Must be summertime now,  because it cold, wet and miserable and the courts were so slippery, Torvill and Dean would have felt at home performing their Bolero routine. 

With a later start than usual, 3 of the Shelford 2nd team players managed to successfully circumnavigate the A14 and arrive on time to take on the cream of Needingworth’s more senior players. Sadly, the cream curdled slightly as despite some excellent play by the Needingworth pair, Colin and Jim were dismissed 2-6 in the 1st set by the excellent pairing of Jeff Scripts and Nick Tait.  At the start of the 2nd set, Needingworth rocked Shelford by skating into a 4-1 lead, producing some great tennis and forcing errors from their opponents on the way.  Unfazed, the Shelford pair re-grouped and methodically eked away at the lead and finally won the set 4-6.

With Nikki and Sue’s match against Wendy and Annie starting even later than the men’s, it was always going to be a tight affair to get the match finished before “light’s out”.   Didn’t see much of the 1st set but did hear an interesting discussion about the score. As it turned out, it may have been a pivotal point as Needingworth lost that particular game and eventually the set 3-6.  Skipper John, who poked his head through the gate to watch proceedings, disappeared back home, no doubt fearing the worst.  More fool him – our ladies are made of much sterner stuff than that.  Solid careful play and the ability to successfully shut out the opposition's concerns and expletives about the court gave Needingworth a lifeline by winning the 2nd set 6-3.  Well done ladies.

With Sue and Jim taking on Annie and Nick and Nikki and Colin taking on Wendy and Jeff, the mixed matches were always going to be interesting.  Despite losing the 1st set, it looked like our ladies were stronger than theirs, but their men were stronger than ours. 

The tactics were a bit obvious, play on the women whenever possible.  That worked for us, because  Sue showed no fear and relished all the top spin that Nick could produce and calmly played it back to – you guessed it.  With a 1st set 6-1 win under our belt, it was onto the 2nd.  With both teams using the same tactics, the Shelford pair settled and at times were unplayable, taking the 2nd set to a tie-break.  Fortunately, Needingworth won it 7-2 and with a quick shake of the hands, Sue dashed our guests to the pub to secure our tray of chips.

On the dark court, it was a really tight affair with Colin and Nikki managing to grab a 1st set 7-5 win.  The second set was brilliant to watch with some awesome baseline rallies and even better winners (along with more concerns and expletives from Shelford about the court). 

With the scores delicately balanced at 5 all and everyone skelping the ball so hard, it was pleading for mercy – the lights went out.  Fiddlesticks.  After much  friendly discussion in the pub over a beer, Needingworth claimed the last set on the basis that the match had to start on time to get finished before the lights went out