It will be interesting to see what is written in the match report for our less-esteemed 6th A team, but the fact remains that the bragging rights belong to us after our derby night showdown. Any disparaging remarks would certainly stem only from a bitter jealously and resentment on their part as they strive to reach the heights of the 6th B (in name only) team. Given that we were playing on 2 courts, I only observed two games – one of those being in the capacity of player. So, for the others I have used the game scores and poetic license to write the match report. Probably no more a work of fiction than usual, then?
Breaking the ice were Mark and George: First game was a bit of a warm up with quite a few mistakes, but it went to Mark so we were off on the right foot. Expecting George to be wheezing at this stage, Mark relaxed. Big mistake as Big George put his mark (bad pun) on the next game and swept to a 15-5 win. Bit of a wake-up for Mark, but he knew that George would be puffing now. Not to be – George hit some great length and had the drops pinpointed to cut off anything loose and took the third. Herculean effort from Mark now as he threw everything into the fourth game. It was looking grim at 14-11 down, but Mark pulls a wonder drop from the back of the court to regain serve and eventually win the game. So 2-a-piece: surely George would be on the point of a coronary now? Nope – it appears that the Saturday cycling and gym sessions are paying dividends as George eased out to take the match. Lost 2-3.
Simultaneously on the court next door were Gavin G and Louis with our complimentary marker for the evening - Dave. The first two games were tight as could be with Gavin taking both 15-13 and 20-18. So down by two and 6th B looking down the barrel. Louis had to shift gears and shift them he did. Next two games coming in with relative comfort to even things up again at 2-a-piece. Age/experience played it’s hand here as Gavin, who had been a bit shell shocked with the turnaround, tightened things up and forced some errors from Louis taking the last game fairly comfortably and bring the 6th A’s their second match. Lost 2-3.
Again on parallel courts, it was Bruce against Jacques and Nigel against Gavin B. It was crunch time for 6th B’s as we needed wins in both to stand a chance. First games on both courts went to the 6th A’s though. Uh oh, bragging rights were looking shifting in favour of the 6th A’s. We couldn’t have that happen. Second game with Nigel vs Gavin: Nigel gets well into the lead with a fair cushion of points. Then Gavin turns up the heat a bit and evens it up. Last push from Nigel sees him take the game 15-13. By all accounts, the same happened with Bruce and Jacques with the same scoreline. So, 1 all on both courts. Third game, Nigel races away with it and gets an easy-ish 15-7 game. Bruce does the same to Jacques with a 15-5 game. So, 2-1 on both courts. I see Bruce at the break and leave him with those infinitely helpful words of wisdom: “Let’s finish this”. Proved a bit more difficult in practise though – Gavin was making it a bit difficult by hitting a difficult length but extra legs carried me through in the end. As was the case with Bruce. 2 x wins at 3-1.
All done by 8:15 and it was off to the Dop amidst threats of a reverse of the results on the return match.
Overall result: Won 12 - 8
