Match Report  (Courtesy of Dave Wackrill)

   Adeyfield 1st   10 - 0   St. George's 1st

"Centenary match for Mark York and Dave Wackrill"

I see that the legend that is Glen Wilkes is back and playing for us once again. If the League ever get round to a ‘Hemel Hall of Fame’ then Glen’s a top contender for membership, in my book. Another ‘blast form the past’, John Bullard, popped in to see us during the match, with a view to re-joining. Remember what a great player he was, too? Soon we could be fielding a side of yesterday’s superstars. 

On the table, another big win keeps us well clear at the top. St. George's skipper, Jackie Channell, suffering from a bad cold, offered minimal resistance. Jackie was playing off the back of a successful weekend in Wolverhampton in the VETTS Midland Masters, where she won the Ladies Over 70s Doubles competition with Kent partner Barbara Rutherford. St.George's Trafford Coker lost in straight sets here, but Bob Sapaun took a game off everyone with his unique style of superb hitting and elementary errors. 

This was the 100th time that Mark York and myself had played together in a Hemel League match for the club. Mark was in good form, but called for VAR to be introduced in the League after being ‘robbed’ of a straight games win over Bob, which might have cost him the Man of the Match award. It was the end of the third game and match point to Mark. He was scurrying around the back of the court as usual, trying to return Bob’s big hits, when his shot clipped the net and went off. At least that’s how Bob, the umpire and all the spectators saw it, but Mark, probably with the best line of vision, swears it touched the table top as the ball skimmed away at a crazy angle. If only Vadym Krevs had been playing, we could have watched a replay from his video camera.