Some urgent phoning required in order to get a team together due to the non availablilty of many of our team, Bob ( overseas), Des (injured his foot on his motor bike), Keith (torn shoulder ligament whilst jogging??) and Johan (flu). Fortunately we managed to call in a new Chamber member, Johan van der Merwe.
So a cold night at Chamber and up against Wits, who narrowly beat us in the first round.
Playing at #1 – Brian took out his revenge on a youngster who dominated the warm up, hitting numerous shots to himself before mishitting to allow Brian a chance. Took the first 2 games fairly quickly, then lost a bit of concentration to lose the 3rd. Rallied strongly and finished it off in the 4th. A good 3/1 win.
Playing at #2 – New member Johan up next, but struggled against the student youngster and a comeback to league after a few years break. Went down 0/3.
Playing at #3 – Paddy up against same opponent who narrowly beat him in 5 in the first round. Took the first 15/13, and then his opponent succumbed and unable to continue as sick. 3/0 win.
Playing at #4 – Finally John, trying to get at least one game to maybe force a count out on points. Fought bravely and was unlucky, as came so close to winning the 3rd game, but sadly lost 0/3.
So we lost by 1 game, final result 6/9.
Supper at a quiet Doppio, too cold, where John enlightened us on his recent hike up Machu Picchu, together with photographs. He then informed us that he is not available for next 2 weeks as he is hiking the Fish River Canyon in Namibia. Also invited Keith and I to join him again at Cathedral Peak in September, as we hiked with him there in May. Keith’s response that he has an option to have his teeth extracted that weekend, sans anesthetic, and this would be preferable than trying to keep up with John on any hike on any mountain. Not bad for a regular #4 10th league player.
Cheers.
Final result : 6 - 9