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Kintbury Go Through
w/c 18th December 2006

The quarter-final round of the Blackford Cup competition completed last week when Shaw played Kintbury in a second leg, a whole month after the first. This first leg had gone Kintbury’s way at the Jubilee Hall but by a mere 8 points; could Shaw’s all-stars overturn that? They had a mountain to climb, the handicapping requiring them to start each game at minus 10 points to Kintbury’s plus 4.

Not a problem for Shaw’s Andy Norman in the singles; he allowed Paul Abraham to score just 5 points while he accumulated 50! Shaw’s ladies were finding the going much tougher and failed to get to zero in three games. The mixed doubles, however, generally went Shaw’s way, and at one time the home side had opened up a margin of 30 points.

The lead was whittled away and going into the last rubber, Cate Poore and Tony Walker kept the first game tight to be one point up on the leg, but Annette Bramley and Ian Bradley then stormed to a 15-0 second end to seal the tie for Kintbury by 19 points. The handicapping committee can congratulate themselves as three of the four semi-finalists have now won through on margins of 19 or less points.

Kintbury had limbered up a couple of days earlier in a Mixed Division 1 match against St Mary’s B. The veteran pairing of Pam Norman and Tony Glinos provided most resistance for St Mary’s, but Mel Pennington and Roger Scully took 2 rubbers to claim a safe 6-3 win. Two divisions lower, Kennet B held their nerve for a 5-4 win at home to Downlands B despite a rare appearance by the Chairman – Keith Parsons for the Compton side.

In the Mens first division Shaw B’s Andy Nicholson and Paul Olive put their all into winning the first rubber against St Mary’s A, but then had to concede the following two to due to injury. It probably made little difference as the King / Jones and Fergusson / Braithwaite pairs steamed on for a 7-2 victory. Newbury’s nightmare season continued in both Mens division 3 against Hurst and Mixed Division 1 where a weakened side went down to St Mary’s; the only glimmer in the gloom was a drawn Ladies 4 match with St Mary’s.

St Mary's Take The Cup
w/c 18th December 2006

Thatcham St Mary’s Juniors invited Newbury & District Juniors to play a match at the Kennet Leisure centre for the prize of the Wash Common Cup. 24 players contested 24 games. The older girls from Newbury, Michelle and Ellie, won their singles games, but St Mary’s showed all-round strength in doubles and their younger players, Emma and Suzie, won their singles to return a winning 5-3 scoreline.

Despite losing, Tamara Yeung of Newbury, aged only 9, played extremely well against girls much older than her. The boys formed two age groups of four players a side and each played a singles and two doubles. St Mary’s dominated the younger group winning 7-1 with a strong performance by Edward and Jack in the doubles. Newbury’s older boys proved a bit more difficult for St Mary’s, Sam and William taking both doubles, but St Mary’s singles play, especially Joe, Jack and Simon, made sure of another 5-3 result.

All the games were played in an excellent spirit; competitive but fair and with some very close results. With an overall 17-7 score, St Mary’s wrestled away the Cup which Newbury had won when the sides met last season – congratulations to them.