Henley Veterans win again
Another win for the Veterans was one of this week’s highlights which also saw wins for the 1st and 3rd teams. More details below.
In round nine of the Oxfordshire league, Henley first team missed their opportunity to take a clear lead at the top of the division whilst away at bottom placed Chipping Norton. Whilst Henley won the tie 4/1 (18/4), they had to concede one string from a winning position due to a technicality. Losing this 1 point means Henley remain joint top, as Abingdon also managed to get 18 points against Oxford Brookes.
At fifth string Stef Stanton beat Michael Pinfold 3/0. Despite Pinfold’s superior fitness, he posed little threat as Stanton controlled the rallies with ease and picked winners at his leisure.
At four, Sam Carr started slowly, losing the first game to Josh Forde. Carr focused upon his width and length more at the start of the second game and won the next three games fairly easily.
Simon Street beat Ben Pinfold 3/0 at third string in a one sided match.
Equally as convincing was Harry Carr’s 3/0 demolition of Daniel Keitley at second string.
This left the tie perfectly poised for a maximum 19 points, which looked assured as Luke Power took a two game lead and had numerous match balls against Darren Rix at first string. However, Rix dug deep to take the third game tie break. Whilst leading 2/1, Power had to concede the match as Chipping Norton ran out of court time, caused by Power’s lateness. With only ten points separating the top four teams Henley hope this error won’t be costly at the end of the season.
Henley’s 2nd team hosted Shrivenhams Defence Academy 2nds on Tuesday. At 1st string James Quinn lost to a hard hitting Darren O’Sullivan 1-3. At two, Paul Sayers beat a trick Mike Hyland 3-1 and James Knight came back to beat Neville Buckle 3-2 at 3rd string. At 4 Derek Oswald lost to a very strong Jon Morris 0-3. At five, Terry Whiter lost to a fast running Brian Bell 1-3, leaving the match score 8-16 to Shrivenham and Henley mid table in Div 2.
The third team visited Oxford Brookes and came away with a 16 points to 8 victory thanks to the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings. At first string Nigel Richardson was rusty and had trouble with George Taylor’s consistent hitting. Despite his normal running game, Richardson was let down by his drives with too many hitting the tin when he was not under pressure. Roger Booker was worn down by Helen Knowles and the hot court conditions losing 3/2. Steve Berger played his normal ebullient game which was too much for the up and coming Duncan Callaghan with Berger winning 3/0. Jill Campion had too much skill for Gavin Tarrant and was not much troubled by the warm courts winning 3/0. Alan Smallman beat Ben McKeown 3/2 by playing his normal disruptive game, despite finding the courts too warm.
The 4th team played at home against Brackley who are mid table and were hoping for a good result which in the end eluded them as Henley went down 5-0.
Duncan Nightingale, playing at fifth string against Andrew Rogers, ran into some improved form and took a game out of a very fast and mobile opponent before going down 3/1. However the shine was somewhat taken off when his opponent – who looked like he was in his mid to late fifties – revealed after the match that his true age was 67!
At 3rd string, James Guildersleave lost 3-0 to an ex Zimbabwe under 15 female no 1, Michelle Knight. Although she was much prettier James nearly managed to take the second game before losing 3-0.
Paul Ireland, at second string, had the closest match of the evening, eventually losing 3/2 having been down 1/0 and then up 2/1. Both men had similar styles and movement around the court which led to some long and exciting rallies.
At 4th string Jonathan Betts, who has come up through the Henley juniors club, was playing Paul Jennings who proved just too strong for Jonathan winning 3-0 but it won’t be long before that result will be reversed.
Chris Pullen plying at 1st string played Alex Bensley. Chris not playing at his best was clearly beaten 3-0.
Separately, Roger Booker was asked to fill in for Oxfordshire over 55s team over the weekend and beat his opponent from Suffolk 3/1 in a hard fought game. Unfortunately, Suffolk have a strong team, including the world best player over 55 and despite Trevor Cox also winning, the team lost the match 3/2. Oxfordshire did win the match later in the day against Shropshire, thereby coming second in the tournament.
Henley Veterans maintained their position in Division 2 of the Berkshire Veterans League with a 3/2 victory over Greenacre at Newbury.
At first string, Jim Lynn (an Irish International player) had a tough game against Fiona McLean (a Scottish International) with Lynn’s superior strength eventually overcoming fierce determination, running and skill from McLean with Lynn winning 5/9, 9/1, 9/5, 9/3.
Trevor Cox had a tough match with Phil Thomas who went ahead 2-1 before Cox’s consistent stroke play wore down Thomas with Cox winning 7/9, 9/5, 5/9, 9/2, 9/1.
Roger Booker’s game with Dave Wallin was decided by who could deal with the warm court the best and Wallin won 9/2, 9/4, 9/0.
Steve Berger played his normal running game and mixing in some outrageous drops from the back of the court finally overcame Trevor Howard 9/4, 6/9, 9/1, 9/5.
In a difficult game, Chris Pullen held game point in the first game but could not quite get over the winning line and could not get close in the next games losing to Martin McAuley 10/8, 9/3, 9/3.
The Oxfordshire League Tables can be seen here.
The Berkshire Veterans League Tables can be picked up here.
