Week 20 was a quiet one for the Club. Our one remaining handicap cup team was in action as they played their quarter final v Merchiston 2. There was talk of mixing the team up and bringing in some fresh faces for the match but ultimately the trio who reached the quarter final kept their places. Jim Jack, Chamika Diyunugalge and Aidan Craig made the trip to Edinburgh on Monday 12th February. Chamika was first up but his 6 point start against an opponent two divisions above him wasn’t enough and when Jim fell to Premier division opposition in Match 2 the visitors were in trouble. Aidan got the side going with a three set win in match 3 and that was followed by a four set win for Chamika to draw the scores level. The visitors then took the lead as Aidan won his second match of the night but back came Merchiston in match 6 to tie the scores. In the best quality match of the night Aidan then took out the premier player in striaght sets – the highlight was Aidan being caught in the third end at 14-14 but somehow then winning 5 of the next 7 points for a 19-16 win. 4-3 to Penicuik and the semi-final was so close. Match 8 was close – Chamika just losing out 13-11, 12-10, 10-12, 12-10. Could Jim pull out the win in the decider? A 12-10 loss was followed by a 12-9 win, but he then lost the third 14-12 before sending the match to a decider with a 12-10 fourth end win. The match was there for the taking but agonisingly, Jim lost the decider 12-10 and the dream was over. A terrific effort and some fantastic play from Aidan in particular.
Team 6 took the opportunity of handicap cup week to get their postponed fixture with Edinburgh University played. A new look Team 6 of Sian MacDonald, Mat Dyluk and John Bald took to the table at Ladywood. They were given a boost when their opponents turned up with just two players. 3-0 up straight away! Sian made it 4-0 with a straightforward win in her first match. It wasn’t such plain sailing for John as he had a marathon five ender against his Uni opponent. He held his nerve and secured the decider 15-13 to secure a point for the Ladywood side. Mat tried to secure the win, but he fell in five ends but shortly thereafter John got the important sixth win with a straight sets victory. The doubles saw John and Sian combine to make it 7-1 and wins for both Mat and Sian rounded off an excellent night for Team 6 – their first win of the season, 9-1. Well done to them
And so, to our player of the week award. Sian, John and Aidan were all undefeated this week. We have to give a special mention to Aidan – a not very generous +3 handicap but against players who played respectively One, Two and Three divisions above him, he played some super stuff and didn’t deserve to be on the losing end of a 5-4 result. But this week’s award goes to a man who must now be well into his hundreds. Our Club President started out with him as his team captain in the 1980s and he was a pensioner then! He keeps on going and in his first match for Team 6 he was undefeated, still grinding out results with that famous backhand push/chop. Well done to John.
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Normally we would have a go at ratings central and handicap issues, but we can’t really say much this week. Although there were some straight sets wins and losses for our handicap cup team, the scores were generally really close. We still do have an issue with the top end handicaps. Sian for example has a rating which is more than 300 points greater than Ian and yet if they played Ian would get a 1 point start – that can’t be right. A similar rating difference can be seen between on Steve and Colin – in that scenario, Steve would get a 9 point start. We’re not sure what the answer to this problem is but in our view it does need addressed.
The only other controversy this week relates to our Reporter – having castigated various of our own players over many seasons for taking holidays during the TT season and missing important matches, off he went on a jolly meaning our Week 20 Report is being published after Week 21 has ended – Shocking!!
Team 6 took the opportunity of handicap cup week to get their postponed fixture with Edinburgh University played. A new look Team 6 of Sian MacDonald, Mat Dyluk and John Bald took to the table at Ladywood. They were given a boost when their opponents turned up with just two players. 3-0 up straight away! Sian made it 4-0 with a straightforward win in her first match. It wasn’t such plain sailing for John as he had a marathon five ender against his Uni opponent. He held his nerve and secured the decider 15-13 to secure a point for the Ladywood side. Mat tried to secure the win, but he fell in five ends but shortly thereafter John got the important sixth win with a straight sets victory. The doubles saw John and Sian combine to make it 7-1 and wins for both Mat and Sian rounded off an excellent night for Team 6 – their first win of the season, 9-1. Well done to them
And so, to our player of the week award. Sian, John and Aidan were all undefeated this week. We have to give a special mention to Aidan – a not very generous +3 handicap but against players who played respectively One, Two and Three divisions above him, he played some super stuff and didn’t deserve to be on the losing end of a 5-4 result. But this week’s award goes to a man who must now be well into his hundreds. Our Club President started out with him as his team captain in the 1980s and he was a pensioner then! He keeps on going and in his first match for Team 6 he was undefeated, still grinding out results with that famous backhand push/chop. Well done to John.
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Normally we would have a go at ratings central and handicap issues, but we can’t really say much this week. Although there were some straight sets wins and losses for our handicap cup team, the scores were generally really close. We still do have an issue with the top end handicaps. Sian for example has a rating which is more than 300 points greater than Ian and yet if they played Ian would get a 1 point start – that can’t be right. A similar rating difference can be seen between on Steve and Colin – in that scenario, Steve would get a 9 point start. We’re not sure what the answer to this problem is but in our view it does need addressed.
The only other controversy this week relates to our Reporter – having castigated various of our own players over many seasons for taking holidays during the TT season and missing important matches, off he went on a jolly meaning our Week 20 Report is being published after Week 21 has ended – Shocking!!
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