Evergreens demolished Popps 9-0 in the last encounter, and with 2 of our original team, and Robin replacing Dennis, a change in our fortunes was not anticipated. One of the problems with the Summer League is that some of the weaker Winter sides do other things in the Summer , such as going to naturism camps, working on fruit picking farms or as Butlin’ s Redcoats, which means that the ‘B’ Team is always going to up against stronger sides, which can be a bit depressing. However, we would do our best, even though we currently sit at the bottom of the table with no wins. Perhaps Terry would rediscover his previous bus-depot championship flair or maybe Tom would develop an ultra-safe, unbeatable defence? Some hope!
Evergreen’s Team was Mick Curry, Dave Lewis & Michael Higgins and in Match 1, Mick took on Terry Wassall, who started well with an early lead, but Mick’s steady play took him into a mid-game lead at 6-4. Terry’s mix of effective and less successful forehand attacks allowed Mick to prevail at 11-9. A similar pattern emerged in G2 and Mick started to connect more, moving him to 11-5. Mick has an interesting back hand with the bat looking like an upturned (non-stick) frying pan. It works quite well and he was able to increase the margin of superiority over Terry by winning the final encounter 11-3.
Tom executed some superb shots against Dave Lewis, but unfortunately, this was only during the warm-up! Once the game started, Dave tore into a significant lead at 7-0. Tom’s smash was not working (I thought you only had to add hot water to make it work: sorry is this a sports report or a cookery article?). Tom started to get back into the game with a couple of back hand flicks, but Dave had a better game all round to reach 11-4. Tom improved his performance in G2 and blows were traded to reach 6-6 at one time. Dave looks a bit like the rock singer Peter Gabriel, with a neat beard, although he did not reward us with a song. Tom squandered a back hand smash as Dave edged ahead. There were some good rallies, but Tom did not have the killer final shot as Dave made it 11-8. In G3, Dave executed some useful top spin lobs which took him to 4-2. Tom fluked one back but Dave moved towards victory from a couple of effective smashes and a bad one from Tom. Dave wrapped up the game at 11-7.
Match 3 saw Robin against Michael Higgins, who easily won 11-4, 11-4 & 11-2. Michael was wearing a woolly sweater which could have been knitted by his ancient grandmother, but it did not stop him executing a useful spin serve which confused his opponent. Robin tried to smash his way out of trouble, but to no avail. Dave Lewis then returned to the fray to take on Terry. Both started off with some looping top spin lobs. Both executed good smashes, but Dave was being more consistent and built up a conclusive lead at 7-1. Soon it was 9-1. Terry fluked a shot to reach 9-2, but Dave had no difficulty in easing to 11-2. G2 was much closer as Terry improved his % of successful smashes. It reached 7-7, but Terry missed a back hand to allow Dave to move ahead and he finished the game off at 11-7. Dave’s positioning of shots helped him move ahead early in G3 showing that it’s not just about force. At 5-1 a useful back hand got Terry back to 5-2, but it could not be sustained as Dave moved to 9-3. Terry staged a mini-recovery with some useful winners, but he also missed a couple to allow Dave to take this game to 11-7 to win the set 3-0.
Robin exchanged his pen for his bat to face Mick in Match 5 and surprised the world by winning G3 at 11-7; Mick won the first two, 11-6 & 11-7. Mick could have been having a senior moment or just wanted a breather, but for a few moments, Robin managed to make his serve work to good effect and he achieved one or two forehand winners. But it was not to last and Mick tidied up the last game at 11-5.
Michael Higgins then faced Tom and rushed into a 6-0 lead, even though Tom was playing well and sustaining some useful rallies. Tom fluked a shot to get on the score sheet and then started to get back into the game with better returns and more smashes. At 10-8, he could have turned it round, but even after this Lazarus-style recovery, he could not stop Michael from taking the game to 11-8.
At this point, it was possible to give some scrutinise to Michael’s serve which did not appear to be thrown up in the air from a flat hand. This could mean difficulty in spotting the direction of spin and perhaps he should be sentenced to 3 months at the TT Retraining Establishment where prisoners are savagely beaten if they cannot produce a legal serve. He moved to 5-1 and I realised that he was left-handed but seemed to use back hand where a forehand might have been more logical. At this time, I noticed that Tom is also left handed—Oh! the wonders of observational journalism. Anyway, none of this stopped Michael from streaking to 11-3. Game 3 produced a much better spectacle as they slugged it out to stay close with Tom leading for most of the game, finding some excellent fore hand and back hand smashes. At 8-5, could Tom pull off a win? Michael clawed it back to 10-10, it moved to 11-11, then 12-12, but in an anti-climax, Tom cocked up a serve to let Michael win at 14-12, a disappointing end to an exciting game.
We then pass swiftly through Robin’s encounter with Dave, which he won 11-5, 11-7 & 11-8. Robin won a small number of smashes and occasionally served to good effect, but Dave was too steady and was always in charge.
With he match well and truly lost, Terry met Michael Higgins, and in an excellent first game, Terry used a mix of effective smashes and sound returns to win 11-9. But Michael pulled his game together to gradually crush Terry’s resistance to reel off 11-6, 11-1 and 11-3.
Finally, Mick, wearing the designer track suit he has used since the 1980s, faced Tom. We saw Mick make a complete mess of a couple of serves; Tom responded but played well to move to 9-5. Was a win on the horizon? Well, no because Mick introduced a hitherto unrevealed fiendish serve which Tom took time to adjust to. Mick won G1 at 12-10. G2 also showed balance as Tom kept it to 6-6 at one point. But Mick produced a useful back hand smash to take the lead and finished off the game with a dynamic smash at 11-8. Tom had shot his bolt by the time we got into G3. He missed some back hands and Mick improved his percentage of winners to ease to 11-3 as Tom ran out of steam.
As usual, the game was punctuated by a large number of jokes and by short breaks as a number of players miss-hit the ball into the nearby court where our ‘A’ team was performing against Suma. Popps B all showed a degree of improvement, but finished the season without a win, reflecting the fact that the weaker teams tend not to appear in the summer league. Our opponents have tended to be more experienced and it has been easy to lose heart in the face of regular drubbings. But a degree of learning has taken place and indeed, we have to play against more experienced opposition to improve.
On a broader note, we are now getting geared up for the Winter League, when we will enter 2 teams. Terry Allington has kindly agreed to take over as Team Sec for the ‘A’ Team and will have to cope with the fact that Alan Woods has had to drop out for health reasons. We hope he gets back to full fitness as soon as possible and thank him for his support. Peter broke his leg earlier in the year and will need to get back to full fitness, as will John Taylor, so there will be pressure on the ‘A’ Team. Tom will handle the ‘B’ team and is recruiting some old contacts to return to the game. So we can look forward to an enjoyable league programme.