Sowerby 2 were reputed to have recruited an experienced Chinese player to their team, but it turned out he was an experienced Chinese restaurant attendee. We also had Terry A recovering from a bad cold which had kept him away from the Tuesday morning Table- Tennis-Pie and Mushy-Pea-fest which Alan had laid on for the Leeds contingent. Would he be able to deliver his usual high quality game whilst attached to a drip?

Again, as we have to cover 9 games, I will comment selectively. The first game between Terries Wassall & Allington, against Andrew Garnett and Jonathon Monaghan set a pattern which was roughly followed through the match. We knew we had to win by around 20 points per game. We had a shaky start, with our opponents staying too close and winning the odd fluke shot to take them too close for comfort. However, our boys concentrated hard to move ahead to win 42-21. Terry A & Robin Thomas created the right kind of lead in game 2, beating Andrew & Liz by 42-14. The combination of Terry W and your team secretary seemed the least reliable and they allowed Liz/Jonathon 29 points in G3. Jonathon achieved some good smashes while we tried to hold it together. At this point we were behind schedule, which stayed roughly the same in G4 which we won 42-22. G5 saw Terry A/Robin winning by 42-19 against Andrew/Jonathon. Again, after a slow start, it took time for Popps to pull ahead.

G6 saw a good start up to 7-0 for Wassall/Thomas V Andrew/Liz, but they pulled back and eventually Popps won by 42-19.

The 2 Terries probably clinched it (I mean the match, not each other) in G7, after a poor start but kept it steady to move to 42-11 after a bit of a collapse by Jonathon/Liz. Then we had the G8. After some key decisions on the global economy, Popps won by 42-18 to keep themselves on target for a famous victory. As we started G9, I noticed that Andrew’s T Shirt had a picture of Del Boy and the words: ‘What a Plonker!’ on it. I though this was a bit rude. Was he saying we were all plonkers? What is a plonker? Anyway, I digress. Terry and Robin knew they had to prevent Andrew/Jonathon from getting much above 20. This they achieved, 42-18. Andrew tried to throw us by executing some suicidally high returns, inviting the excitable Terry W to put away. He managed to blast a couple of balls into the stratosphere but by the same token, despatched enough with his fearsome forehand to take us to a great victory.

We won in the end by only 9 points, by 378 to 369. So, another good night for the handicapper. As usual, as with most matches not played against Panthers, the match was played in good spirit and Sowerby 3 returned to the wilds of Sowerby, wondering whether their homes had been vandalised by the horrendous hordes of hoodies who terrorise the village, content that they had fought a good fight, but had come across a team who for once had played it steady, with the unusual objective of merely keeping the ball on the table. It could be a winning strategy for future encounters.