It was a long trip at the start of what proved to be a long night.  The Needingworth oldies, who gained promotion last year were taking on a relegated Market Deeping Mixed B team in a potential mouth-watering spectacular.   

John and Jane (affectionately known as the 2J’s) faced off against a very competent and steady Helen and a young Kristian who not only served fizzers but could produce groundies as well.  In a fast paced 1st set, in which the ball visited every part of the court, the 2J’s were just pipped 6-3.  Unfazed by the pace, the Needingworth pair set about the business of steadying the ship and negate the power of Kristian.  By producing just all-round solid shots and being careful to get everything back, the 2J’s finally wore their opponents down and reversed the score by winning 6-3.

Meanwhile, Nikki and Jim, who were up against Debbie and Duncan had only one thing in mind, and that was to try and take at least one set to give the team a chance.  In our case, it wasn’t so much fast paced as just exhausting.  The slower balls produced the angles so there were lots of running to gain the points – worth it though, as we got the 1st set.  By contrast, the second set was one-way traffic.  Jim had a love affair with the net, with every net cord going his way and Nikki came into her own and popped her volleys away at unplayable angles.  Job done, the 2nd pair triumphed to give Needingworth a 3- 1 lead.

The second rubber started off badly with Jim being broken straight away and in a blink of an eye, Needingworth found themselves 4-1 down before clawing it all back.  With Needingworth leading 5-4, Kristian found himself in the unusual position of having to play out 20 deuces on his serve before securing the game.  No worry, dependable Nikki stepped up, won her serve easy and with a quick break of Helen’s serve secured the set.  In the 2nd set, Kristian’s serves got longer and longer, and it was Needingworth that went to a 4-1 lead.  The opposition started to claw back, but once again, Nikki’s volleys proved to be too much for them, and Jim served it out to win the 2nd set and guarantee an overall win, regardless of what was happening on the on the other court.

However, we didn’t need to worry, the 2J’s were just too good for their opposition and from the laughter and hilarity coming from the court, it was clear they were enjoying their time on court against a pair that hit the ball more sedately than their previous opposition.  Besides, when has anyone seen the pairing of John and Jane not play well.