Always a bit of a lottery with the traffic when travelling to the east – this time we were lucky and hit relatively smooth flow. And we got two courts to play on, no less so things were looking promising before a foot had even been set on court. Most of the Jeppe 7th league was familiar to most of our 7th league team with players from both sides having been in the 9th league last year.
After missing the last two weeks and getting a few “slack captaincy” comments, I decided to get on court first and restore the natural order of things. I was up against Anton “the Deceptor” and to tell the truth, I don’t remember much about the match apart from his backhand crosscourt drops off the high shots that completely undid me. After I stopped lobbing to his backhand, things turned in my favour and I settled the match 3-1.
Next on was Phil vs Graeme “the Runner”. Graeme is training for the Comrades (when I played him last year he made me run a marathon one corner of the court at a time) and is generally not an opponent who you can outlast. Luckily, he’d finished a 50km training run over the weekend and Phil capitalized on his gammy ankles with some accurate squash. Good length and well timed drops were too much for Graeme and Phil took first place on the podium after a minor glitch in the third game which he lost despite a comeback from 0-8 down. So 3-1 to Phil.
Tom took on Detlev “the Grey” on the other court at the same time. This was a closely fought contest with the important points going to Tom. Despite doing his knee in the first game, he used some classic boasts befuddle his opponent and then dominated the T well to cut off anything loose. Detlev bobbed and weaved some to win the third game. Tom then cut down on his mistakes to close out the match. He tells me it’s the influence of fresh mountain air from the long weekend. I’m thinking we should bottle the stuff and use it in lieu of creatine. 3-1 to Tom.
Mark on for the finale against Paul. I made a squash faux pas by letting Mark know the evening had already been won before he played. Apparently he prefers the high pressure situations. Can’t accuse him of letting his guard down though because this was the best game of the evening and Mark wasn’t helped by the calls of the marker (me). The first game was impressive with never more than 2 points difference in the score. Unfortunately those crucial 2 points went the way of Paul who finally took the game 20-18. Next game saw Paul surge ahead to 14-8. Never-say-die Mark inched his way back in to 14-14. Again the crucial 2 points saw Paul go up two games. Mark was firing in the third game and was 12-7 up when dodgy tactics came into play. Paul “the Destructor” obviously needed a break ‘cause he snapped the head of his racquet. After a breather, Paul won 3 quick points to take the score to 10-12 before he needed another break and snapped the strings of the second racquet. Strangely, no-one seemed willing to lend him a third racquet and it was several minutes before one was tentatively volunteered. As far as delaying tactics go, this was proving an expensive one. By now Mark’s concentration had been obliviated and Paul went on to take the match 3-0.
Supper and drinks were downed at the local Primi amidst discussion on Graeme’s single handed effort to make the World Cup a financial success – he’s got tickets to 14 games and counting. The gauntlet for the return game was thrown down with a challenge by way of an interesting variation of a tequila shot, complete with tomato, tobasco and black pepper.
Summary
1. Mark lost 0 – 3: 18-20, 14-16, 13-15
2. Phil won 3 – 1: 15-8, 18-16, 11-15, 15-8
3. Nigel won 3 – 1: 16-14, 13-15, 15-11, 15-10
4. Tom won 3 – 1: 17-15, 15-13, 7-15, 15-12
Match score: 12 - 6
