The Match

Despite the meticulous "names out of the hat" planning by the Team Manager, of the 6 selected for Mens 2 only 2 could actually be convinced to play, cue frantic emails and the eventual arrival of the cavalry in the shape of Jez Simon Matt and Leigh

The Captain elect started proceedings by taking the bold decision to split his potentially best pairing to produce three even teams

First on were G&M using the winning combination of "as old as I feel" and "not quite past my prime yet" to ease to a very satisfactory 15-4, 15-9 win.

Meanwhile J&S having survived a pre match hangover test, realised they had rarely if ever played together. After a slow start  they eventually prevailed 15-13 before going on to show what they could do by winning 15-1

On the third court J&L went for the optically enhanced approach but having identified Debbie J as Penny during the warm up this tactic was always doomed. Losing the opening game to 11 quickly saw the new specs back in their case, clearly blurred vision was the way to go as they romped home 15-7, 15-2.

Score now 3-0

J&S took on the Barkers first pair and despite losing the opening game 10-15 gradually found rhythm and came away to win 15-12, 15-3.

J&L minus any medical accoutrements found the BB second pair to be just what the doctor ordered and raced to a 15-5 win. Buoyed with confidence they inevitably failed to capitalise but eventually, more by luck than judgement, got home 17-16

Score now 5-0 and match won !

At the same time G&M were in benevolent mood gifting the first game 6-15 to the BB third pair before deciding to play properly and drawing away to a 15-6, 15-2 win

The final 3 rubbers all went our way resulting in an emphatic but rather unexpected 9-0 win.

Well played all.

The Match

Round two of this years campaign and a remarkable 4 out of 6 of the selected team actually on show, just the lame and lumbago sufferer now missing.

With the Deakin boys back from their long summer break and Simon released from the Shakespeare Thespians following his triumphant performance in "The Triathlon - A Play in Three Parts" we were paired up and ready to go.

First on were G&B only to find the insider knew his stuff, his prediction that the EG first pair were "useful" proved right as they lost out 8-15, 11-15 despite much scampering about.

J&J on next and with Jez covering all parts like the proverbial jack-in-the-box we quickly won 15-10, 15-9

S&B having not played together for some while quickly adopted the "hit everything in sight" approach to record a 15-10,15-13 win

Score now 2-1 and J&J back on court to tackle the EG first pair, within the first few rallies Jez managed to test the resilience of human flesh when struck by goose feather quills as he powered a full smash into one of the opponents, cue a lengthy break whilst the opposition bathed their wounds. Buoyed up by the advantage that the EG pair were not exactly seeing the shuttle we pulled away to record a 15-5 win. The second game was initially much closer as but as the vision cleared for EG they began to see what was needed and won 15-8, the decider was again a hard fought affair but despite getting back into the game at 9-12 we were never quite good enough finally losing 9-15.

Meanwhile S&B were bludgeoning their way to a convincing 15-9, 15-6 win over the third pair to keep us ahead in the match

Not to be outdone G&B raised their game and with spring and élan from one matched with guile and luck from the other pulled out a 15-7, 15-5 win

Score now 4-3 and time for S&B to have their moment against the best of the EG pairs, the first game was all too quickly over and lost 7-15. Ne'er worry this only prompted Barry "Jaws" Deakin to show what modern dental surgery is all about as he proceeded to hurtle menacingly across the court ably supported by his partner to force the rubber to three by winning 15-8. Sadly all that testosterone must have drained the reserve tank and they only managed to score 3 points in the decider, good effort though...

G&B casually won their final encounter 15-7, 15-5 and with J&J also winning 15-8, 15-11 the match was over and we had won 6-3

Well played all and thanks to Jez and Simon for continuing to stand in for the selected but unfit.

The Match

Round three of this years season and our first away match, never an easy venue but on first glance at the opposition we felt we had an even chance.

Once again this was virtually the "only 6 standing" after frantic texts emails and old fashioned phone calls plus the inevitable last minute "I cant make it tonight". Somehow Graham cajoled Mahant to turn up at the eleventh hour, not sure what threats were involved or if money changed hands but thanks anyway.

The match got underway with G&R taking on the first pair, Roy was a little ring rusty after months out with multiple leg injuries caused by pond dipping and air conditioning draughts. There was plenty of effort but they were never in real contention losing out

5-15, 8-15.

On the adjacent court J&J were quickly discovering that Jubilee were giving us a chance as the second pair were clearly the thirds in disguise, cue a rapid 15-5, 15-3 win

Unusually for Jubilee we had use of all 3 courts with new untried pairing of M&M gamely trying to over power their opposition. Mike did all the scampering whilst Mahant tried to go for subtlety for a while it looked as if they might succeed as they forced the rubber to three but in the end they were just short losing 3-15, 15-11, 8-15, if only .....

All back on with M&M finding the Jubilee first pair to be just a little too good, whilst G&R dug out their history books to show how they used to play winning convincingly 15-2, 15-4

J&J were by now playing the pretend third pair and finding out why M&M had not found it easy losing the opening game 7-15, time for a change of tactics with tight net serving and all out attack proving a lot more effective than clear after clear after clear. Eventually they pulled away to record a 15-8, 15-7 win.

Score now 3-3

M&M knew the importance of their final rubber and not to be outdone won at a canter 15-2, 15-3 to put us 4-3up and needing to win one of the last two matches for victory. All eyes were on G&R as they eased ahead in the opening game (13-9 at one point) only to suffer the inevitable reversal as the game swung back to Jubilee and they lost out 14-17 !!! I blame the debate over the "it went through a hole in the net" which we lost. After that the impetus slipped away as they lost 9-15. Come on lads you must learn to win those crucial on court arguments no time for being nice there's a match to be won, this is a professional era you know and its Jubilee ........................... !!

With one eye on G&R as above J&J were almost willing them to win whilst not really concentrating on their own match despite this they were ahead in both games and could / should have made more of the opportunities but in the end we went down 11-15, 11-15.

Cue much disappointment all round as this was a match we should have won given that Jubilee had one below usual strength pairing.

The Match

The first three rubbers were all on but far too quickly G&M were back off having found their opponents a little too used to the conditions !, J&J redressed the balance winning in double quick time 15-2, 15-4 whilst M&S were just not able to adjust to the plastics in their opening game where they failed to bother the scorer, the second game was an improvement but not enough to avoid defeat.

The next round of rubbers proved more successful with J&J winning a close encounter 15-11, 15-14 benefiting from a lively debate over the issue of calling non shots, followed by a see saw 15-1, 13-15, 15-9 win by G&M over the second pair. M&S having got used to the conditions put up a good fight against the Whitestone first pair in the opening game before losing 9-15 but were not able to make best use of the shuttles described by Yonex as “precision designed and manufactured to provide accurate flight performance they closely approximate the fast recovery, peak & drop and flight trajectory of feather shuttlecocks” and I thought they were plastics that fly like a demented gosling ….. suffice to say they lost the game to 3 with the technological marvels that are not feathers.

Score now 3-3 and all to play for.

All the final rubbers went to three with M&S and G&M getting close to winning before they both lost out 13-15 in the third, damn all that effort to no avail or words to that effect as uttered by the league chairman !!!

J&J started well against the first pair winning 15-9 and were in contention in the middle game before losing to 10, the decider seemed to go on forever but not with us winning many points.

Final score 3-6 and too many if only moments.

Thanks to Mahant for once again being the last minute substitute.

The Match

A comprehensive victory with new pairing of Roy & Mike leading the way by only conceding 11 points in three rubbers, impressive!!

L&J managed to give away that many in their opening game as Leigh didn't quite reach the heights of Wednesday's triumph reported earlier today not helped by his partner playing drive shots out of court in rapid succession.

Veteran pairing G&C "rolled back the years" to cruise through their rubbers with the Chairman giving a rare glimpse of his power game, good to have Chris back albeit held together by elastoplast and only able to play in short bursts before going for a quiet sit down in the recovery room. Well played both.

With the score already at 5-0 in our favour by 8 o'clock it was a somewhat one sided encounter but played in very good spirit by the opposition who never stopped trying, nice to see a couple of youngsters giving it a go. As we all said to them they at least stand a chance of improvement whereas most of us will be lucky to manage more than the ability to turn up on time....

Thanks to Mike and especially Leigh for making up the numbers.

The Match

Arrived to find the hall bedecked for the festive season, shame they had to turn the heating off but the indoor icicle display was most impressive ..... yes it was cold, damned cold but at least it kept the shuttle in court.

With the luxury of the same team for consecutive matches the standard pairings were chosen to do battle and the curtain was up on the BCBC winter spectacular complete with all the usual characters, not sure about Roy's interpretation of the panto dame a cross between Dame Edna and Eric Morecambe is not at all what you expect.

With only two courts available we were underway, G&C came off second best against the EG first pair losing to 6 before making a spirited comeback eventually losing out 14-17. On the adjoining court L&J won the first game to 10 after generously giving back a 7 love lead and then with a change of tactics by EG trying to keep Leigh out of the game had a tight second game before scrambling home 17-15.

Time for R&M to carry forward their recent form, the opening game was full of eastern promise and following much scampering about with dire threats from Roy along the lines of " good defence is all well and good but not how to win" or other words to that effect they eventually crossed the finish line 15-13. The second game was much better judged as they romped home to 7 and became the only ones to beat the EG third pairing.

C&G plus L&J now back on and determined to keep warm by playing the "long game" as they both went to three. L&J eventually came up lame as their pantomime horse ran out of oats in a titanic battle against the EG third pair eventually losing to 8 in the final game after much sprawling about the court with the front and back portions trying and failing to work in unison. Luckily G&C had better fortunes and despite the Chairman's failed attempts at adding acrobatics to his game eventually prevailed to win 15-8, 12-15, 15-12.

R&M were by now back on against the first pair and really looking the part as they astounded the audience with magic tricks claiming a most impressive win to 3. Having woken the EG sleeping dragon they then had to endure the inevitable backlash and so it proved as a complete turn round saw them lose to 2 and 1.

Score now 3-3 and with courts now available we were all on at once, first to finish were R&M comfortably winning to 2 and 10.

All we needed now was to win one of the final two rubbers, the spread betting had G&C as favourites to overcome the third pair but as is often the case the form book was not reliable. Despite much effort and costume changes they were just not able to find  a way to win, even the sudden appearance of Chris modelling the Central Sports leotard was not enough to put the opposition off as they lost out 12-15, 10-15.

Score now 4-4

L&J were meanwhile having a battle royal against the unbeaten first pair with Leigh even resorting to self harm as blood dripped from a self inflicted head wound, the opening game was never ours but somehow we hung in there to scrape a 17-16 win. Cue the inevitable as expectation mounted and we both stopped playing, at least I did, just don't ask Leigh about the merits of the back hand clear..... we lost to 2 !!!

The whole match now hung on the final game with dark mutterings from Leigh resounding in his partners ears we were off and for once almost playing to a pattern serve, lift, smash, serve, drop, clear but not necessarily in that order. Still it seemed to work as we reached 8-4 and changed ends ahead, with Leigh almost into superdrive and despite the inevitable collision with the hard surface generally known as the floor we persevered with the "I'll clear it and you can do the rest approach" to pull ahead. The final point was an absolute dream with the shuttle absolutely buried into the court amidst jubilation from the BCBC contingent.

The Match

New year and all to play for, just a question of winning the next six matches and the cup was ours, easy really.

After the novelty of fielding the same team for two matches in a row it was back to the usual routine. Roy away in Romania practicing his kissing of female hands, a local tradition apparently, for a country that bred Vlad the Impaler it seems unlikely but apparently true. To compound matters Chris had not recovered from the festive spirit and was out of training although apparently “in season”, make of that what you will.

Time for new young blood in the shape of Jonathan and Matt S to make up the numbers.

Match underway with the Uni-boys on first based on the completely false reasoning of the Captain that they usually played as a pair, not to worry with the arrogance of youth they quickly worked out what was needed to record a solid win to 12 and 11.

Youth and gnarled experience up next plus the added bonus of Mike’s x-ray specs to guide them, G&M just had enough to see then home against the EG second pair in a long hard fought encounter that ended with an exquisite back hand drive drop glide miss hit from the Chairman to win 15-13, 15-10.

It was now time for the old panto-nag J&L to shed the festive disguise and take on the EG pair they lost to pre Christmas, no playing to the crowd this time as they won at a canter to 6 and 7 with barely a backhand mid court clear to worry about.

Score now 3-0

J&M back on and finding the third pair to be not as easy as anticipated before winning out to 13 and 5

Meanwhile G&M were putting in plenty of effort but just not winning enough points as they lost their opening game to 4, the next game was a far closer encounter but despite an encyclopaedic knowledge of the opposition it was not to be as they lost to 10.

J&L next up with Leigh deciding to only play clever net shots leaving his partner to inelegantly cover the rest of the court, worked well until we reached 12-0 and then we couldn't score a point. With the onset of fatigue normal pairs service was resumed and we eased away to seal a victory to 3 and 5 and with it the match

Score now 5-1

With the match already won J&L found the first pair to be rather un-energised and somehow recorded a rare win to love before over confidence cued the inevitable reversal but we hung on to win 15-0, 17-14.

To finalise the evening J&M completed a very impressive first match beating the EG second pair to 10 and 4.

Sadly G&M just missed out in the final rubber losing the first to 9, staging a spirited comeback to claim the middle game to 4 but then with most of the hall as an audience were not quite able to repeat the feat eventually losing to 12.

Final score 7-2

A good result that keeps us well in the hunt, just need to win the next 5 games

Thanks to Matt S and Jon for turning out rather last minute

The Match

Having just beaten EG2 we were hoping for an easier encounter this time and so it proved except for the doctors penchant for proving the Pythagoras Theorem whilst on court, what else can explain all that going to three …..

With tactics and availability the watchword the team was modified to give Mike and Matt S their first go as a pair with the welcome return of a rather damp round the edges Chris fresh from mopping up the shop following an indoor downpour, no flood damage sale apparently I only asked !! ….

In the absence of the scorebook I will mercifully not bore you with all the details but we got off to the best of starts with all pairs winning their opening rubbers despite J&M deciding to give their opponents a fighting chance by gifting the second game before returning to sanity to win the decider 15-2.

Score now 3-0

This rather set the pattern for the evening with M&M proving yet again that youth and speed has every chance of beating age and experience, despite a very tight 17-16 win in the second game of their opening rubber they went on to comfortably win the rest of their games.

G&C were all serenity and calm and even found time for a little on court coaching, “it’s your shot if you must serve there and it comes back!!” or Anglo-Saxon to that effect. Still it worked as they racked up the points to record a vintage 3 rubbers to love exhibition.

Sadly J&M were ploughing their own furrow through proverbial treacle as they boldly kept the opposition interested by giving up a winning 13-4 lead to go to three against the third pair and then managed to lose that as well 15-12. To maintain the drama, if anyone was actually watching, they also contrived to go to three one final time before finally realising you have to play to win and so they did claiming the final game 15-1

Final Score 8-1

Next match v Jubilee 4 at home on Wednesday 10 February, a match we must win to keep alive our chances of silverware !!

The Match

Very much a case of so near but so far as a patched up team failed to quite scramble the win needed to clinch the division. It was always going to be tense but from the off our lack of practice and it has to be said expertise with plastics was all too obvious !!

Jon & Matt led the way and despite the climatic conditions of the air con creating a decidedly cool draught they proved too strong for the OW first pair winning with youthful ease to 6 and 6. John & Mike took on the second pair in a never ending battle of clear clear clear, smash into the net, clear clear clear hit out of court..... you get the picture. First game lost to 10 and then dug in to threaten a turn round before missing out 15-14 with the last shot crashing into the net to turn an easy kill into disaster.

At the same time G&P were still getting introduced having rarely if ever played together, the resultant loss to 5 and 8 was not as required, you could tell by the Chairman's post match critique .....

Not a good start already 1-2 down

Jon & Matt back on and again showing that they play with plastics at Uni, a much closer rubber against the strongest of the OW pairs but were always just ahead winning out to 12 and 12.

J&M off to a solid start against the third pair but just not able to generate any power in a downwards direction and descending into another long drawn out "base line rally" which they were never going to win. Cue another loss to 8 and 10.......

Having sat off for an eternity G&P went for the long warm up and for a while there was a false dawn as they went point for point, sadly  not enough to salvage the desperately needed win, eventually losing to 8 and 9

Score now 2-4 !!

Jon & Matt finished their evening with an easy "retired hurt" win over the third pair to 11 and 3 when it was called off.

Down to the final chance saloon when only a win in both the final two rubbers would do, G&M played their best of the evening having finally got some idea how to hit the plastic thing even demanding a new shuttle along the way,  a good effort but finally just not enough despite being ahead for much of the second game, final score 9-15, 11-15.

Just left to John & Mike to restore a credence of respectability as they scrambled to a conceded 10-15, 17-14, "15-0" win as hall time run out but not enough.

Final score 4-5

Next match is Friday 12 March v Whitestone at home, a match we just have to win despite once again having only half a team due to unauthorised holidays and the All England ......

Thanks to Phil for standing in rather last minute.

The Match

With the Chairman checking out or is that chatting up the talent at the All England, the completely unauthorised holiday of the doctor with no medical knowledge and the purveyor of bumble bee outfits trying to make an honest buck, we were a little short of players for this one. Fortunately Leigh being unwell earlier in the week left him with a spare game and Andy agreed to return to competition many years after his last match.

Two thirds of the team were playing their 3^rd match of the week and having lost the other two attempts the omens were not that promising, but confidence was high that we could finally seal the division.

For such an important showdown the crowd was rather small and even they seemed to be “sleeping with the enemy” so much for home advantage……

The match set off with J&M tackling the first pair, this turned into something of a marathon with proper rallies and points hard to come by but eventually they made it to the finishing line winning to 13, the second game was the same but more in our favour as they won to 8.

On the adjoining court M&A were relying on instinct having never played a match together, but with Mike applying the power and Andy the finesse they cruised to a 15-7 win, as ever this woke the opposition up resulting in a more competitive second game but they hang on to win to 13.

On the third court J&L were snuffling and coughing their way around like a couple of ex miners buoyed up by Leigh’s dodgy internet Tami flu tablets, not sure why they were a strange blue colour inscribed with a V, where’s the doctor when you need him?  Anyway the opposition took pity on us and we somehow won to 4 and 8

Score now an unlikely 3-0

M&A now up against the first pair and finding it needed maximum effort, Andy contributed a number of perfectly performed swallow dives, not sure whether the floors were softer when he last played a match but he seemed to bounce back up without major injury. A very close opening game but eventually scraped home 17-15, as ever this led to the inevitable reversal as they lost the next game to 10. The watching crowd of two looked worried but needn’t have been as they eased away to win the decider to 7.

Meanwhile J&L were in generous mode as they gifted the Whitestone second pair a substantial lead, at one point being 8-13 down. Cue change of tactics to drop all the fancy clever shots and just hit the shuttle over the net, it worked as they scrambled home 17-14. Buoyed with renewed confidence the second game was quickly 14-3 in our favour and time for the champagne moment when a decisive net kill or concealed cross court drop shot would win the rubber and with it the division!! You guessed it we lose point after point trying to finish in style and eventually give up on the grandstand finish but do win to 6 and it’s all over …..

Score now 5-0

J&M back on against the third pair who began to get to grips with conditions, the opening game was closer than intended and attempts by Jon to coach his partner on court almost doomed to failure before they finally won 15-13. Normal service then resumed with a convincing win to 4.

J&L back on against the first pair for what turned out to be a very tight affair with both sides playing well in spells with a succession of long rallies before we eventually closed out the game 17-14. The result was in doubt until our calling of shots was not reciprocated and Leigh got a little hot under the collar and decided to test how hard he could hit the shuttle, hard enough was the answer….. The second game was equally contested but with neither side even contemplating calling shots we eased to a very satisfactory win to 10.

The final two rubbers were by now underway with J&M winning theirs easily to 5 and 6 whilst M&A went for the long way home against the steadily improving third pair but despite forcing it to three by winning the middle game 17-14 just missed out losing the decider to 10

Final score 8-1

Cue excited talk of presentations and much general hand slapping.

Well played everyone and special thanks to Andy for coming out of retirement to more than make up the numbers.

Final match is v Barkers away on 22 March safe in the knowledge that we now have an unassailable lead.