HG
Upstarts v Bulls
By The Dodo (Bullard)
Almost didn’t recognise the venue, they’ve painted it, very
bright. They’ve also done something
about the heating, last time I played there it was so hot I thought my shorts
were on fire. I assume their heating bill
must have had something to do with sacrificing a considerable home advantage.
First up, yours truly.
A little apprehensive as it was my first game of the season – fit but
untested. My opponent was Nick, who had
a haircut uncannily like Bart Simpson’s, and only looked a little older. Started off reasonably well, but soon found
that Nick was very quick (Quick Nick, I guess).
About 3 or 4 times I played a perfect drop shot, but he still got them
back.
First game see-sawed a bit, but
lost 3-0.
On the next court was Natalie, didn’t see the game, but it
didn’t bode well when we met at the water fountain after my first game and she
was already 2-0 down. I asked her
afterwards what happened, and she said she “had been looking at leaves through
a microscope all day”(?)
Lost 3-0
The Camel was on next, made a slow start (no surprise there),
and lost the first game to a young, thrusting Darren. I’ll come back to this later.
Jim was playing Mark Mellett. Mark bears a striking similarity
to two yards of tapwater and was feeling a bit peaky due to running a half
marathon. Mark has two killer shots,
returning a lob serve and waiting till you think he has left it too late before
playing it back down the wall, both of which he used to great effect against
Jim. However, Jim gradually worked out
that Mark was reluctant to move more than two steps in any direction and
started to make progress with useful drop shots. His big chance came in the third game when he
was 8-2 up. Unfortunately,
uncharacteristically inconsistent play meant he let the chance slip through his
fingers and lost 3-0.
Meanwhile, the Camel was now 2-1 down and just warming
up. I don’t often feel sorry for
opponents, but this was torture to watch. Relentlessly plodding. You could see it coming, as inevitable a trip
in a hangman’s cart.
Big Pig was up last, playing Ross Baker, a big slippery dude
who liked to play cute shots. Ian’s orthodox power game looked solid enough,
but didn’t really pose any difficulty to the tricky Mr Baker. There were a few
occasions when a simple drop shot by Ian would have been enough, but his drive
kept letting Ross back in. A close third
game and I think he had game ball, but he just couldn’t close it. Lost 3-0
Meanwhile, the Camel had triumphed! 3-2, what a win. Darren was seriously miffed. All that work and nothing to show for it.
A disappointing night for an under strength Bulls. Things can only improve. Come back Trevor.
John Bullard
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