It was eerily quiet on Wednesday on arrival at Chambers. It seems that everyone and their sister was busy getting their thumbs inked, leaving only a handful of us to keep the squash courts company. We weren’t necessarily looking for a two thirds majority (although that would’ve been nice), just about any majority would have done for the evening. Seems as if we were destined to fight this one through to the end though.
No. 1 Brennan vs Sven: Brennan was returning from a head cold and was looking for an easy game. Perhaps he was relieved that the match was limited to three games. Unfortunately all three went the wrong way. Sven was precise with his shots and his length was spot on. Brennan was never really in the game, but vows that the return leg will be a different story.
No. 2 Nigel vs Nolan: Same story as Brennan’s game with Nolan making a feast of my ineptitude. Any loose shot I playing (and there were many) was dropped with precision. This is one I hope to forget in all haste. It seems as if my run of bad form continues and will have to drop myself down the order for my sins.
No. 3 Phil vs Jason: Didn’t get to see this game because it was over too quickly, but by all accounts Phil was on fire with his opponent rarely getting past his serve. With the top order failing in spectacular fashion, Phil was there to restore some pride for us. As a special reward for his performance, Phil gets to be promoted up the order in place of a shameful number 2.
No. 4 Steph vs Gerald: Steph had to win this one 3-0 for the team even to have a sniff of a chance at taking the evening. But pressure is nothing to our Steph. Taking the first easily, there was a bit of a panic in the second, but he pulled it back nicely and then won the third game with some convincing shots. Good game to watch with Bryanston well aware that they only needed a single game to win the evening.
So now it was all down to points – I thought we’d lost it by the heavy losses at positions 1 and 2. But Phil and Steph had put in gargantuan performances and the end result was 6 games all and 143 points all. A draw. Maybe an appropriate result for Voting Day with no-one left out in the cold as a minority.
With all five courts to choose from, we had two matches being played simultaneously and the evening was done and dusted by 8pm. No supper because some of the players still had to vote.
Summary:
1. Brennan lost 0-3: 6-15; 12-15; 5-15.
2. Nigel lost 0-3: 14-16; 7-15; 8-15.
3. Phil won 3-0: 15 -2; 16-14; 15-7.
4. Steph won 3-0: 15-8; 15-12; 15-9.
Final result :8 - 8
