10th LEAGUE vs Southern Suburbs
Southern Suburbs was always going to be the biggie – the test to see whether we’d be ending the first half of the league at the top of the points table. And then there was the additional strain of playing a team from the deep south – they’re a bit different over there…
No. 3 Nigel vs. Duane. Okay, so he looked a bit average in the warm-up and I thought he was going to be one of those guys who comes out of nowhere with some amazing shots when the game got underway. Not so much – he continued with a fine display of mediocrity and made it easy for me to wait for his mistakes. It also helps when your opponent can’t return much from the back of the court. So three quick games later we were off to a good start.
No. 4 Paul vs. Garrett. Here we were a bit nervous. Paul hadn’t played for about five weeks and the team watched with trepidation to see what effect the lay-off had had on his legendary fitness. Firstly, an explanation: Paul’s fitness is legendary not so much for being in league with the Iron man crowd as with the SAB crowd. He seemed to be hitting the ball pretty cleanly though and only just lost the first game 9-7 after it see-sawed both ways a couple of times. From there on he mixed up some sublime squash (confusing his opponent Garrett several times and leaving him shaking his head) with some absolutely shocking shots (leaving Paul shaking his head and having stern conversations with himself for playing like a ****). Alas, there was no comeback despite some entertaining rallies and Paul went down in three.
No. 2 Phil A vs Ockie. Now it was even in games, but Phil had been in superb form during Monday night’s practice so it was going to be a certain three games for us. Didn’t start that way in the first game though as Phil got a couple of points and then watched his opponent take the rest. He got his running legs on for the next three games though and picked up every drop that Ockie played, throwing in some nice, tight shots for good measure. So he cruised to a victory by leaving the opposition with very few options.
No. 1 Tom vs Dilin. Tom got stuck in playing some good shots hugging the walls and sending the ball into the corners. The first game was always going to be Tom’s. The wheels came a bit loose in the second game though, and some loose shots and unforced mistakes cost Tom. Dilin’s fist pumping after his second game comeback didn’t help him in the rest of the match as he began to tire. Tom cut down on the errors and shut Dilin out.
A good result for us in the end – hopefully Suburbs do us a favour in the next game when they go up against Old Eds who are next on the log below us. Two long weekends in a row are unlikely to help our game though…
1) Tom: 3 – 1
2) Phil A: 3 – 1
3) Nigel: 3 – 0
4) Paul: 0 – 3
.Final result 12-5
