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ELTTL Week 19 Report

28/1/2019

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Week 19 of the Edinburgh League season and it was a week of mixed results as all 7 of our teams took to the table.

With Colin Green unavailable, Greig McDonell (with his dodgy shoulder) was forced back into the team to join forces with David Melrose & Iain Johnstone as they took on West Lothian 3 in Division 1. With the first two matches played simultaneously, Team Captain Greig was a worried man as both games entered deciding fifth ends. Fortunately for the visitors, David and Iain pulled through and that seemed to knock the stuffing out of the hosts. Team 1 went on to record a 9-1 victory, Jamie Arnott defeating Iain in the last match of the night.

Team 2 had difficult matches on consecutive nights as they played at home to Edinburgh International and away to Murrayfield, both teams chasing down Team 1 at the top of the Division 1 table. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Charlie Brindley and Gary McDougal took advantage of Edinburgh International turning up understrength with both Ken Benjamin and Oscar Bi playing up. Despite three wins for Andrew Mannion, 2 wins from Gary and one each from Krzysztof and Charlie kept the hosts in the match. The crucial doubles match was won in 4 ends by Gary and Charlie resulting in a surprising, but well deserved, point for the hosts. The following night it was Team 2’s turn to play understrength as Sonny Taylor played up from Division 3 in place of Charlie v Murrayfield. At 4-0 down it looked like a very one sided contest but wins from Gary and Krzysztof got the nerves of the hosts dangling a little. It wasn’t to be, however, as the Edinburgh side ran out 7-3 winners after a great win in Match 9 by Sonny.
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In Division 2, James & Abby Wighton were joined by Ian Hislop as they travelled to Bathgate to face a two man West Lothian side. Surely a guaranteed two points? Any slim hopes of gaining promotion this season were effectively finished as the visitors could only muster a 5-5 draw, all the more disappointing after the visitors won the first two matches of the night to effectively give them a 5-0 advantage. That must be worth an award for the comeback of the season for Barrie Hills and Joseph Tur. The doubles match saw Ian and Abby lose out 13-11 in the fifth and by such fine margins……

In Division 3, Team 4 of Julian Taylor, Tony Brentnall and Sonny Taylor hosted Edinburgh University 5 having defeated the Uni side 10-0 in the first half of the season. Maybe University have improved since that match or perhaps the hosts have got worse, but whatever the reason, this was a bit of a struggle and after a narrow 5th end loss in the doubles the score was 4-3 to Penicuik.  Although Tony secured at least a point in Match 8, a surprise loss for Julian meant the match went down to the wire as Sonny pulled through in Match 10 for a 6-4 win, all three players winning two.  

Team 5’s start to the second half of the season in Division 4 hasn’t been great. In one of the tightest Divisions in the League, they know that every point is valuable. Having suffered a bad loss to Fife in Week 17, they faced Haddington 4, themselves not out of the running for promotion. Craig Linton played up from Team 6 as he joined forces with John Bald and Craig Johnson. 3-0 down in the blink of an eye (two tables being used) and a miracle was required. An 11-9 in the 5th win for John and a terrific 3-0 win for Craig L in the next three matches reduced the deficit to 4-2. As with so many matches this week the doubles was to prove pivotal – a battling performance from Craig J and John to take it to 5 ends but alas a bit of a one-sided fifth saw the hosts take a 5-2 lead. A 12-10 in the fifth victory for Craig J was added to by a straightforward win for John and they were still in the match at 5-4 down. No pressure on Craig L then in the last match of the night, playing up and facing Haddington’s best player!! Had he converted a couple of chances in the first end (12-14) things may have been different but a 3-0 victory gave Haddington a 6-4 win and further dented Team 5’s title hopes.

Team 6 welcomed back Louis McLeod as he joined Rachel Petrie and Adam Woodhouse in their home fixture v Edinburgh International 5. This was a terrifically tight match – the visitors held 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 leads before the doubles victory for the hosts (Louis & Adam) gave Team 6 their first lead of the night at 4-3. A win for Louis in Match 8 secured at least a point but back came the visitors with a win for Mike Eggar v Rachel. 5-4 and the last match pitted Adam against John Bradshaw. From 1-0 down, Adam turned the match around to lead 2-1 only for John to sneak the 4th 11-9. The deciding end and Team 6 had blown it – Adam found himself 10-6 down. But hold on – great resilience shown by Adam as he stormed back to win 12-10 and with it a 6-4 victory for Team 6 – 7 points out of a possible 8 in their last 4 matches – oh if only they hadn’t had such a dreadful start to the season!

Finally, in a busy week, Team 7 of George Wilson, Hannah McDonell and Kristian Skotzen visited Haddington 5. Going into the doubles the scores were tied at 3-3. Hannah & George took a 2-1 lead but then the wheels came off and they succumbed to a fifth end loss. As George kept the visitors in it, Kristian had a mammoth 5 end struggle against Liam Govan with his new found chopping style.  When Kristian took a 2-1 lead, he looked likely to secure at least a point for the visitors – an 11-4 fourth end loss put paid to that and in a tight 5th he lost out 11-8. Could Hannah rescue a point for the visitors against big bad Martin Hayman? In short no! Despite winning the first set she succumbed 12-10 in the 4th for a disappointing 6-4 defeat for Team 7.  George was again star man with 3 singles wins and Hannah picked up the other victory for the visitors.

The player of the week decision this week is more difficult than last week. David and Greig from Team 1, Louis from Team 6 and George from Team 7 were our only undefeated players - George lost int he doubles so he's out of the running! The other three were all involved in doubles victories for their sides. We were asked to also consider Hannah who won every match she played at the weekend in the Schools Championships (11 out of 11) – but hey she was rubbish in the League – so sorry Hannah, you’re out of the running as well! But this award, as we say regularly, is not just about being undefeated. It’s about performing under pressure and winning when it matters most to the team effort – the undefeated night for Louis wouldn’t have been enough for the overall victory were it not for his teammate’s amazing comeback to secure a 6-4 win for Team 6 in the last match of the night at Ladywood on Wednesday. Louis himself was telling the tale at the Edinburgh Schools Championship on Saturday – 10-6 down and he was completely out of it – Rachel also commented on the excellent self-control and calmness in adversity (not to mention winning the doubles with Louis). This week’s winner is Adam – well deserved.  

And finally, our controversy of the Week. We were struck last week by the number of matches which were played with understrength teams. It would be interesting for someone to analyse how many times matches have been played with players playing up from lower teams or with only two players – well interesting if you’re really boring and have got nothing else to do with your time – over to our winner of last week’s “most Boring Club Member Award” – whilst sunning yourself in Portugal maybe you could have a look at this for us! Anyway, we digress – In our own Club, Team 1 nearly pulled up someone from a lower team but in the end Greig had to grin and bear it and fight through the pain barrier (maybe he should get Adam’s award after all!), Team 2 played against Ed Int who turned up with 2 players playing up then themselves had to play up Sonny the following night, Team 3 played against two man opposition from West Lothian, Team 5 had to play Craig up from Team 6 and had Team 7 had anyone below them they would probably have called on someone for Thursday night at Haddington! Oh, hang on, our man in Portugal has been in touch – the leaders in this category are our friends from West Lothian with over 50 playing ups with North Merchiston and University in the 30s. He didn’t have time seemingly to go through the results to see on how many occasions teams have turned up with only two players. It is clear to us though that, at least part of this, must be due to Clubs taking the view that it’s not worthwhile trying to seek postponements of matches. If you can turn up with a team (however that team may be made up) just do it. And maybe that was the intention of the stricter enforcement of the postponements rule – if it was, the League have certainly achieved the outcome they had hoped for – given all of the above let’s just move on to the next natural step – yip you guessed it – just do away with postponements altogether.

At Haddington on Thursday night we were told of a match involving a Haddington team where there had been some real difficulties with certain umpiring decisions. Briefly put, the opposing team player seemed to effectively talk a very young and inexperienced umpire into making certain decisions. All very well for the League to tell us that Umpires need to take control but when a 12 year old child is being forcibly told by a much older player what to do, it is fantasy to think that the Umpire has any control – just look at Thursday night itself when Haddington’s big bad Martin called a let whilst playing 12 year old Hannah just as she’d hit a winner – he wouldn’t have got away with that if he’d been playing a more senior member of the McDonell family……
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On we go to Week 20 – oh what fun.


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ELTTL - Week 18 Report

20/1/2019

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Week 18, statistically speaking, was one to forget for the Club. 

With Greig McDonell protecting his average (sorry we mean protecting his shoulder injury) he was replaced by Colin Green who joined forces with David Melrose & Iain Johnstone as they faced Haddington 1 in Division 1. The reverse fixture with the same 6 players taking part had resulted in a 5-5 draw, Team 1’s only dropped point of the first half of the season. With the Division’s top player, Carsten Giebeler in action for the visitors, Team 1 knew they were going to be in for another tough night. Colin had defeated Carsten at the Edinburgh Open just the previous week, but it appears that Carsten prefers playing in the evening - he once again strolled through his matches only dropping one end to David in match 9. When Iain lost to Russell (having defeated him in the first half) Team 1 was up against it. That was 4 wins for the visitors - the doubles was therefore crucial but despite threatening a comeback, David and Colin fell in 4 ends. Colin’s win v Russell kept the game alive and the final match of the night saw Iain take on Lorenas with both players winless to that point. The Omens weren’t good for the hosts - in the 1st half, Lorenas had defeated Iain and Iain hadn’t exactly been on his game thus far. Having taken the first end 11-7, a crucial second, after a mini-comeback from Lorenas, was won 11-9 and there was no second chance given as Iain ended the night with a victory to secure a 5-5 draw for Team 1. On the balance of play, this was probably a better result for Team 1 than for Haddington - 2 wins each for Colin and David and 1 for Iain preserved the hosts undefeated record.

In Division 2, James & Abby Wighton were joined by Ian Hislop as they took on title chasing and undefeated Murrayfield 6. In the first half of the season Abby had played well with two wins in a 7-3 loss - this time around, she couldn’t repeat that and this match was over fairly quickly. The highlight of the night was the doubles - Abby & Ian were 2-0 down and fought back well to level the scores at 2-2 - it all looked like it had been in vein though as they proceeded to go 6-0 down in the fifth. However, just as they thought it was over, they won 11 of the next 12 points for a remarkable 11-7 victory. Ian added the only other win on the night as Team 2 fell to an 8-2 defeat.

In Division 3, Team 4 of Julian Taylor, Tony Brentnall and Sonny Taylor visited yet another top of the table side, Murrayfield 9 (Charlie McGowan, Ben Jamieson & Robert Inder). With Tony and Sonny arriving late (they seem to have gone to the wrong venue!) Julian started the match off v Charlie and took the first set. In the second he had 3 set points for 2-0 and was cruising to an easy victory. But Charlie dug deep and won a tie break. He then won set three and then another tie break in set 4. The late pair still hadn’t arrived so Julian played out of turn and defeated Ben in straight sets. By this point Sonny and Tony turned up and played singles catch up. Sonny lost to Ben and Tony beat Robert for 2-2. Charlie best Tony in straight sets for 3-2 while Sonny played Robert. From 2 sets down Sonny fought back and saved several match points to win in 5 and level the scores at 3-3. The once fragile, but now dominant father and son duo played the doubles against Charlie and Ben and won in 4 sets to give the visitors their first lead of the night, 4-3 up. The win was now on!! Next up was Ben v Tony and in a close 5 setter Ben won - oh dear this was going to be a nail biter after all. Julian v Robert was a sure fire banker for Penicuik to give them at least a draw wasn’t it?? Apparently not as dad Julian completely stuffed his lines and lost in 4 close sets leaving young Taylor to try and defeat 100% Charlie to salvage a draw. Sonny gave it a good shot in a well contested match but lost out in 4 sets as Team 4 left Royal High pondering (yet again) what might have been. (Report by Julian)

With Murrayfield having spoiled the week for two Penicuik teams, it was left to Team 6 to bring some respectability to the inter-club rivalry of week 18. But without their number 1, Louis McLeod, this was going to be tough. Rachel Petrie, Craig Linton and Adam Woodhouse all contributed in what was probably their best result of the season, given the fact that Louis was absent. Between them, before this match, the trio had won a combined 27% of their matches played. Six terrific singles wins were added to by a doubles victory as Team 6 recorded a 7-3 win, the only Penicuik side to record a victory in Week 18 - well done to them. 

And finally to Team 7. With Phil Daly still out after eye surgery, George Wilson, Hannah McDonell and Kristian Skotzen hosted Fife 4 at Ladywood. They were looking to repeat the pattern of the season - every Team that has defeated Penicuik 5 have been defeated by Team 7 - a win here would keep Team 7 in with an outside chance of promotion and potentially end Fife’s hopes. With a 6-4 defeat with two players from the first half, the hosts were in confident mood - the difference on this occasion was the inclusion in the Fife squad of top of the averages Neil Hoggan. But hold on - he was joint top of the averages with George! The battle of the top 2 was always going to be crucial and it was fitting that it went to five ends - George clawed his way back from 2-0 down only to lose out 11-5 in the 5th. Hannah restored parity with a win in Match 2 and it looked like the hosts were going to take the lead as Kristian found himself 2-0 up and seemingly coasting in Match 3 - but hold on a 12-10 defeat in the third and suddenly the wheels came off as he lost 11-6, 11-4 in the final two ends - from there it was always going to be tough - Neil proved the difference on the night with 3 wins and a half win for the doubles. George won 2 and Hannah 1 as the hosts fell to a disappointing 7-3 loss.

The player of the week decision this week is one of the easiest we’ve had to make. In a disappointing week for the Club, one player shone with an undefeated night. That player also contributed to a doubles victory and as if that wasn’t enough, they also ended up on the top table in our Saturday Practice Session. Leading the line for this week’s only winning team it’s a huge well done to Rachel. Her first Player of the Week Award for the season and according to Rachel it’s the first time in her short TT career that she’s had an undefeated night in League play. So for that we will forgive her for going on and on and on and on about it at the Club on Saturday…..

As for this Week’s controversy of the Week, it appears that players and officials have been behaving themselves - surely not?? A new Year, a new start?? One of our members (who will remain nameless but who played last week in Division 2 and isn’t female or a Wighton) seems to have been so bored that he’s been reading the rules over the festive period! He raised a couple of queries about whether there is any penalty for a team/player if they don’t follow two specific rules - firstly, what happens if a player is practising with another player who is not playing in the match? Doesn’t appear to be anything in the rules. And secondly is there a penalty for a player who doesn’t leave his/her bat on the table between ends? We wouldn’t have thought so. Apart from being this week’s winner of our most boring Club member we’d like to thank him for his questions!

On a slightly more serious note, although not affecting our Club, we note from our friends at West Lothian that they received a request for a postponement of their fixture v Uni 1 in Week 1 of the 2nd half of the season. It was apparently suggested that the University were under the impression that because the League agree to postpone all Uni fixtures at the start of the season, that would also be the case for January. That’s certainly a new one on us and on our West Lothian colleagues. And it seems completely bizarre given that 4 University teams actually played matches Week commencing 7th January, including one Uni team who rearranged a match for that week! As with all postponement requests, trying to rearrange matches and comply with the rules is, certainly for our Club, a complete headache. And as we have found out in the past to our detriment, just because you agree to a postponement request from another Club such may not be reciprocated - just do away with postponements altogether! In the foregoing scenario, WL didn’t agree to the postponement and a concession victory was awarded to them. What we don’t quite follow is why the League seem to have become involved in trying to negotiate a “rearranged date”. This was surely just a matter between the two clubs involved and should be left for them to sort out - the rules are clear enough on the matter.

Oh well - maybe new year new start was just a figment of our imagination - hopefully Week 19 will see better results for the Club.

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ELTTL - Week 17 Report

13/1/2019

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Week 17 saw the 2nd half of the Season get underway with only 4 of the Club’s 7 teams in action. 

Penicuik 1 (greig McDonell, David Melrose & Iain Johnstone) started the season with a 9-1 victory over North Merchiston 3, however, the Edinburgh outfit had been tipped as outsiders for promotion by the time the second half of the season had started, mainly due to the addition of Blair Fowler to their squad. Countering that, however, was the commitment up of Eddie Scott who was now plying his trade in the Premier Division. With no disrespect to Slawomir Bess, Team 1 were relieved when there was no Blair in action for NM3. Regulars Amelia Norbury and Graham Booth joined Slawomir (playing up from Div 2) in what turned out to be a fairly one sided affair. Matches 2 and 3 on the night were to prove pivotal. In Match 2 David “Good Boy” Melrose looked in complete control when he took the first end v Amelia 11-3 but when he lost the next 2 (11-8, 11-9) suddenly a tied match was on the cards. To his credit, David then seemed to relax a little more in ends 4 and 5 as he produced some terrific controlled attacking play to run out  an 11-5 winner in the fifth. Next up saw Greig v Graham with Greig totally relaxed in a match that he seems to have felt he couldn’t lose. Oops - after losing the first end 11-5, there was no panic, 11-7 and 11-5 wins in ends 2 and 3 showed he was in control. When Graham won the 4th 11-9 and took a lead in the 5th suddenly the atmosphere changed - panic was apparent, if not from Greig, certainly from his teammates! Somehow Greig roused from his comatose state to win the decider 11-6. And with those two matches it appeared that North Merchiston’s chances had gone. At 7-0 up, Iain reminded Greig just before his match with Amelia that she had been victorious in their encounter at Ladywood in September - Greig thanked Iain for the reminder with what looked like some sort of friendly hand gesture! In the end, other than a close doubles match, the home side fell to fairly straightforward losses as Team 1 recorded a sound 10-0 victory. 

Penicuik 4 were the only side in action at Ladywood last week as they hosted Fife 3 in Division 3. With slender hopes still at play for promotion, Julian Taylor, Tony Brentnall and Sonny Taylor knew that any slip ups along the way will end those slim promotion chances. Sonny got the team off to a great start in Match 1 before Tony fell in five ends to Susan Adamson. Wins for Julian and then Tony gave the hosts a 3-1 lead before Sonny let a 2-0 advantage slip to lose out 13-11 in the fifth. Julian restored a two game gap as he won match 6 and when he combined with Sonny in the doubles for a victory the home side held an unassailable 5-2 advantage. Tony (perhaps a bit rusty after the Xmas period with too much turkey) lost Match 8 but wins for Julian and Sonny saw the home side record a 7-3 victory, the same scoreline as when these teams met in Fife earlier in the season. 4 points behind 2nd place but with a game in hand 0 they can still do it!

In Division 4, Team 5 also faced Fife opposition as they travelled to Inverkeithing to take on Fife 4. Team 5 had recorded a 6-4 victory against Fife in their first match of the season but they knew this was going to be a tough match. Without John Bald (top 3 in the individual averages) in their ranks, Stuart Bennett, Craig Johnson and Millie Bennett faced Division 4’s top ranked player, Neil Hoggan and when he defeated Millie 3-1 in the first match of the night the task for Team 5 became even harder. That win was followed by losses for Stuart and Craig in straight sets and the visitors were in big trouble. A 2nd defeat for Millie made it 4-0 before Craig gave the Midlothian side some hope by defeating Neil - that hope was short lived, however, as a further defeat for Stuart and a loss in the doubles saw Team 5 fall 6-1 behind and the match was over as a contest. There was a further win for Craig but on a disappointing night, Team 5 left Fife with an 8-2 loss and by the end of the week their lead at the top of the Division was gone - a win for West Lothian 7 saw them join Team 5 as joint leaders on 20 points with a host of others right on the top pair’s tails. 

Although playing down their chances, one of the teams still in the hunt is Penicuik 7. Despite half a dozen teams above them in the division, a 7-3 victory last Wednesday for George Wilson, Kristian Skotzen and Hannah McDonell saw the Club’s bottom side keep the pressure on those teams above them. George was again the star player for the side with an undefeated night whilst Kristian and Hannah added two each. 13 games played and they sit on 16 points in 7th place in the Division. The gap to top spot now, however, is only 4 points. Haddington 4 could join the top two on Monday night if they can defeat WL 7, WL 8 are only a point behind the leading two as are WL 9, although they have played a game more. Add into the mix, Fife whose defeat of Team 5 has brought them within three points of top spot and this really is a title and promotion race which looks like going dow to the wire. On the down side for Team 7, Phil Daly is unfortunately out for a few weeks after emergency eye surgery - we wish him well for a speedy recovery. Speaking of injuries, we would also like to send our best wishes to Team 6’s Brian Bailey who is recovering from hip surgery and looks to be out for the rest of the season.

And so to our first player of the Week award for the second half of the season. Undefeated this week were all of Team 1, Julian from Team 4 and George from Team 7. Whilst both North Merchiston sides (teams 3 and 6) failed to play their full and regular sides against Teams 1 and 7, Fife managed to turn up against our Team 4 at full strength and for that reason this week’s deserved winner is Julian - not only did he play a captains part in leading from the front with an undefeated night in singles but he also combined for the doubles victory as his team recorded a 7-3 victory - Well done Julian.

Controversy of the Week this week? Team 1’s victory was a fairly straightforward one but led to some comments being made after the match regarding the verbal side of matchplay. In David’s game against Amelia, David fell 2 games to 1 behind and needed to “get himself motivated”. He duly did that with the assistance of a number of “good boy” chants and small screeches of delight after winning points. It’s difficult to tell whether this had any effect on Amelia’s play - she always seems completely in control of her emotions - according to NM Coach, Tom, however, this definitely made Amelia lose focus and put her off - it was something she wasn’t used to and needs to learn to cope with better. Certainly in the girls game this seems very rare - if she were a young boy on the other hand, David’s verbals would have been insignificant. Having attended the Scotland Under 21 International earlier this month, the difference between the Ladies and Mens Events was clear for everyone to see. As the Ladies just got on with it, every good shot played by certain of their male counterparts were treated to the “Cho” victory shout at varying decibels. It’s unsurprising that the our young juniors, cadets and even minors also act in this manner - they see it from our experienced players. Whilst it was not suggested that there was anything wrong with David’s behaviour during his match, it does beg the question of whether there is anything in the rules to prevent such conduct going too far. We’ve all been there - there’s nothing worse than somebody on the other side of the table giving out a big screech of delight as you hit a ball into the net or push a ball long!! 

Oh well a quiet (ish) start to the New Year - unlike Week 18 which is scheduled to see all of our 7 teams in action. Good luck to all. 

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