Sonning welcomed Tidmarsh to Pearson Hall. James, John and Keith for Sonning and Dave with the Webb brothers, Ray and Chris.

The first two sets went to Tidmarsh. Keith was first up and after losing the first two games 11-9, convincingly won the third against Ray. Keith could not maintain the levels of the third game and Ray cut out any mistakes to take the set in the fourth game. Johns was playing skipper Dave. John performed well and went into a 2-1 game lead. In the third John at 9-9 attacked in a most determined manner to win 11-9. In the fourth game Johns was 2 points from victory but just did quite get over the line. Dave won in game 5.

Next up were James and Chris. James took the first game convincingly 11-3 but found himself 8-10 down in the second game but struck back to win that 12-10 and eased though the third game 11-3 to provide Sonning with our first point of the evening.

The second round of singles saw John beaten fairly comfortably by Ray in three games. Keith then took on Chris  and played  well. Although Chris won in four sets, this was another close match. James then took on Dave and again in three games provided a second point for the team.

The doubles saw James and Cris up against the Webb brothers. Unfortunately both James and Cris made too many errors in the first game to gift it to Tidmarsh. The second game Sonning were 3-10 down before getting back to 10-10 before a couple errors scuppered our chances of levelling up. The third game was won by Sonning but the set was lost 11-9 in the fourth game.

The final round of singles saw John play Chris. A tough ask for wily Chris, who with many years of experience overcame John in 3 games.  John should be pleased with the way he played on Tuesday as it augurs well for the future. James in set 9 faced Ray. James took the first game comfortably. However, Ray found another gear in game two to level by winning 13-11. The same score in game three to James knocked the stuffing out of Ray as James marched to 9-0 lead in game four. James won that game 11-4!
The final set of the evening was Keith and Dave. Keith told me he had had physio in the morning and that he was shattered from that! That was imparted to me on arrival! On to the set. Keith took the first game as it looked as if he was digging in for a real go. Dave sneaked the second as he found his range with his strong backhand smashes. The third game was very tight as both had game point. Keith eventually won it 15-13 much to the relief of the E team whose match had to finished and were waiting to leave. The fourth game was tight. Dave led 7-6 before Keith levelled at 7-7. Then Keith got to 10-7 as Dave made a few mistakes. Keith saw the game out much to delight of the team.

So a 6-4 reversal. In summary I thought we were close to a draw and look forward to the return. I wish Dave Sheppard a return to health and hope we see at Tidmarsh.

By Cris Reynolds