{"id":1039,"date":"2012-02-18T10:42:39","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T10:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.henleysquash.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2012-02-24T10:39:40","modified_gmt":"2012-02-24T10:39:40","slug":"teams-2012-02-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.henleysquash.co.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/teams-2012-02-16\/","title":{"rendered":"teams 2012-02-16"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n16\/02\/12<\/strong><\/p>\n

Power Dad to the rescue!<\/h2>\n

Henley 1st team entertained Oxford Brookes and had a comprehensive 19 points to 1 victory, despite being short of players and calling up one team member’s dad to fill in!<\/p>\n

At first string, Rick Wetherall defeated Nelson Fung 9\/0, 9\/3, 9\/4. Wetherall was clinical and didn’t give Fung a chance to get into a rhythm, let alone start hitting some shots. An impressive victory against someone who has been training hard for this weekend’s Oxford varsity match. <\/p>\n

At 2nd string, Luke Power beat Jason Varrie 9\/3, 9\/4, 9\/3. Varrie was out of shape and couldn’t deploy his usual playing style – what is usually a hard fought match becoming a comfortable win for Power. <\/p>\n

At 3rd, string Nyall Driscoll beat Hao-Sum Yuan 11\/3, 11\/9, 11\/4 (point-a-rally scoring was used for this match – in Divisions 1 & 2 the players have a choice of scoring as PAR is used in National Tournaments in which they may play). Despite trying to lose the 2nd in a hurry to get back to training in Reading, Driscoll dispatched Yuan, who struggled to make the transition to 3 from his usual position at 5. <\/p>\n

Stefan Stanton beat Jim Lynn (who regularly plays for Henley Vets in the Berkshire leagues) 11\/4, 11\/7, 11\/9 (PAR). This was an exhibition master class. Stanton was too good for Lynn with no serve un-cross-court-volley-dropped, no angle of the protractor left unaccounted for; for good measure there was even a star jump over the ball…and that was from Lynn! This match was thoroughly entertaining. <\/p>\n

At 5th string, Henley had invited Luke’s dad to play and Goff Power made short work of George Taylor 9\/6, 7\/9, 9\/6, 9\/3. In this game of old guard vs young blood, and after hitting Taylor in the face on the back swing – fortunately not breaking his glasses, Power Snr showed the first year student who is boss. A close match had Power show his experience over a fit opponent, as he made the most of Taylor’s habit of staring at the front wall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Henley second team travelled to Wantage where they went down 3-2 on unusually cold courts.<\/p>\n

Paul Sayers lost to Rob Camden 2-3, with Camden exploiting his drops on the cold court. James Knight played his normal game of long rallies with some excellent retrieving by both him and Edward Westmacott before asserting dominance and winning 3-1. After winning the first game against Chris Latham easily, Derek Oswald lost a little concentration and eventually lost his match 1-3. On return from two weeks skiiing, Nigel Richardson was not his normal self, but dug in hard to take the match against Andrew Day to the fifth game. After a dubious no let call on a vital point, Richardson eventually lost the fifth and the rubber 2-3. Roger Booker didn\u2019t drop a point at 5 and won 3-0. Henley 11 points Wantage 14 points.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The third team were at home to University Club.<\/p>\n

Alan Smallman, still recovering from a nasty knee injury, had a tough 4th string match against a much younger and fitter opponent. Unfortunately, it was all over once Smallman’s opponent had worked out how to nullify his awkward return of serve, and he quickly lost 3\/0.<\/p>\n

At third string, Paul Ireland played Martin Stokes in a match with some fast and varied rallies. The University player won the first game 9\/7, but Ireland maintained the fast pace and with good retrieving won the second 9\/4. With his opponent visibly tiring, Ireland kept up the pressure to win the third and fourth games 9\/4 for a well earned 3\/1 victory.<\/p>\n

Both Jill Campion at 1st string and Chris Pullen at 2nd string lost their matches 3\/0, neither player having really got going. Henley did not field a 5th player, so lost the fixture 4\/1.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Henley 4th team, fielding a number of juniors and inexperienced players, travelled to Abingdon for a bottom-of-the table clash with their 5th team.<\/p>\n

Although eventually losing his match, 14-year-old Jonathan Betts confirmed his right to the 1st string berth with an impressive display against Max Booker (younger brother of Henley’s own Roger Booker!). From 2\/0 down, Betts took the third game and very nearly the fourth with some excellent retrieving and skilful deception. In the end, Booker’s ability to play drop shots from the back of the court was decisive and he won the match 3\/1.<\/p>\n

At second string, Duncan Nightingale was comfortably despatched by Jonathan Nash (making his debut for Abingdon) in straight games, albeit forcing some long rallies with dogged retrieving.<\/p>\n

At third string, Matt Blagg lived up to his usual billing with another close match, finally losing 3\/2 to Ian Dingwall. The key point in the match was in the second game when Blagg, already one game up, held several game points, but his opponent fought back to make it 1\/1.<\/p>\n

At fourth string, newcomer James Hopkins continued to impress in his second outing for Henley. Hopkins took the first game before being overcome by a wily and fitter Alan Gilmour.<\/p>\n

At fifth string, junior Freddie Borg made his debut for the Henley senior teams and played some stylish strokes, but was ultimately beaten in straight games by the more experienced Fay Morgan. But on this performance, we can expect to see more of Borg in the near future!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Oxfordshire League Tables can be seen here.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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