Henley 1st team whitewash Bicester
The Henley 1st team are still going strong after 3 weeks of the Oxfordshire Summer League. The other teams are doing less well …
Henley first team entertained Bicester and recorded a 5/0 (19/0) white-wash. The home team were far too strong for the visitors, who will struggle to stay in this league based upon this form. None of the Henley players were tested and all five matches were very one sided, with (1) Luke Power thrashing Ben Shakespeare 3/0, (2) Simon Street annihilating Nick Barnett 3/0, (3) Nyall Driscoll trouncing Chris O’Brien 3/0, (4) Stefan Stanton demolishing Simon Fletcher 3/0 and (5) Ed Hopkins pounding Jon Childs 3/0. Henley remain a strong fourth in division 1
Henley seconds travelled to Radley School to play the team previously based at Peers in Oxford. At first string Adrian Fawcus was too strong for Paul Sayers who despite a rally in the second game, succumbed to a fitter player. At second string, Derek Oswald who was drafted into the team at the last moment, could make no useful headway against Seb Coxon and won one game only. At third string the ebullient Ray Hessey, despite advancing years was too powerful for Steve Berger who lost 3/0. At fourth string Roger Booker went two games up against Terry Coble and in the third only needed to win three more points. However Coble recovered after advice from the balcony and went on to win a very competitive match 3/2. The only success of the evening came from Jill Campion who finally nailed a thrilling victory against the very determined Craig Muir. Henley 7 points, Radley 18 points. Despite this loss, Henley stay second in Division 2 by virtue of having played one game more than most teams.
Henley Thirds went down to a heavy defeat at Thame with Tim Budden having no answer for Nigle Biddle, new boy Kristoff Kunzmann could not match Ben Terry’s racquet skills and went down despite superior fitness. Chris Pullen had no answer for Malcolm Burr’s tricky game. In the one bright spot of the evening, Paul Ireland demolished Andrew Clark 3/0 and James Gildersleve only very narrowly lost to Ben Hedger. Henley 3rds 5 points, Thame 15 points.
Henley 4ths got white-washed 19-0 by Radley’s second team. Best performance was at second string – by junior Jonathan Betts who held a game point in his 3rd game, which if he’d taken it would have made his match (against Mark Newman) interesting. Henley’s other junior, Freddie Borg at 5th string, lost some focus in his 3rd game against Pete Collett, but showed enough in the first two games, that it won’t be long before he takes his first victory for the teams. Richard Griffiths made a welcome return to the Henley teams at 1st string, but went down to Angus Gardner-Morrison, who normally plays in the Radley 1st team in Division 2 – some long rallies and the Radley man seemed to be tiring in the 3rd game, but was good enough to shut out the match. Duncan Nightingale and Matt Blagg, at 3rd and 4th string, competed gamely but never really troubled their stronger opponents
The latest Oxfordshire League Tables can be seen here.
