With the Ladies at home to Winchester Ladies A team on Sunday, the Men’s Dees away against Basset D team, the Mixed 10 & Under at Totally Tennis on Sunday and Saturday’s scheduled Boy’s 14 & Under B team match at home to Denmead it was bound to be an interesting weekend.
With the late David Bowie’s words echoing in our lad’s ears they stepped out at 13:00 on Saturday to do battle with the best of Denmead Tennis Club. The late withdrawal of one Thornden player due to injury meant we were two rubbers down at the start – not that it would make difference by the end of the afternoon. Paul Scullard stayed on to watch and summoned young Freddie Swain to play in the doubles. So what happened? Nishant Talpallikar had an off day and didn’t really get going, losing 4-6, 2-6. Josh Overton put up a great fight but eventually went down 4-6, 6-2, 8-10: really tough to lose in the Championship Tie Break. James Overton lost 1-6, 4-6. So after the singles we were 0-4 down so the results of the doubles were academic. Nishant and Josh stretched the opposition to a 5-7, 5-7 defeat. James and Freddie took their first set 6-2, lost the second 2-6 and then fell apart to lose 2-10 in the tie break. So we fell to a disappointing 0-6 defeat so for them all “Time will crawl” seemed to be the epithet.
Out in the wilds of Bassett our Men’s Dees combined experience and youthful athleticism (no, I am not describing David Dunnett) to deliver a decisive defeat on the home side. Nick Masters & Tom Flynn blew away the Bassett #3s 6-1, 6-1, David Dunnett & James Ardley thumped their #2s 6-1, 6-2 while David Thomas & Will Flynn had a more measured win 6-3, 6-4 against their #1 pair. Second round of rubbers Nick & Tom beat their #1s 6-2, 6-4, David & James destroyed their #3s 6-0, 6-2 and David & Will beat their #2s 6-4, 7-6. So we were 6-0 up with 3 rubbers to play. Into the last round with me running out of superlatives: Nick & Tom trounce their #2 pair 6-2, 6-1, David and James annihilate Bassett & 1s 6-1, 6-2 and David and Will complete their trio of wins 6-2, 6-3 against their #3s. They could certainly have kept this up “Day in, Day out”.
Also out in the wilds the Mixed 10 & Under were being thumped by Totally Tennis. The result was 0-6 which hardly does any justice to really good performances all round from a fairly inexperienced team against highly level opposition! Sam Ardley as alwaysgavea very credible performance against a top rated girl losing 2-4, 2-4 in a highly entertaining match. Also playing was Sam Goodridge, Finley Scott and Harry Garton.
The Ladies were on court at 10:00 home to Winchester Ladies A team – so a challenge was expected from a formidable opponent. Again a combination of experience and junior firepower and energy were called into action but despite the enthusiasm shown by all the Glam Rock band could not put out the lights of the Winchester “A Team: but give them time baby! The opposition were very young and faster than our team. Abby Morris & Frankie Colling started with a half, 6-2, 5-7 in a really tight match against their #3 pair. Julie Kelly & Lydia Kelly had no such comfort being thoroughly thumped 0-6, 0-6 while Christine Johnson & Anne Cole managed two games in a 2-6, 0-6 loss to the #1 pair. Second round of rubbers had Abby & Frankie losing 4-6, 2-6 against the #1 pair, Julie & Lydia winning a tight match 6-2, 7-5 and Christine & Anne losing 0-6, 0-6. In the last round Abby & Frankie sorted out the #2 pair – well not so much sorted but made their life difficult as they lost4-6, 1-6. Julie & Lydia had no answer to the onslaught of the #1 pair losing 0-6, 0-6 but Christine & Anne came away with a win 6-2, 6-4. There was quite a bit of rain towards the end but the match was completed when they retired to a nice warm clubhouse for hot soup, rolls with cheese and home-made cake. Yes the ladies can do something well!!!!
The last scheduled event after the Glam Rock stars had finished was a performance by the ELO – no, not the band, the Electric Lock-fitting Orchestra. Led by Mark Welby the band delivered a faultless set playing all the greats – “Angle Grinder Rock” followed by “Any drill will do” and finally “A snug fit will stay”. Yep the first new combination lock was installed on the main courts, with a few finishing touches to follow. The new code has been sent to you all by email – the mini-court’s code is still the same – the year of the first “Live Aid” concert.
Next week: Saturday the Mixed As team is away to Totton C Team, the Boy’s 14 & Under B team are away to Winchester. The Girl’s 14 & Under are scheduled to play Winchester and the Ladies are away to Warsash on Sunday.
(OK so did you find the Bowie songs in there? Three hits from one Album –Never Let Me Down: a 1987 Dave Bowie hit which included “Time will crawl” and “Day in, Day out”).