Croxley Mixed A v Radlett Mixed B (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 4)

Thursday August 21st 2008 , played at Radlett

Croxley Mixed A

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Richard Boyce & Liz Burch

0-6

4-6

5-7

0

3

Peter Worby & Liz Beak

4-6

4-6

7-5

1

2

Colin Hewett & Kate Bray

        4-6

3-6

        6-7

0

3

Match Result: Croxley lost

1

8

Captain’s Log:  

Armed with the knowledge that we were safe from relegation the result of this re-arranged match counted for little in the scheme of things. That said, a win would have been nice but a stronger than usual Radlett team saw us off despite the fact that 8 of the 9 sets played were pretty hard fought.

The opening round saw Boycie and his Liz crash 0-6 which meant a long wait for them as my Liz and I battled for 50 minutes before losing 4-6 and Colin/Kate only took slightly longer before losing out in a tie breaker.

The second round saw early excitement (or perhaps concern) as Colin went down screaming. As he laid on his back and we all gathered round it was probably the mention of a kiss of life that brought him to his feet. I’m pleased to say that the wimp wasn’t badly injured and when I saw him the following day he was fine apart from feeling a bit stiff (and that’s probably down to old age!). My Liz and I eventually won our set – it took so long that the lights were turned on at 5-5. By now, concerns were setting in as the opposition captain had previously announced that most of his food purchases were at discount prices as they were on the sell by date – and with the match being a long one the food was getting older by the minute.

The 3^rd round again was a long one with Croxley losing all 3 sets, but only just. It must have been after 9pm when we eventually finished. The opposition 3^rd pair were heard at one point to query whether Boycie ever plays a backhand as he ran round for the umpteenth time – the Radlett joker answered his partner with “yes, he played one back in 1996” which is probably about right. Suffice to say, Boycie kept “the weapon” well hidden. The supper is worthy of comment and particular praise must go to Lee for the state of his jacket potatoes that had either been cooked for several hours too long or were simply left overs and re-warmed from a previous day (or week?). As he threw them away when clearing up he was urged to keep them and re-use them on another occasion. Big disappointment for Boycie with no chocolate for afters – in fact no cake or savouries at all. Lee had gone for the healthy option of oranges (presumably on their sell by) and some fresh(ish) fruit salad. All in all, a worthy contender for a 2/10 mark – sorry Lee if you are reading this. A good evenings tennis though with a decent bunch of people.

Croxley Mixed A v Chorleywood Mixed C (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 4)

Thursday July 17th 2008 , played at Croxley

Croxley Mixed A

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Richard Boyce & Kate Bray

6-3

6-4

6-3

3

0

Colin Hewett & Liz Beak

3-6

2-6

6-0

1

2

Peter Worby & Liz Burch

        6-1

2-6

        6-2

2

1

Match Result: Croxley won

6

3

Captain’s Log:  

As I drove into Rickmansworth shortly before 6pm , I realised that I hadn’t done the shopping for supper. I had Pauline with me who was supposed to get home, changed and back to the Club by 6pm for an away match. Consequently, it was a 2 minute dash into Iceland to buy pizzas and cakes. A few hours later when we sat down in our clubhouse to pizza, pizza and more pizza there were grumbles from a couple of team members!!

I needn’t have rushed because Mr “sorry I’m running late” Hewett managed to arrive even late that normal – was it at about 7.10pm ? We were lucky the opposition didn’t claim the first set although after the 2-6 scoreline Colin admitted they might just as well have.  

Apart from the tea, and Colin’s late arrival the other controversy was my decision to change the pairings for this match. Same team members – different pairings. It must have worked because we won 6-3 with the Boycemeister and Kate winning 3 sets, myself and the Burchmeister 2 sets, and the Beakmeister/latemeister winning the 1.

Tea I thought was fantastic although I do of course like pizza.

Croxley Mixed A v RothamstedMixed A (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 4)

Thursday July 3rd 2008 , played at Croxley

Croxley Mixed A

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Richard Boyce & Liz Beak

0-6

1-6

6-2

1

2

Peter Worby & Liz Burch

6-4

4-6

6-3

2

1

Jon Taffel & Kate Bray

        1-6

7-6

        0-6

1

2

Match Result: Rothamsted won

4

5

Captain’s Log:  

The worst scoreline you can have – a narrow 4-5 defeat with lots of “if onlys”.

Being 3-0 down after Round 1 with Boycie/Liz and Jon/Kate not even winning a game didn’t bode well but a 2^nd round fight back saw us level at 3-3 with all pairs winning their sets. Liz Burch and myself shocked ourselves by playing great tennis to beat the strong Rothamsted No. 1 pair who were said to be unbeatable. Jon and Kate did well to win a tie break against the No. 2 pair and Boycie/Liz had a straightforward win.  

That set us up for the final round – we knew we had to win 2 of the 3 sets. It was always going to be difficult for Kate and Jon v the 1^st pair – sadly they just picked up the one game. Liz Burch and I took care of the 3^rd pair so that was 4-4. Sadly, the Beak/Boyce partnership couldn’t pull it off so a defeat it was, albeit a close one.

Tea afterwards was fun. Lots of comments from the opposition who had read the match report on our website following the match at their place earlier in the season. They were invited to submit their own match report which we promised to publish.

Lots of comments too about the quality of my tea. I did offer to allow other team members to take their turn if they weren’t happy with the fare on offer but I haven’t been hit by a deluge of volunteers.

I will rate my tea as being 10/10 for entertainment value and would point out that my cakes were bigger that Rothamsteds by quite a bit.

Croxley Mixed A v West Herts Mixed C (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 4)

Friday June 27th 2008 , played at West Herts

Croxley Mixed A

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Richard Boyce & Liz Beak

3-6

6-4

1-6

1

2

Peter Worby & Kate Bray

3-6

2-6

4-6

0

3

Colin Hewett & Liz Burch

        4-6

6-4

        4-6

1

2

Match Result: West Herts won

2

7

Captain’s Log:  

A Friday night match played on the excellent quality grass courts of West Herts . A somewhat late arrival from Mrs Beak who had been coaching until 6.30 meant that we didn’t really get underway until nearly 7pm . The writing was on the wall after the first round which saw us 3-0 down. Liz Beak and Richard managed to salvage a set in round 2 as did Liz Burch and Colin in Round 3. Sadly, nothing at all for yours truly and Kate.  

The excuse was that it was very different playing on grass and that we weren’t accustomed to that surface. Indeed, it is very different to the macadam of Croxley. I personally enjoyed the grass and felt it “played well”.  

Boycie took one for Croxley as he donated blood following contact with the perimeter fencing as he chased a deep ball. To add insult to injury, his shot was called out by the opposition (was this a dubious call?). According to Liz, he was never the same after that!

Croxley Mixed A v Bovingdon Mixed A (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 4)

Thursday June 19th 2008 , played at Croxley

Croxley Mixed A

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Laura Beak & Peter Worby

3-6

6-3

6-1

2

1

Kate Bray & Richard Boyce

7-6

6-1

6-2

3

0

Gary & Shirley Broadbridge

        6-2

6-4

        6-4

3

0

Match Result: Croxley won

8

1

Captain’s Log:  

A fairly comfortable win this for the Mixed A team against bottom of the table Bovingdon. The Bovingdon 1st pair offered spirited resistance (enough to beat myself and Laura in the opening round). They narrowly lost to Kate and Boycie in Round 2 after a tie break – from memory the Croxley duo had to make quite a comeback during the set. In round 3, with the match settled, Gary & Shirley had a good win with the Bovingdon pair clearly not enjoying their time on Court.  

The wins versus opposition pairs 2 and 3 were fairly straight forward.

Croxley Tennis Club Mixed A  v West Herts C (Watford & District Tennis League - Mixed Division 4)

Thursday June 5th 2008, played at Croxley

Croxley Mixed A

vs opp’n
Pair A

vs opp’n
Pair B

vs opp’n
Pair C

Sets Won

Sets Lost

Match Result: Croxley lost

Captain’s Log: