Nottingham looked strong on paper, with the unfortunate withdrawal of No. 1 Nick Matthew; this was exacerbated when Tania Bailey had to withdraw at 2-0 down.
Struggling with a multitude of injuries and recovering from hip surgery, 2009 has been a torrid time for the Lincolnshire world No. 19 which was only compounded when at a game down but 9/2 up in the 2nd she hit what appeared to be the hardest of walls, going down 11/9 then retiring injured. A terrible shame for Tania, who was jinxed from the moment the compere stated that she had a 100% unbeaten run for Duffield...
On the back court, Malaysian No. 1 Ong Beng Hee, playing two for Nottingham, was also struggling, clearly showing the effects of the recent world team championships. His opponent, South African Steve Coppinger seemed to have no ill effects from his own exploits in Denmark. The first was tight, quite how Beng Hee managed to scrape it I still can’t quite work out; Coppinger’s movement in the front of the court was awesome, making the normally sprightly Beng Hee look lead footed. A talking to from area manager, Pete Goodings, and a quick sugary drink and the expected service from Beng Hee began. Stepping up the court, forcing the pace. Beng Hee dominated and wrapped up the second 11/4.
As a team manager, I always try to juggle between the two matches on court it was at this point that I took leave of Beng Hee confident that his result would be a formality. No chance. When I next look over the balcony, a weary looking Malaysian is thrashing the ball into the tin to give Coppinger the third game 11/8. The fourth was pretty much the same, Beng Hee was struggling to go forward and instead of pushing the ball in short and winning points, Coppinger would leap in with a sharp counter drop to which Beng Hee had no reply. A string of errors from Coppinger at 8/8 gave Beng Hee an unlikely match ball but that was quickly clawed back before another error gave Beng Hee a second chance to wrap it up.
The rally that followed was probably the best of the match. It was clear that Beng Hee was going to go all out for this one, clearly not looking to remain on court any longer. After a swift volley exchange, one loose ball from Coppinger was buried with a back hand nick much to the relief of Beng Hee and the Nottingham faithful.
On the show court following the ladies was one half of Nottingham’s Irish contingent, John Rooney, facing local hero Andy Whipp. With the drama on the back court, I dipped in and out of this and with a strong 2/0 lead 11/9, 11/2 complacency was again my undoing. Whipp fought back to take the third 11/7 and a quick fourth 11/6. Rooney seemed to be struggling with a few refereeing decisions but it was probably the loose width that he should have been worrying about! Always quick to the ball and with vicious power, Whipp dominated the final game, not allowing Rooney any time to recover and forcing error after error.
After such a strong start, it was almost inevitable that the fifth would go to the resurgent Whipp who duly wrapped up the match 11/4 much to the delight of the Duffield ns.
Eddie Charlton followed Beng Hee on the back court like his Nottingham team mates thus far, he stormed away to a comfortable 11/5 first game victory, however, from then on Joel’s attritional game started to bear fruit. The second was hard fought with Eddie making most of the play, just not able to hit the killer shot to end the rally, with Hinds constantly making recovery after recovery.
The third and fourth followed suit, Charlton struggling to find a way to stop the irrepressible Hinds from getting the ball back in play. With smaller margins the error rate crept up from Charlton and Hinds wrapped up a tougher match than the score line may suggest.
So all down to the final No. 1 string. First time out for Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema, representing MB Nottingham after a 6 year absence from the league, his opponent, New Zealand’s Martin Knight, ranked 34 places below Anjema looked on paper like an outsider. Given the previous performance of Nottingham players I was less than confident however I was quickly assured.
LJ was dominant from the start, demonstrating the skills that have taken him up the rankings in such meteoric style. Knight gave it his all but had no answer for the tall Dutch man’s range of shots and accuracy. LJ wrapped up the match 11/3, 11/4, 11/5 and we were all ensconced in the bar eating Massarella lemon meringue pie by 10:30pm.
So a good start for MB Nottingham, a slightly odd match that swung back and for and with a result slightly skewed by the absence / injury of Nick and Tania. Given past experience however and in particular when it’s against local rivals Duffield; we’ll happily take any victory we can get!
Dave Coghlan
No comments:
Post a Comment