Adeyfield 1st   10 - 0   Crown & Sceptre ‘A’

New champions, Adeyfield, celebrated regaining the title last week, with a whitewash victory, to end the season on a high. Given the result, anyone who wasn’t there would be forgiven for assuming that the great Ken Stonebridge was not among the opposition, but, he was, making the victory that much sweeter. Always the risk taker, Ken had changed his pimpled rubber side with a brand new sheet, on Sunday, between the semi-final and final of the over 70s event at the VETTS Western Masters at Thornbury. The move didn’t pay off, as Ken found to his chagrin that he had less control, not more, on his backhand side, when losing to Oxford’s Nat Richardson in the final. 

No doubt Ken will soon adjust to the new rubber and come back even stronger, but, in the interim, our National (Over 70s) champion may struggle a bit, as he admitted with these prophetic words on entering the building “I’m there for the taking tonight”. And so it proved. While this may have been pretty much a routine win for Michael Boardman, it was a rare occurrence for Mark York and myself to savour. 

Regulars Richard Hardy and Bill Higgins completed the C&S line-up and gave their usual wholehearted displays, forcing us to work hard for the wins. Mark saved 2 match points, in the 4th game against Richard, with magnificent strikes, and then rallied in the 5th, going from 6-1 down, to 10-6 up, before winning 11-8. Bill sneaked the 3rd game off Michael, 11-9, but paid for it in the 4th, losing 11-0, with Michael missing nothing on his big hits.