|
|
 | Fixture Details | |  | | |
Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 4 | Simon Malcolm | 1 | Chris Sayer | 0 | 3 | 0/9 0/9 0/9 | | 6 | Dave Lewis | 2 | 'PJ' Rutherford | 0 | 3 | 8/10 5/9 4/9 | | 5 | Phil Mansell | 3 | Jerry Staffurth | 1 | 3 | 2/9 9/6 5/9 4/9 | | 7 | Paul Thomas | 5 | Mark Fleming | 2 | 3 | 6/9 3/9 9/6 9/5 3/9 | | 8A | John Flavell | 6 | Chris Morgan | 0 | 3 | 0/9 6/9 3/9 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 3 | 15 | |
|---|
| | | Bonus: | 0 | 5 | |
|---|
| | | Result: | 3 | 20 | |
|---|
| Report: | Chris Morgan looked crisp in his 3-0 demolition of John Flavell. A tennis player, Chris seems to have a longer reach than most when he is at his commanding best. He never lost control of the ‘T’ in spite of John’s neat shot-making.
Mark Fleming, back 24 hours earlier from hedging funds in China, was the captain’s gamble at 4. Having played the traditional Chinese game of ‘Hu’s on first?’ on the way to Woolwich, Mark found it was he who was on second. It may have been the jet lag, or perhaps he was just buying court time to get a sweat up; he nevertheless contrived to squander a 2-0 lead to Paul Thomas. Just as his team-mates were beginning to despair, Mark showed them all that they had misjudged him by crisply strolling the fifth with some of his better trademark volley drops and nicks.
Knole no. 3 Gary ‘I used to be a tubby’ Mitchell fell over on the way home from work, so had to stay home to wait for the Arsenal game, nursing some denting to his artificial hip. Jerry Staffurth, having been dropped for playing too often and with a ‘lady’ lined up at Poultwood, nobly swallowed his pride and agreed to step back in. Mentally, he was just about ready to beat recent father Phil Mansell, who had just come back from six weeks of nappy changing. Phil battled gamely to take the second but had forgotten to keep sharp during his break. Or maybe it was lack of sleep.
‘PJ’ (don forgit my apostrophes) Rutherford, has been pumping iron to try to recapture his lost youth and prepare for his eagerly anticipated return to the heady heights of Div 2 next time. Unfortunately, with his shirt off, he now looks like a kid’s game of mixed up bodies – Madonna’s arms on Albert Steptoe’s torso. Still, his legs looked sharper than of late once he warmed up. His ‘one shot’ failed to work, possibly due to the cold courts – but everything else did. Dave Lewis gave him a good run for his money, but had no answer to ‘PJ’’s speed.
At 10 o’clock and with the traditional Waterfront dog hair and onion sandwiches getting colder by the hour, Chris Sayer was encouraged by a vociferous crowd to record his first Priory 27-0 whitewash. He duly did so, with some help from Simon Malcolm, who refused at least four open court winners when serving for his first point. It never came.
Waterfront captain Mark Baldwin turned up just in time to sign the match card. He needs to get out more, although he did manage to get the card in to Gary Barrett – his neighbour – long before anyone else.
Watch out Acacia Hall! Knole are intending to bring all their Tubbies out of cold storage next week for the title decider. John ‘nice but slim’ Creek will be exhorting his troops from the touchline, hoping to regain his position as team coach to top up the pension. The result will be announced after the Acacia appeal – probably some time in April – so don’t throw away your betting slips.
|
|---|
| Author: | John Creek |
|---|
| |  |  |  |
|
