Terry took on Joshua Reynolds in Game 1 whose tricky serves and consistent attack shots took him to 11-6. However, Terry pushed him more closely in G2 to lose 13-11, with Terry winning some of his ultra-short serves. In G3, the rot set in and some of Terry’s failed smashes led to an 11-4 defeat.

John then took on Matthew Knapton, son of Mark, and John gradually improved to lose 11-3, 11-6 and 11-8. John is still regaining mobility and was caught out by a player over 50 years his junior. Still, John’s experience showed from time to time, with a promise of more to come.

Joshua Reynolds had designs on more wins against your Team Sec, and displayed a wide canvass of shots, winning 11-3, 11-6 and 11-8, painting a picture of a competent young player using subtle brush strokes with his bat. Does that show improvement by the defeated or Joshua going for his shots? We will never know.

Terry against Matthew was more balanced game, Matthew winning G1 11-8 and G2 11-4, as Terry started to miss more smashes. His lethal backhand flick started to work in G3, but it was not lethal enough and Matthew edged ahead to win 13-11. John had a bit more success against Joshua. He lost 11-6 in G1, but won G2 by 11-9. Again we had a young player, still at school against the much older John, still recovering mobility. His frustration surfaced with minor bat abuse (bats are a protected species), but he knows he can play at a much higher standard when his shoulder fully recovers. In the next two games, Joshua moved ahead to win 11-6 and 11-7.

Terry won his first game against the now-arrived Mark Knapton, who has developed a trade mark technique of tossing the ball high and inviting a smash. Those smashes worked quite well for Terry at first, but in the next three games, Mark showed surprising agility in returning smash after smash, then pushing his opponent to over hit, the equivalent of kicking a penalty shot into the crowd. He eventually won 10-12. 11-7, 11-6 and 11-7.

The Team Sec’s match against Matthew Knapton can be briefly summed up in the score: 11-3, 11-6 and 11-1.

Marks final matches were against John and Robin. It was a matter of who became the most frustrated. John went down 11-2, 11-3 and 11-3, and could not cope with this particular strategy. Surprisingly, Robin scored 10-12 in G1, managing to place some attacking shots beyond the reach of Mark, but it was a false dawn. Mark won the next two games 11-5 and 11-2, hunger and frustration finally reducing this writer to a quivering mass of jelly as he flailed his forehand at the sky-reaching balls of Mark.

 Robin