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Masters Head South
The South attracted 109 entrants at the bright and warm Broxbourne
Sports Club, just off the M25. There were 12 dropouts, including
your esteemed scribe, sounding even croakier than ever with a severe
dose of the flu.
The event was
superbly organised by Karen Lane with her right hand man, Vernon
George and the Club Staff who did themselves proud.
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NEXT:
Northern Masters, Pontefract,
06-08 Feb
ENTRIES
British National
Championships, Manchester,
11-15 Feb
ENTRIES
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The Mens’ O70
saw the welcome inauguration of one Woodliffe J to the
Regionals. The former World Champion, back from a serious illness,
took out allcomers to his crown, Vernon George, Malcolm Gilham and,
in the Final, Sussex’ Tony Seare, 9/3 9/7 5/9 9/0. John’s close
friend Lance Kinder avoided him by losing to Seare himself and had
to be content winning third spot from Malcolm Gilham.
The O65s’
was an eight draw and of
course local hero, ‘The Don’ Froggitt, refusing to play on
his own court, took out Nigel Belle who sounded awful and really
should have stayed home in bed. Full marks though for turning up
when obviously not well.
Len then removed Roy Bradley who had had a nail biter with Jimmy
Evans 4/9 10/8 9/3 9/8 (who called 9?) In the other section
livewire Humbersider Mike Clemson removed John Preston, sneaked past
Tony Clifford having been 4/8 down in the fifth, poor Tony, he will
be kicking himself, and then proceeded to liven up events and
quicken the home spectators heartbeats when he levelled the Final at
2/2. However, spurred on by his vociferous band of supporters, Sir
Len fought back to control the court and win his first Regional!!
Congratulations!
The O60s’
saw two Quarter Final fightbacks, Chris Ansell coming back from 7/9
7/9 deficit to overturn a fading photographer, fresh from a walking
week in the Lakes, one Geoffrey Howes Esq. Ansell got his volley
bearings spot on and easily took to the last three 9/1 9/3 9/2.
Next door England International Mike Taylor rocketed into a 9/2
9/3 5/1 lead over Martin Pearse who then struck gold to go 8/4 up
in the fourth. Matches between these two are nearly always nail
biters as Taylor levelled at 8 all. Eventually Pearse scraped it
10/9 only to immediately go down 0/6 and 1/7 in the fifth. So Mike
was understandably upset when he let it slip and Pearse pulled it
off at the final gallop, sneaking the last 10/8 to go into third
position in the points.
None of this meant much as the next day Barry Featherstone
took out Ansell. The surprise result of the season in this group saw
Larry Grover remove No 1 seed Howard Cherlin 10/8 9/7 9/3, the
latter realising a little bit too late it might not be his day as
Grover’s volleying overhead negated Howard’s legendary lobs. Grover
then removed yours truly, quashing the expected comeback in the
fourth game. However, it was probably a bridge too far, as although
Grover led 6/1 in the first in the Final, Featherstone upped the
pace dramatically to win 3-0.
The
O55s’ saw a draw missing the big names – Duckworth (saving
himself) Redfern (flu) Holmes (still lost in New Zealand), Judge
Goodrich (sentencing) and Limb (fine tuning up for the Closed).
However, the draw was very evenly matched. Steve Rudd blew his
chances by easily losing to Mick Broomhall 9/0 9/3 9/6
after the latter had removed No 1 seed Paul Reader 10/9 7/9 9/3
10/8, Barry Alder overturned Brian Hawkes 9/1 in the fifth before
going down to dogged Alistair Niven who had another 3-2 later in the
day with Phil Collins who retired injured in the fifth. Broomhall
though will fondly remember court 2 as his drives and volley dabs
and drops from his right and left hands – you guessed it, he’s
ambidextrous – edged into the corners at will and poor Niven was
given short shift losing 1/9 1/9 3/9 for the likeable Cheshire
player to record his first Regional.
The O50s’
saw a strong draw and what a
selectional problem our Mr Alexander is going to have. Two players
are virtually assured as they have racked up points ie Messrs Cowley
and Hardy, both succumbing here in the Quarter Finals, Cowley to
newcomer Jeremy Goulding and Hardy to injured fetlock, at 8/7 game
ball up against Duleep Adihetty.
The Flying Doctor Chris Harland ran through Steve Marshall,
Tom Burton and Goulding 3-0 whilst Peter Alexander, making a return
from injury, saw off Duleep 9/4 in the fifth. Alexander’s famous
stretch and back hand drop was enough to propel him to match ball in
the fourth in the Final with Harland, but the Yorkshireman stuck in,
saved at least two sudden executions and eventually steamrollered
through in their fifth. Alexander, along with Hardy and Cowley will
be in the 55s’ next season so it was a very creditable effort to
come so close against a ‘youngster’.
The O45s’
saw some action on and off the court. All early matches were fairly
perfunctory until Messrs Loach and Price met in the Semi Final.
Combination of a Marker who ‘explains’ and a player who ‘contests’
and the match lasted much longer than it should have done. All the
time Eamonn was quietly seething. Notwithstanding all this, it was a
superb match with Greg playing tightly and efficiently down the
backhand with his volley very accurate. However, one rally over all
others finished it and Loach, despite plenty of walkabout, hadn’t
the beans in the tin to retrieve it. Mighty close – 9/6 in the
fifth.
Next door Greg Pearman was efficiently murdering John
Cordeaux and at 9/2 9/2 7/0 suddenly stopped and stopped again.
7/0 became 7/8 and Cordeaux seemed the likely recipient of a
withdrawal. Somehow Greg won 10/8 and immediately had to lie down
with presumably low blood sugar levels. He felt better the next day
and gained his revenge over Price 9/5 9/3 9/1, to record another
Regional.
The O40s’
had a small draw of 8 heralding the return of Broxbourne’s Peter
Gunter who beat Steve Evans 9/3 9/3 9/4 to enter the Final.
David Youngs very nearly beat his nemesis Rick Weatherall in a very,
very close encounter 7/9 9/7 6/9 9/4 9/6, but the latter,
against all the odds, played extremely well to completely nullify
Gunter winning the Final 9/7 9/3 9/2.
Finally, the
O35s’ saw Wilfred ‘Floyd’ Wilks beat Jason Smith 4/9 9/0 8/10
9/3 9/0 before losing to Steve Townsend 9/6 9/1 9/5. Jamie
Goodrich, at home when he should have been on court, travelled
the 130 miles in less than the mileage time and beat Matt Fiveash
9/1 9/0 9/2, before edging past Steve Townsend 6/9 9/5 9/2 4/9
9/1, just after.
Ashley Bowling struggled initially with Chris Stanley 9/3 7/9 9/1
9/2 and then took out Jason Foster 9/0 10/8 9/7. The Final saw
Goodrich’s fitness prevail as Bowling, looking in control at times,
finally succumbing to the never ending retrievals 5/9 9/7 9/0
5/9 9/5. This was Goodrich’s first actual win as his two previous
wins were by default! He was happy!
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