Good results for 070’s 1st Team

The O70’s, now in the Premier Division had a lot to do to retain their position in the division.  The weekend comprised of three matches on the Saturday and three on the Sunday.  With the limited format and players allowed this would be a difficult job for the team.

The team this year comprised of 4 from the 2018 O65’s Winning team.  Lead by Captain, Paul Moss with Janet Pordage, Pam Barden, Gill Fairham, John Webb and William Brown, back from his imposed 1-year exile.  Also, in support and back-up was Martin Porgdage-whom I think was really only there for the social aspects.  Never saw him break into a sweat all weekend.  

On Saturday we started off against Devon.  We began with our Men’s doubles of John & William.  Usually, each match would start with a ladies doubles but as the opposition’s ladies had only just come off from a previous match, we decided to start with the Men’s doubles.   We had a rough start and trailed for all the game but took the first end 21-14.  The second end was taken by Devon and with a one-point difference going all the way through.  In the final end, we came out on top with a 22-20 result!  Our ladies then had a tough game taking the first end 21-11 but sat back in the second, but finally scraped a win of 23-21.

That was the match won but we still had our mixed pair of Janet & Paul to play. After a slow start we lost the first end to 17 then  grabbed the send 21-19 but ran out of steam in the third, losing  to  15.  A good start of the day and two more matches to play.

The next County was Surrey, which I did not hold much hope, knowing their team from the open tournaments. John & William lost in two, and our ladies fought hard with a three ender also loss. Our mixed pair also didn’t fare so well, and we lost the match 0-3.  The final match of the day was with Hampshire.  We lost the ladies doubles and John & William lost their first end but fought back taking the second and third ends. Fortunately, the opposition had an injury and had to concede the mixed doubles, giving us the match.  First day over with a 2-1 result.

Day two had the schedule rearranged to our advantage with an earlier finishing time.  Last thing we wanted was a three hour plus drive home in the dark. After the formal dinner, disco and light liquid refreshments the team met at breakfast for our first match at 10.30.  Our first match was against Lancashire, again knowing the tournament players in their team I did not envisage a strong result.    Our ladies took the first end but failed to keep momentum and lost the next two ends.  William & John fared less and lost in two.  Paul and Janet gave a good fight losing both ends to 18, against former north of England champion John Cocker and his partner.

Our next opponents were Kent, current title holders so we knew what to expect.  We had just beaten them at their home in the league, so we knew it was going to be hard, especially with only three pairs and no room for tactical changing of partners.    Our ladies had a slow start losing the first end but picked themselves up and took the last two ends comfortably.  Sadly, we didn’t do so well in the men’s doubles, losing two straight. This also was the same in our mixed game. 

Five matches played, two won three lost. Our last match was against Yorkshire who had been having mixed results like us, so all to play for.  Pam & Gill took the ladies quite comfortably and William & John had a tough fight taking the first end 23-21 after a slow start, and the second end 21-18, giving us the match. Janet & Paul were not so lucky, losing both ends quite badly.  Nonetheless we had won the match and our final score was won 3 and lost 3.

The results showed where teams had more tournament level players in their sides it gave them the edge.  We really should be promoting our older players to enter these events for experience and a way of raising their game. We need to be on the same playing field to keep at the top.

The two evenings were preceded with team bonding and liquid refreshment in the Captain’s room-which apparently was not 311.  Not sure what was going on there! The meals at the hotel were really good and in general the hotel was far superior to what we had experienced at the other venues. The courts were at the University and were good but had new LED lighting which was very ‘sparkly’ and many players suffered from ‘losing’ the shuttle.  The whole event was managed by Heather Crump, who I had known as a Worcester junior and later player for Kent.  She did a marvellous job of keeping play continuous with 34 separate teams competing across the 40-70 age groups. Making sure our score sheets were kept in order, Valerie Brown took the pressure off Paul by recording the results. The town had suffered severe flooding so access to the venue on Sunday morning was an exercise with your satnav and getting away from the venue on Sunday afternoon equally as challenging with various routes closed off and numerous diversions in place.

We got the final score sheet through in the evening showing that we had ended up 3^rd , which was a  respectable finish, even with Hants conceding games on Sunday.  Well played everyone and for keeping us in the Premier Division.