A change in the weather this week was prophetic of a change in our run of victories. As the storm clouds gathered in the east, so our campaign to stay at the top of the log was to take a battering. That being said, the Jeppe team that we played against was very sharp and we’ll have to step up a gear in the second half of the league season if we want to win this thing.
No. 1 Phil vs Shaun: Phil was recently promoted to the top of the pile following his impressive form. But using this as a litmus test of his new position may be a little unfair. His opponent, Shaun, was a killer player. Phil’s game looked good in general and if it wasn’t for his forehand finding a constant beat and rhythm in the tin, he might have squeaked in with a win. As it was though, his forehand was less reliable than the Metrobus service. His match was interrupted by a thunderstorm of biblical proportions – probably one of the few times when inclement weather has affected a squash game. The interruption wasn’t because of a flooded court though, it was just that the players couldn’t hear the marker through the cacophonous cloudburst. On resumption of play, Phil put up some stern resistance to get a game, but then the match slid out of his grasp.
No. 3 Nigel vs Graeme: In much the same way as Phil was promoted to the number 1 spot, I was demoted to a ranking more befitting of my form. The guy I was playing runs 40km a week as part of his general fitness regime. Fine then, I wasn’t going to outrun the man. Once I’d gotten over the idea that any kind of cross-court shot was suicide with this ex-tennis player, we had some good rallies and all of the games were close. Luckily, the majority went my way and I came out ahead with only a six point difference between us.
No. 2 Brennan vs Paul: Brennan had changed his shoes, his strings and been on holiday since his last league game, but none of it did him any good as he was blasted away in three quick games. I didn’t get to see the match, but Brennan told me he was abysmal – quote, unquote. I have sympathy with his plight because I was destroyed by the same player in our league game last year. So it was three nil down and not looking good for the evening.
No. 4 Steph vs Detlef: It was all down to Steph in the end to see whether he could win the match 3-0 and give us a chance at winning the evening on points. Unfortunately, he went down in the first game and after that it was left to pride and the fact that Steph had fought his way through traffic to get to Jeppe and then walked through hail to get to the courts. So there was no way he was going to let this one slip past him. He demolished Detlef in the next game, but then lost the third only to cruise through the fourth game. A five setter it was and Steph pulled through after a tight final game.
But we were left in the loser’s corner and had to settle for a good dinner at the local Primi courtesy Jeppe.
Summary
1. Phil lost 1-3: 13-15; 11-15; 15-6; 8-15.
2. Brennan lost 0-3: 6-15; 8-15; 7-15.
3. Nigel won 3-1: 15-11; 16-18; 15-13; 16-14.
4. Steph won 3-2: 13-15; 15-4; 12-15; 15-5; 15-12.
