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 | Fixture Details | |  | | |
Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 1 | Chris Sayer | 6 | Scott Sumner | 1 | 3 | 6/9 9/7 7/9 6/9 | | 2 | 'PJ' Rutherford | 10 | Matt Covey | 0 | 3 | 8/10 0/9 1/9 | | 4 | Tom Candy | 11 | Tony O'Reilly | 1 | 3 | 0/9 9/5 3/9 1/9 | | 5 | Jerry Staffurth | 16 | Alan Hawes | 3 | 2 | 9/4 1/9 6/9 9/7 9/6 | | 7 | Mark Fleming | 18 | Peter Lewis | 3 | 1 | 9/7 8/10 10/8 9/5 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 8 | 12 | |
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| | | Bonus: | 0 | 5 | |
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| | | Result: | 8 | 17 | |
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| Report: | Still reeling from their harsh treatment at the hands of Knole’s talented veterans in the Summer, Bexley’s Barnstormers (the team formerly known as Pete’s Pixies) arrived bristling with bravado.
[Actually, they don’t read the website, so it was just another game to them.- ed]
Former Pixie ‘PJ’ knows most of his former Bexley ‘mates’ inside out; it was therefore a shock to discover that they had acquired a new number 2 in Matt Covey, who seemed oblivious to ‘PJ’’s reputation. Having been warned to expect fireworks, he may have been shocked to be faced with the new mild-mannered, obseqious ‘PJ’. It didn’t show as Matt just edged a tight first game 10/8. JJ, marking, kept a firm hand on the proceedings and ‘PJ’ kept a lid on his alter ego. He couldn’t control the groin gremlins, though. As ‘PJ’’s ‘niggle’ tightened, so did Matt’s control on the match. Without a murmur of excuse, ‘PJ’ succumbed 0/9 1/9 to a very classy opponent.
Jerry Staffurth was having a ding-dong with Alan Hawes. Slimline, hard-hitting Alan looked likely to last the course better, but Jerry showed true grit in hanging on and keeping his game together. At 1-2 down, he had to pull out every ounce of reserve to edge it in the 5th.
Brainstormer Tony O’Reilly (once the Leaping Leprechaun) had been resting himself at number 3, but looked fully recovered from his life-threatening groin injury sustained during his Summer slugfest with Chris Sayer. He toyed with Tom (The Rock) Candy for a couple of games, before easing away with his customary smooth rackets skills and unruffled hair.
Meanwhile, Mark (let’s see if I can cut a line of plaster just above the tin with the ball) Fleming was frustrating Chief Beanstalker Peter Lewis. Two close games of tin/no-tin came first; with nothing to choose between the protagonists. But, wait! What was this? The Phantom Groinstrainer strikes again? Peter could hardly move from the ‘T’. Only Mark’s unerring ability to hit the ball back to him or below the newly-cut cut line was keeping Peter in the match. With the balcony shouting ‘he’s injured’ after every point, Mark managed to get two more up than down in the third and eased ahead 10/8. By now, PL had become a grumpy grizzly bear, prowling around at the front of the court cursing himself. Or was he cursing the Groin Gremlin? Either way, the growls were not enough to prevent Mark from levelling the tie 2-2.
The deciding match saw fashionably portly Scott (Mr Lobber-Lobber) Sumner take on the rapidly returning to fitness Chris Sayer. These two had managed to avoid each other in the Summer and KP were keen to see how their champion would fare against the master of the slow ball. This was a really enjoyable tussle, with Chris trying every bum-sliding, nick-diving, lob-smashing trick he knew. The amount of energy Chris put in to trying to smash Scott’s lob serves back was bound to take its toll. Even a touch of the grizzly bear sulks could not put Scott off though and he always looked like the winner. No giant killing win for Knole this week, but hope for the future.
A late supper was sparse fare (well below Knole’s usual standard) and disappointed the hungry. The only bad note in a close and enjoyable encounter.
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| Author: | JJ |
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