Men's 3rd Team Match vs. Cheadle The Cheadle men came to Heaton Mersey with the club and the nation in the grip of Wimbledon fever. A packed balcony turned out to see a performance of high class tennis unlike any to be seen on the hallowed grass of SW19. The weather was warm and sunny and although breezy, no rain fell - unlike the deluge experienced at the Cheadle courts when last these two teams met.
The team had been strengthened by the athleticism and experience of Peter Davies who had made a special round trip of hundreds of miles in order to play in this key encounter. Peter played as first pair with the young and dynamic Max Sherlock. The steady pair of Neil Staddon and Anthony Jones played 2nds and the consistent pairing of Chris Hynes and Jerry Fynn played as 3rd couple.
The first rubber opened with a ding dong match for our 3rd pair at the windy end of the courts playing a strong couple which included the Cheadle Junior Coach who had played as part of their first pair in the previous encounter. Despite a strong showing and with some extremely close matches our lads failed to win either set, a result mirrored by our 2nd pair who faced the Cheadle captain and a young big hitter with a handy ability with the drop shot. On the show court our 1st men, both significantly younger than their opponents, thrilled the crowd with a superb two sets which were comfortably won.
The second round saw our 1st men trounce the Cheadle 3rds despite the blustery conditions and an extremely strong showing by the Cheadle pair. The Mersey 2nd couple faced the wily old foxes of the Cheadle 1sts who seemed almost impassable with their accurate sliced shots and consistent lobs and went down 2 sets to love whilst our 3rd pair, despite taking several hard fought games and forcing many games to deuce, failed to record a set won against the Cheadle 2nds.
The final round saw an increasingly wearied Heatons 1st pair face the accurate and hard hitting Cheadle 2nds and encouraged by the vocal support of the the huge supporting crowd urging them on, managed to halve the points with one set each. Meanwhile, our 2nd pair faced the Cheadle 3rds and fought a hard contest in difficult windy conditions. Despite some fabulous shots and energetic rallies, our lads again failed to win either set. On the show court, the Mersey 3rds clashed with the Cheadle 1sts and frustratingly, despite an exhilarating show of speed and agility by Chris Hynes, the experienced Cheadle pair won with a display of consistent shots which left the Mersey men scratching their heads as to just how to beat this opposition. Even well struck smashes to the feet of the opponents were somehow knocked back and the longer the rallies continued, the less likely it appeared were the Mersey men to win, resulting in two sets loss by the Mersey duo.
The final score line of 5-13 failed to truly reflect the closeness of the match against the Cheadle team that are currently standing in the top half of the division. The post match hospitality was enlivened by the resurrection of some classic jokes by Peter Davies and a home made chicken and chickpea curry that managed to even leave the teenage members of both teams replete. All in all a highly enjoyable evening of very entertaining tennis.
We now look forward to the final match of the season against Macclesfield at home on the 9th July. Rumours that a new 10th Division are being considered to relegate our team into appear wholly unfounded and next year we firmly expect to see the men's' 3rd team finishing near the top of the 9th division. |
