female spectator, very attractive; knows nothing about the game; and while I'm playing the only thing that matters is that I look good."

This spectator doesn't know if he's winning or not, only if he's playing attractive strokes and looking calm or flustered. This, Rutger said, helped him concentrate on playing the sort of strokes he needed to, and not letting his opponent see him occasionally get frustrated.

With Great Britain leading 10-9, Rutger played MacRobertson Shield veteran Greg Bryant, while Keith played Jenny in the other.

Rutger and Greg battled into the evening, but in the end it didn't matter. Jenny looked poised for a time to score an upset, but in the end Britain's Nottingham captain saw the home side to victory.

Nottingham club member Rob Edlin-White said it was a remarkable ending to a great match.

"It was a very nervy game and a very nervy match towards the end," he said. "A very nervy day."