Appearing for SSC were James, Keith and Cris. For Kingfisher, Rupesh, Steve and Cihan.

Cris faced Rupesh in the first set. The first three games were all close as Rupesh won the first 13-11, Cris levelled winning the second 12-10 and Rupesh the third 11-9. Rupesh got away in the fourth game to close the set 11-4 in the fourth.

James was next up against Steve, and won reasonably comfortably in three straight games, 11-7, 11-8 and 11-5. It was obvious that James had got his Mojo back with his forehand smashes. I thought it was the knock up practice he was given prior to the match!

Keith was third up against Cihan. This was the first five game set of the evening. Keith was up in both of the first two games but came out on the wrong side to be two games down, losing both 10-12. Keith took the next two to level the set. However, Cihan scrapped through 12-10 in the fifth.

The second round of singles saw James level the match 2-2 as he beat Rupesh in three straight games, 11-9, 11-9 and 11-8. James described it as not one of his most exciting games!

The question was could Cris and Keith win a set to help the cause? Cris faced Cihan and just lost the first game 10-12 only to play poorly in the next two, to gift the set to Cihan! Very disappointing performance!

Set 6 brought  Keith and Steve to the table. Keith led in the first two games but lost out in both 9-11. However, Keith struck back to win games three and four 11-9. In the final game, Steve got an early lead to 6-1 and Keith never really recovered.

So the doubles was even more crucial as Kingfisher led 4-2. Another tight contest as Cris and James took game one against Rupesh and Steve 11-9. In the second game the Kingfisher pair struck back to level before Cris and James won a very tight third 11-9 having been behind for most of it. Again Rupesh and Steve levelled to take the set to five games. In the fifth, Cris and James eased to a ten seven lead, to just sneak another game 11-9.

The last round of singles. James was out first and we had Cihan wondering where and how long his teammates were going to be in the gents! Cihan finally agreed to start as Rupesh appeared. Cihan had to be reminded early on that on serve he had to throw the ball from his palm up some 6 inches rather than just drop the ball. By this time of night James forehand was working well and Cihan to his credit was defending very well, using every inch of the available area. James took the set in three games.

Keith then faced Rupesh who had too much for Keith in the first two games. Keith struck back to win the third 11-9. Rupesh then managed to take the set in game 4 to take Kingfisher into a 5-4 lead on the night.

Cris played the last set against Steve. The first game went to Cris, 15-13 when both had game points earlier. Steve dominated the second and third games. Cris won the fourth 11-2 to set up a decider. Turning round at 5-3 down Cris never quite regained the momentum he had in game four. Steve took the set 11-9 to give Kingfisher the win 6-4.

All in all a disappointing evening as SSC lost ground at the foot of the table. Neither Cris or Keith were able to give James the support to get us over the line. I had hoped we might have seen Rishi appear for Kingfisher but Steve was his replacement to the team that faced the B team!

On Thursday we face OLOP C who head the league. John, Cris and James look forward to the challenge! We trust that we will assist the B team in their bid for the 3rd division title!

by Cris Reynolds