‘B ‘Team achieves first win 9-0!

Sowerby 3 finished 2nd in Division 3 last year, so our team approached this fixture with a degree of apprehension. However, we know that teams change their personnel and in addition, we had John Taylor, covering for a poorly John Mitchell. So if John could get us off to a good start, that might inspire Alan and Robin, both currently needing a win to bolster confidence.

John delivered as promised, beating Liz Whitely 11-3, 11-4 and 11-2, where his spin serve wizardry caused problems for Liz. He repeated this pattern against would-be broadcasting legend, Jonathan Monaghan, 11-5, 11-3, and 11-5. Jonathan produced some successful attacking shots, but struggled against John’s experience. Finally, he despatched Martin Grace 11-6, 11-3 and 11-6. Martin stayed in the last game after John missed a couple of smashes, but the result was never in doubt.

How would Alan and Robin perform? Alan played with great steadiness against Martin to win 11-7, 11-7 and 11-9. Martin surged into a lead of 5-0 in G2, but Alan hauled him back patiently. The final match was balanced throughout, but Alan moved ahead with confidence to tie up the match. Alan against Liz Whitely was the most dramatic event all night, Liz winning G1 14-12, after a ding-dong battle. Alan broke back confidently to win 11-5, and 11-6, but in G4, she produced some good smashes and helped by a couple of well-timed flukes, won 11-9. Alan remained focussed in the final scrap, and charged ahead to win 11-3, winning the match 3-2.

A man with a mission to obliterate his last year nil percentage in the rankings, Robin steamed into his match with Jonathan with a vengeance, having been destroyed so many times in the past. He won 11-0, 11-1 and 11-4. It was similar against Martin: 11-1, 11-2 and 11-4. Liz provided much more resistance and Robin had to think on his feet to sustain the pattern of wins. Some use of back spin helped, plus a more patient approach, waiting for opportunities to attack, and the result was: 13-11, 11-7 and 11-7.

The match was played with a high degree of humour and sportsmanship, with stories about rape and pillage in the old Norse stronghold of Sowerby and John expounding on choice of rubbers to our visitors. This was purely to do with covering bats, you understand. Without being in any way patronising, we explained that today’s victory was the first for the ‘B’ team and that as Alan Dickinson has said, it takes a season or two of league play to get the hang of things. When we return to play at Sowerby, we will not be complacent, as players can improve rapidly with greater experience. We may need to take care in driving in a stormy winter night into the wild hills of Sowerby, where wild animals abound and even the natives can be strange, indulging in strange Norse habits and occasionally organising raids into neighbouring villages. You have been warned!