Tony Whatley Memorial Shield Tournament.

The first Tony Whatley Memorial Shield Up and Down Doubles event was very well supported by 28 league players at the Tarka Tennis Centre in Barnstaple.

Two groups of 7 pairs fought it out to see who would progress into the knock out stages. Players were paired based on their ranking with the top ranked playing with the bottom, second top with second bottom and so on to try to make the matches even and competitive.

And so it turned out.  No pairing came away from the group stages un-defeated and every pair enjoyed at least one victory.

Four pairing from each group progressed to the knockout stages - Matthew Thomas / Trevor Reynolds, Kevin Davies / Thomas Venn, Steve Cragg / Ernie Maud, Barry Stearman / Bob Taylor from Group A and Terry Wright / Mike Fawcett, Nathan Jukes / Gerald Luscombe, Steve Richardson / Shaun Clarke, Dave Ewen / Derek Preston from Group B.

The Quarter Finals were drawn so that the Group A qualifiers were sure to meet opponents from Group B to avoid any early rematches from the group stages.

Ewen and Preston overcame Thomas and Reynolds 11-7 11-9, Cragg and Maud took 3 legs to get past Wright and Fawcett 11-7, 9-11 11-6, Jukes and Luscombe got through by just a point in the last leg against Davies and Venn with just two points in the final leg separating Stearman and Taylor who were victorious in their match against Richardson and Clarke.

In the semi Finals Cragg and Maud had another close call but squeezed through 11-10 9-11 11-9 against Ewen and Preston to set up a final with Jukes and Luscombe who beat Stearman and Taylor 11-9 11-5.

In the final Jukes and Luscombe had two match points at 10-8 in the final leg but Cragg and Maud came through winners taking the last 4 points - the eventual score line 6-11 11-5 12-10.

Thanks to Marcus Berry for his excellent organisation of the event and congratulations to the winners.

Composed by Matthew Thomas.