Great news from the outer reaches of gamma 4. Mens 3 won against Barkers Butt 7-2, much helped by the guidance and strategy of Yoda "get it over the net and ******* in"

The evening was sadly marred by trouble when Paul had to retire with groin strain. After much pleading with his team mates he had to rub it himself and go home. Where is the team spirit of old ?

Captain zlog

On the night :

At the last minute I convinced Harry to play, thanks Harry.

All turned up but not the heating, it was freezing!

Jon & Ben won 15-5, 15-11 and 15-1, 15-1 and 15-5, 15-4

John & Bharat won 15-8, 15-9 and 15-5, 15-8 and 15-8, 15-10

Harry & James won 15-7, 15-4 and 15-8, 15-6 and 15-1, 15-4

Conclusion

It was a good win, well played by all.

On the night :

8 pm, Ernsford Grange and plastics!

With Paul and Simon unavailable and Ben busy, John and Phil kindly agreed to play. Graham came to cheer us on or to check that we turned up!

Jon & Adam powered through their games 15-1, 15-1 and 15-0, 15-1 and 15-2, 15-1

Phil and James narrowly lost the opening game 14-17, won the second 15-9 and looked good to take the third when Phil took a very heavy fall, twisting his ankle badly. After a lengthy interrupt, the game continued but was lost 12-15.

John & Mahant won their opening game 15-7 and 17-15, but despite winning the opening game of the second rubber 15-7 then lost 11-15 and 5 -15

Phil bravely agreed to try and play the second rubber, and despite advice, still ran around on his painful ankle. However, the effort paid off and won the rubber 15-3 and 15-9, clinching the match as Adam and Jon had already finished their 3 rubbers. Having done enough, Phil and James conceded the last rubber as Phil wanted to be able to put his shoe on, the next morning.

John & Mahant went on for the final rubber, and injury struck again. Mahant took a very bad fall, twisting his ankle. After a lengthy interrupt they continued but lost the game 11-15. Mahant then sensibly called it a day and they conceded the last game.

Conclusion

It was a good win with Adam and Jon playing consistently well and the remainder of the team doing enough despite the injuries.

Before the match :

The first challenge was to get a team!

With Paul injured, Simon and Jon unavailable and Ben - I’ll let you know tomorrow, it left only Mahant, Adam and myself as playing.

Phil H. was injured, Bharat unavailable, but the day was saved when John, Graham and Roy kindly agreed to play.

I assume that Ben didn’t ring, because either he’d left his phone somewhere or was busy thinking up a witty voicemail to replace his existing one. – ALL OF YOU PLEASE CALL HIM – IT’S REALLY FUNNY!

On the night :

Roy & Adam played well in their first two rubbers 15-8, 15-12 and 15-9, 15-7 but then started slowly in the third rubber, losing the first game 10-15 then winning the second 15-11, and narrowly missing out in the third losing 12-15 from 12-12.  

Graham and Mahant lost their first two rubbers 5-15, 4-15 and 11-15, 4-15 but really gave it a go in the third, taking the opening game 15-6 before losing 6-15 and then being edged out 11-15.

John and James lost their three rubbers quite convincingly 9-15, 2-15 and 8-15, 3-15 and 3-15, 2-15.

Conclusion

Thanks to all who played, we were well beaten by a better team.

An evening that is best forgotten.

Pre-match :

7.30 pm at AT7 for Graham, Mahant and Simon, while logistics issues delayed the rest of us until 7.40 pm. Phil failed a late fitness test on Wednesday night and couldn’t play, even though we found his glasses after 4 weeks in my car!

It was the first game back for Simon since his illness. John and Graham again stepped in to fill the team, thanks.

Graham and Mahant lost the opening rubber against the no 1 pair 15-3, 14-4. They then lost the second rubber 15-7, 15-1 with Graham pulling a calf muscle.

Due to the injury they conceded the final rubber.

John and Simon surged into a 15-1 opening win, losing the second 15-4 and were just edged out 15-12 in the third

In the second rubber they did it again, winning 12-15 before losing 15-2 and 15-12.

The match was lost before their last rubber, which almost run out of court time but was lost 15-10 and 15-5

Adam and James played their opening rubber and it lasted hours (or felt like it), but won it 14-17 and 12-15. The second rubber came far too soon and they lost 15-11, 15-6

The last rubber’s opening game was lost 15-5 as James was still recovering from the earlier exertions. In the final game, AT7 built up a lead 14-6 before Adam and James had a real go. This took them to 14-12 when AT7 judged Adam’s smash to be just out! We held the first serve but lost the next point, game over 15-12.

Conclusion

Plastics and their home advantage were a factor, but the scores do not reflect the closeness of the match.

Luck, scoring or slightly better play could have given us a 5-4 defeat, which would have been a fairer score.

It was good to have Simon back and I hope Graham recovers quickly.

Pre-match :

In a moment of madness after convincing Barry & Ben to play, I thought there was a chance that I would not have to ask Mens 2 to play.

This illusion was shattered when Graham emailed me to state that Adam had played too many times for Mens 1, to play anymore for Mens 3.   I then had the ludicrous thought of them helping Mens 3 out to resolve the problem they had caused but Mens 1 were playing on the same night, so back to ringing around again. Mahant & Graham couldn’t make the start time, Simon was working, Jon was unavailable, Bharat did not pick up.

Club stalwarts, Phil, Harry and John agreed to help me out, thanks.

First round:

In the words of John, “we didn’t turn up” and lost the rubber in two.

Barry & Ben started well winning the first game, lost the second, but then getting edged out in the last game, lost by two points.

Phil & James “didn’t turn up” for the first game but edged the second and then won the third convincingly.

2-1 down

Second round:

John & Harry turned up and won.

Barry & Ben had a go but lost to the number 1 pair.

Phil & James didn’t turn up and even though Barry & Ben had softened them up, with the earlier 3 games, lost in two games.

4-2 down

Third round:

John & Harry delivered.

Barry & Ben delivered.

Phil & James delivered but it was not good enough against their best pair, and lost in two.

Game over lost 5-4

Conclusion

It’s hard to remember the scores when you have given away the score sheet!

A big thanks to all for their support tonight. It was a game we could have won! It was a game we should have won! But we just didn’t play well enough, so we lost!

The good news for all, is that this is my last match report, as I can’t play the final fixture. Hopefully Graham will get a team together, good luck! A win and an interesting match report would be a double bonus!

Last match of the season and where's the captain for the rousing speech to the team ... relaxing on his hols in Jordon.

1st round of rubber

Started a bit late with a concerned Roy sitting on the bench awaiting half the team, Jon and Ben arrived and following a frantic call to discover Mahant driving round Nuneaton looking for the rest of the team. Roy offered useful advice of 'we're in Bedworth where are you?' After a quick pep talk from Roy 'I've played too many match so my games don't count, you just have to win all yours', Phil and Simon went on as first pair, after a rather slow start in the first game managed to come through in two 17-15, 15-2. Jon and Ben breezed through their game 15-5, 15-7. Roy and Mahant went on to complete the rubbers winning 15-8, 15-5.

2-1 up.

2nd round of rubbers

By this time the team had got up to full steam and went on with Phil and Simon finishing 15-2, 15-5, Ben and Jon 15-5, 15-4 and Roy and Mahant 15-2, 15 -8.

4-2 up.

Final set of rubbers went our way with Phil and Simon winning 15-8, 15-4, Ben and Jon being pushed harder by the first pair to 15-8, 15-13 and Roy and Mahant showing their style closing out the match with 15-5, 15-1.

Conclusion

A great end to the season leaving the team mid table, a reasonable result over all.  Thanks to everyone who played on the day and for the team.