Dan writes:
With Capt Tim off to Manilla for a week of work commitments, I took the arm band for the above matches.
The season has see-sawed from several severe thrashings at the hands of Aylesbury A & B, Berko and Tring and a few close matches vs the lower teams, so as the business end of the season approached we were perilously close to the relegation zone.
Cometh the hour cometh the men….
We had drawn 10-10 with Booker earlier in the season when Chez went AWOL to Cyprus so surely with a full team of 4 we would take the victory? With a strong team of Dan, Chez, Trev, Mike we were confident and rightly so as we all won through the singles 12-1. Chez was up against a spiky Bok at 2 who was their best player but despite his protestations he was well marshalled by Chez’s all -court game and Mike as ref. The doubles was another story however… Quality singles does not translate into guaranteed doubles wins. Chez and I losing 0-2 and Mike Trev 1-2. So a satisfying win 13-5 but more was expected.
Ready for match on Friday 5th I scrabbled around for players for the re-arranged fixture v Booker. Out of courtesy I put in a call on Thurs lunch just to check the match was on and Booker’s capt very abruptly told me they could ‘never get a team out on Fridays’. Thanks for the notice!
For Berko at home on Mon 8th (who had stuffed us in the away fixture) Jonny Machin dusted off his short bat, and together with Dan Chez and Mike we were up for it in the 30’ heat. Berko turned up slightly weaker than expected and as we were slightly stronger a close match was anticipated. Jonny played a young buck at 1 whose reputation was fearsome but in practice he was not up to much – more of a no4 than no1. JM coasted to an easy 3-0 victory. I played Mark at 2 who had been playing 1 most of the season and had a humdinger. After an hour we were at 2-2 whilst the other players had already completed both their singles and doubles. Despite letting a 2-0 lead slip I reduced the error count in 5th to win a close game 11-9. Chez had another great game against Dave their racketball coach who is as broad as he is tall but Chez showing great control and athleticism to win 3-2. Mike at 4 also had a close game, playing Nick who moved well and hit the ball with great aplomb. At 1-1 Mike pulled his calf and the errors crept in losing a tight match 1-3. So at 10-7 on to the doubles. Thankfully Berko were as unco-ordinated in the doubles as we were. Jonny and Chez winning 2-1 and Mike and I scrapped through a close match 11-9, 12-10 : 2-0. Finally a doubles win plus the match victory 14-8.
Last match v Booker (if they bother to turn out!) on Weds 10th and a win should see us finish mid-table.
Dan
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