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| Report: | Both teams were almost at full strength and it was a competitive match.
First up it was Olly and Niall with Olly marching off sharply to 6-1 and it was looking ominous for Niall as he struggled to compete. Niall never quite got going and some strong drives got the job done for the 1st game. The 2nd game went much the same way as Olly took it to go 2 up. The 3rd was always going to be tough for Niall and he was struggling to compete again and very soon Olly had a commanding lead which Niall could not do anything about so Olly had it 3-0.
On the other side Greg was playing Mike and this one started off well for Mike as he grabbed a lead in the early stages but from 4-7 Greg managed to close the gap and move ahead all the way and won the 1st. The 2nd saw Greg fully in control whilst Mike struggled to recover from the previous game and very quickly it was 2-0 to Greg. Old Mike left after that, and the new Mike raced to a 7-0 lead in the 3rd but Greg worked hard to level and looked like he was on course for 3-0. Mike however was not done and he dug in to snatch the last two points to gain a valuable point for the team. The 4th saw Old Mike back on court, and Greg was always ahead and in charge and sure enough he won it 3-1.
On the other court Dave v Dave was order of the day with Dave looking for revenge from the 1st half match when Dave went on to win in 5 at Dulwich. Dave was in no mood to let the same thing happen again. Dave started off well until Dave got going. Dave had too much for Dave early on and his volley drops had Dave scrambling. Dave was too sharp in the 1st and he built up a commanding lead which Dave could not recover from so it was 1 nil to Dave. In the 2nd Dave got himself going whilst Dave struggled to compete and the odd handout and point here and there was not enough from Dave to stop Dave from winning it and levelling at 1-1. The 3rd saw Dave feeling more confident and seemingly working out how to beat Dave which he did 9-0. 2-1 to Dave. However just as Dave seemed to be walking away with it Dave made a comeback going 5-2 up in the 4th, but just as Dave was looking to level it up, Dave clawed him back and finished it off to win 3-1. [Mr Creek didn’t have the heart to mark any Daves this week after having to take one Dave to one side at Dulwich and show him the error of his ways with a number of diagrams illustrating how it was stroke and not a let as Dave had impeded Dave when on the T despite an almighty attempt to get away from the ball. Luckily Dave had learnt from that traumatic event, and did not cause stand-in marker Ian any bother.]
Next up were Ben v James and it was James who started the steadier building a quick 5-1 lead. Ben rallied to 3-5 before James shot off again. Ben was feeding James on the forehand and as soon as James saw the opportunity he would drop it into the forehand court and Ben was often out of position following a loose shot. James took the 1st. The 2nd started off like the first, and it was James who started the steadier building a quick 6-0 lead but Ben pegged it back to 5-6. Then just as Ben started to claw his way back in to it, James held his nerve and took the second 9-5. Ben was now splizing (new squash term) at regular intervals but this time it didn’t pay off. The 3rd was a similar affair to the first two, with no need for James to arrive on court with a new shirt. It saw James continue to play well as Ben struggled to find any consistent form. But he took a brief lead at 4-3 and Ben seemed to be on course to win a game. James rallied again and 6 quick pints made him the favourite at 9-3 up, which saw James close it out for a fantastic win.
The final match was Steve v Will and these two were so well matched that it could have gone on all night and it nearly did (although it wasn’t obvious at the start). The Anchor oven was warming up just as the gladiators went on court, but no one was interested in food with the 5th string boys on court in a deciding rubber - oh no mrs! ‘Stretch’ Harsum was all over Will for the first two gamesand an early night was easy to predict. Will was covering all four corners at a gallop, while Steve stood on the tee picking him off. The tall one won the first two without ever seeming to exert himself. Will must have wondered where the predictable (fast and furious) Alex had got to - having been assured that he would have the same ‘easy’ time of it as everyone else. Some words from the coach went unheeded, but the motivational giddy-up must have had some effect as Will steadily ground Steve down. The elastic arms didn’t stretch quite as much, and the lightning quick reflexes were waning. A couple of crazy rallies at the start of the 3rd and Will edged ahead. 0-2 in games and 3-1 in points isn’t much of a platform – so the gallery was still anticipating a painless death. 3-1 turned into 9-6, in spite of several foot faults and wild serves back to his own side of the court by Will. This was followed by a 9-2 and a big momentum shift. Will had been a walking dead from early in the second game, yet still breathed; and at 2-all was beginning to look like even money. At 10:00pm the alarm went off unnoticed in the clubhouse and the balcony were saying "Will’s dead"; no “Will’s alive!” at which point the squash gods said let there be life and so it came to pass that more squash was made available. By this time, Will was starting to make more errors (usually on service), yet continued to dredge reserves of Duracell energy up from the depths. A seemingly endless to and fro at 6-5 to 7-5 was but a blip on Will’s march to the line, as he won the decider 9-6 - just as we were all itching for a prolongation. And that clinched the match for Knole on the night. [Will, it was all down to you, in case you were unaware.]
The curry was ably warmed up by chef Barry and it was wolfed down in short order. Not the Christmas turkey that had been promised, but there were few tears. And for the first time ever, the Knole manager took more match fees by electronic means than cash.
Good luck to the Dulwich boys.
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| Author: | J John, Teide, Tenerife |
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