Handicap Cup Week in the ELTTL this week – we love the Handicap Cup and have a terrific record in the competition. Previous winners, most recently in 2022, and we always seem to get a good mix of teams and progress to the latter stages of the event. This season we entered 4 teams who took to the table in Round 1.
First up, with a trip to Edinburgh Sports Club were Chamika (+3), Jay (+3) and Tony (+6). Chamika got the team off to a good start with a win in four ends, but a defeat followed for Tony against ex-Premier League player Keith Walker who was playing of a scratch handicap. Jay then lost out to Euan Rae and the visitors were in trouble. Keith v Chamika was next up, and a 3-point start for the Penicuik player was never enough as the hosts extended their lead to 3-1. Jay kept the team in the fixture with a win in match 5 before Euan restored the advantage with a straightforward win v Tony. 4-2 to the hosts and Jay v Keith to keep the match alive – Jay had a real go as the first four ends were shared – the decider was a nailbiter, but it was the experienced Keith who made the difference with a 14-12 win to secure the match for the hosts.
The next night saw Colin (-13), Charlie (-1) and Craig (Scratch) take on West Lothian at home. Colin was straight on the phone after he lost his first match against Isaac Wong (+3) - 16 of a start to 24 and it was comfortable for Isaac – a three-end victory and in the last end the actual score was 10-8 to Colin – a 16 shot deficit was ridiculous according to the Aussie who pointed out that Isaac was much better than his handicap suggested. Criag levelled the match in a 0-0 contest v his opponent before Charlie was brushed aside by another high handicapper – a 7-0 start for the West Lothian player who won more points over the three ends than Charlie did (15-14). When a similar fate befell Craig against Isaac the hosts were in trouble. Colin kept the hosts in with a chance with a win in Match 5 but a defeat for Charlie meant the visitors only needed one more win for victory – that came when their +6 player did a similar job on Craig as he had done on Charlie – 5-2 to the Bathgate side and the Club's second defeat of the week.
Not to worry, the big guns were out on Friday night as our remaining two teams travelled to take on Edinburgh University. First up, Roscoe (+5), Rachel (+5) and Ian M (+7). A point here and there makes all the difference, particularly in Handicap matches and Rachel was left kicking herself as she fell in Match 1 to an agonising five end defeat, losing out 14-12 in the decider. Ian then lost out in match 2. Roscoe got the side on the board with a win in match 3 and when Rachel won the next, the match was levelled. Roscoe then played a great game to give the visitors their first lead of the night, but the students then levelled the match with a win in game 6. 3-3 going into the last round of singles. Match 7 was to prove crucial to the overall result - Roscoe looked in control as he took the first two ends and looked headed for an undefeated night – a loss in the third seemed to dent his confidence and the Uni player stormed back to win in five. It was not to be for the visitors as Ian and Rachel both lost their final games as the Penicuik trio lost out 6-3.
Could we rely on James, Kristian and Michael to get one team into Round 2? Before a ball was struck Kristian had to pull out last minute with an injury – our reserves were Handicap Cup selector, Hannah or Club President, Greig – the selector told old dad he had to play as she had better things to do on a Friday night! That turned out to be another shocking decision by the youngster! The match was played out fully and if we reverse the order of play, we were 2-0 up with wins for Greig v Fred and James v Ruyi. What a great comeback from the students as they cantered to a 5-2 (or 7-2 / 5-0) win. The star of the show was Siya – playing of –6, her movement, speed, ball placement and all out attacking game was a delight to watch (unless you were playing against her). Greig had 2 match points against her in the fourth end of his match, but two textbook forehand loops put paid to his chances and she secured a fifth end victory with some ease. She put away James in four ends, however, in fairness to James this was probably the best match of the night from a spectator's point of view – at 1-1 the third end was a classic – James, blocking like Greig used to in his prime, against the all-out attack from Siya – some brilliant and long rallies ensued and applause from those watching on – a 7-0 start for James and he was caught at 10-10 – but from there he went toe to toe with the student agonisingly losing out 22-20. The next end was a delight to watch as well – but very one sided as Siya never missed!
And so there we are – 4 teams entered in the Handicap Cup and not one of them into the second round! Who de we blame? According to Ian M, it’s got to be Hannah’s responsibility for picking such shocking combinations!
Never mind though the week could be salvaged by Team 5 who were in action at Ladywood on Wednesday, catching up on a rearranged league match against Murrayfield in Division 4. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Iain Caddell took the table for the hosts. Match 1 saw Iain lose out to the Murrayfield number 1, but the match was levelled when Roscoe had a straightforward win in Match 2, Rachel was then involved in a real tussle with the ultra-experienced Ian Robertson – it went to five ends and it was Rachel who held her nerve for an 11-9 win. The next three singles saw the reverse outcome, Rachel the only winner as the match was levelled at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles. Roscoe and Rachel fell in four ends to give the visitors the advantage but Roscoe’s second 3-0 win of the night brought the scores level again at 4-4. The last two matches could have gone either way – first Rachel played some excellent stuff to take the Murrayfield number 1 to five sets, his only lost sets of the night, but she fell just short in the decider. Iain then had the pressure of playing for a draw – at 2-1 up he looked to have the match within his grasp but a fourth end win for the visitor forced a decider and by the narrowest of margins, 11-9, Iain lost out. A bad finish for the hosts as they fell to a 6-4 defeat.
Our Player of the Week Award for Week 5 is not a difficult one. There is really only one player in contention this week – four wins out of six – probably should have been five out of six and playing some great stuff in practice. On losing sides but his performances, even when losing, show positive signs – well done to Roscoe.
And so, to our controversy of the week section. A couple of our newer players are definitely not fans of the handicapping system which they considered was not fair. One of the problems with the handicap system is that the maximum handicap a player can receive is +7. If we look at Friday night’s match at the University, we had Ian playing off +7 against an opponent who was +6. Their rating difference? 402 v 763 – a 361-point rating difference in favour of the Uni player and yet Ian was expected to compete with just a 1-point start. To put that into some perspective, if we put a 1000 rated player up against someone with a 361-point advantage they’d get a 7-point start. A 1200 rated player giving the same rating advantage would get a 10-point start. Whilst we understand that no system is perfect, there does seem to be a real difficulty with handicaps when the ratings are at the lower end of the scale. In the adjoining hall, Michael playing off +7 took on another +7 opponent despite Michael having roughly a 120-point inferior rating. We don’t know what the answer is, but we think something needs done to address this type of issue.
The other issue which arose was from the match against ESC. Our new player Tony was quick to point out that he felt there should be some recognition given to the divisions in which players were playing in the league. Obviously, a bit of that should be taken into account by the ratings of players but his example was his match v Euan Rae – Euan an experienced Division 3 player who has played up into Div 2 on a couple of occasions against a new league player playing in Division 5. One of the problems is with the fact that Tony is a new player and was therefore given an arbitrary 850 rating when he joined the league. After his first league match he dropped 224 points but because of beating three completely new league players who again would have no “Accurate Rating” he jumped up by 136 points. His handicap was then taken on that basis and didn’t take into account his next match where he dropped another 50 points in the week prior to Handicap Cup week. Now it wouldn’t have made any significant difference because Tony falls into the same category as we have discussed above – his +6 handicap could only have been extended by 1 point anyway. His primary complaint was that he only got a 2 point start against a player playing two divisions higher than him and the scores outlined the difference in standards with the ESC player only dropping 8 points over the course of three ends. He also had to play a Div 3 player who was playing off +7 and had the match been played out he would have had to give away a 1-point start! Tony doesn’t want to play Handicap Cup again!!
Finally, a shout out to Fred from the University - he was quick to point out to us that he was looking forward to featuring in this week’s report – no issue with his play or conduct throughout the night – a thoroughly pleasant young man and his TT has certainly improved over his time at the University. However, we hold him responsible for the atrocious condition of one of the nets we had to put up with at St Leonards Land on Friday night and the obstacle course at the back of the court – if a ball got into the corners of the hall, you needed to clamber over all sorts of different equipment to retrieve it! In fairness he did come out with the line of the night when James was bemoaning the lack of chairs in the hall – the wooden bench wasn’t looking particularly attractive for James with his sore back. Fred pointed out that the one chair in the hall was specifically there for any OLD people that needed it!
Two final awards this week. Firstly, our quote of the week comes from Tony who bemoaned the unfairness of the handicap system – supportive teammate John pointed out that life isn’t fair and used Bannockburn as an example! Tony’s response was that the handicap system should have seen him have “a few extra cannons and muskets rather than having his hands tied behind his back whilst giving his opponent an extra dagger to thrust into his heart” Classic! And finally, after Ryan won the most garish outfit of the week a couple of weeks ago, we’ve got a new contender pictured here! And playing TT how it should be played with a beer in hand! We may have had a bad week but still having fun!
First up, with a trip to Edinburgh Sports Club were Chamika (+3), Jay (+3) and Tony (+6). Chamika got the team off to a good start with a win in four ends, but a defeat followed for Tony against ex-Premier League player Keith Walker who was playing of a scratch handicap. Jay then lost out to Euan Rae and the visitors were in trouble. Keith v Chamika was next up, and a 3-point start for the Penicuik player was never enough as the hosts extended their lead to 3-1. Jay kept the team in the fixture with a win in match 5 before Euan restored the advantage with a straightforward win v Tony. 4-2 to the hosts and Jay v Keith to keep the match alive – Jay had a real go as the first four ends were shared – the decider was a nailbiter, but it was the experienced Keith who made the difference with a 14-12 win to secure the match for the hosts.
The next night saw Colin (-13), Charlie (-1) and Craig (Scratch) take on West Lothian at home. Colin was straight on the phone after he lost his first match against Isaac Wong (+3) - 16 of a start to 24 and it was comfortable for Isaac – a three-end victory and in the last end the actual score was 10-8 to Colin – a 16 shot deficit was ridiculous according to the Aussie who pointed out that Isaac was much better than his handicap suggested. Criag levelled the match in a 0-0 contest v his opponent before Charlie was brushed aside by another high handicapper – a 7-0 start for the West Lothian player who won more points over the three ends than Charlie did (15-14). When a similar fate befell Craig against Isaac the hosts were in trouble. Colin kept the hosts in with a chance with a win in Match 5 but a defeat for Charlie meant the visitors only needed one more win for victory – that came when their +6 player did a similar job on Craig as he had done on Charlie – 5-2 to the Bathgate side and the Club's second defeat of the week.
Not to worry, the big guns were out on Friday night as our remaining two teams travelled to take on Edinburgh University. First up, Roscoe (+5), Rachel (+5) and Ian M (+7). A point here and there makes all the difference, particularly in Handicap matches and Rachel was left kicking herself as she fell in Match 1 to an agonising five end defeat, losing out 14-12 in the decider. Ian then lost out in match 2. Roscoe got the side on the board with a win in match 3 and when Rachel won the next, the match was levelled. Roscoe then played a great game to give the visitors their first lead of the night, but the students then levelled the match with a win in game 6. 3-3 going into the last round of singles. Match 7 was to prove crucial to the overall result - Roscoe looked in control as he took the first two ends and looked headed for an undefeated night – a loss in the third seemed to dent his confidence and the Uni player stormed back to win in five. It was not to be for the visitors as Ian and Rachel both lost their final games as the Penicuik trio lost out 6-3.
Could we rely on James, Kristian and Michael to get one team into Round 2? Before a ball was struck Kristian had to pull out last minute with an injury – our reserves were Handicap Cup selector, Hannah or Club President, Greig – the selector told old dad he had to play as she had better things to do on a Friday night! That turned out to be another shocking decision by the youngster! The match was played out fully and if we reverse the order of play, we were 2-0 up with wins for Greig v Fred and James v Ruyi. What a great comeback from the students as they cantered to a 5-2 (or 7-2 / 5-0) win. The star of the show was Siya – playing of –6, her movement, speed, ball placement and all out attacking game was a delight to watch (unless you were playing against her). Greig had 2 match points against her in the fourth end of his match, but two textbook forehand loops put paid to his chances and she secured a fifth end victory with some ease. She put away James in four ends, however, in fairness to James this was probably the best match of the night from a spectator's point of view – at 1-1 the third end was a classic – James, blocking like Greig used to in his prime, against the all-out attack from Siya – some brilliant and long rallies ensued and applause from those watching on – a 7-0 start for James and he was caught at 10-10 – but from there he went toe to toe with the student agonisingly losing out 22-20. The next end was a delight to watch as well – but very one sided as Siya never missed!
And so there we are – 4 teams entered in the Handicap Cup and not one of them into the second round! Who de we blame? According to Ian M, it’s got to be Hannah’s responsibility for picking such shocking combinations!
Never mind though the week could be salvaged by Team 5 who were in action at Ladywood on Wednesday, catching up on a rearranged league match against Murrayfield in Division 4. Roscoe Cairney, Rachel Petrie and Iain Caddell took the table for the hosts. Match 1 saw Iain lose out to the Murrayfield number 1, but the match was levelled when Roscoe had a straightforward win in Match 2, Rachel was then involved in a real tussle with the ultra-experienced Ian Robertson – it went to five ends and it was Rachel who held her nerve for an 11-9 win. The next three singles saw the reverse outcome, Rachel the only winner as the match was levelled at 3-3 going into the crucial doubles. Roscoe and Rachel fell in four ends to give the visitors the advantage but Roscoe’s second 3-0 win of the night brought the scores level again at 4-4. The last two matches could have gone either way – first Rachel played some excellent stuff to take the Murrayfield number 1 to five sets, his only lost sets of the night, but she fell just short in the decider. Iain then had the pressure of playing for a draw – at 2-1 up he looked to have the match within his grasp but a fourth end win for the visitor forced a decider and by the narrowest of margins, 11-9, Iain lost out. A bad finish for the hosts as they fell to a 6-4 defeat.
Our Player of the Week Award for Week 5 is not a difficult one. There is really only one player in contention this week – four wins out of six – probably should have been five out of six and playing some great stuff in practice. On losing sides but his performances, even when losing, show positive signs – well done to Roscoe.
And so, to our controversy of the week section. A couple of our newer players are definitely not fans of the handicapping system which they considered was not fair. One of the problems with the handicap system is that the maximum handicap a player can receive is +7. If we look at Friday night’s match at the University, we had Ian playing off +7 against an opponent who was +6. Their rating difference? 402 v 763 – a 361-point rating difference in favour of the Uni player and yet Ian was expected to compete with just a 1-point start. To put that into some perspective, if we put a 1000 rated player up against someone with a 361-point advantage they’d get a 7-point start. A 1200 rated player giving the same rating advantage would get a 10-point start. Whilst we understand that no system is perfect, there does seem to be a real difficulty with handicaps when the ratings are at the lower end of the scale. In the adjoining hall, Michael playing off +7 took on another +7 opponent despite Michael having roughly a 120-point inferior rating. We don’t know what the answer is, but we think something needs done to address this type of issue.
The other issue which arose was from the match against ESC. Our new player Tony was quick to point out that he felt there should be some recognition given to the divisions in which players were playing in the league. Obviously, a bit of that should be taken into account by the ratings of players but his example was his match v Euan Rae – Euan an experienced Division 3 player who has played up into Div 2 on a couple of occasions against a new league player playing in Division 5. One of the problems is with the fact that Tony is a new player and was therefore given an arbitrary 850 rating when he joined the league. After his first league match he dropped 224 points but because of beating three completely new league players who again would have no “Accurate Rating” he jumped up by 136 points. His handicap was then taken on that basis and didn’t take into account his next match where he dropped another 50 points in the week prior to Handicap Cup week. Now it wouldn’t have made any significant difference because Tony falls into the same category as we have discussed above – his +6 handicap could only have been extended by 1 point anyway. His primary complaint was that he only got a 2 point start against a player playing two divisions higher than him and the scores outlined the difference in standards with the ESC player only dropping 8 points over the course of three ends. He also had to play a Div 3 player who was playing off +7 and had the match been played out he would have had to give away a 1-point start! Tony doesn’t want to play Handicap Cup again!!
Finally, a shout out to Fred from the University - he was quick to point out to us that he was looking forward to featuring in this week’s report – no issue with his play or conduct throughout the night – a thoroughly pleasant young man and his TT has certainly improved over his time at the University. However, we hold him responsible for the atrocious condition of one of the nets we had to put up with at St Leonards Land on Friday night and the obstacle course at the back of the court – if a ball got into the corners of the hall, you needed to clamber over all sorts of different equipment to retrieve it! In fairness he did come out with the line of the night when James was bemoaning the lack of chairs in the hall – the wooden bench wasn’t looking particularly attractive for James with his sore back. Fred pointed out that the one chair in the hall was specifically there for any OLD people that needed it!
Two final awards this week. Firstly, our quote of the week comes from Tony who bemoaned the unfairness of the handicap system – supportive teammate John pointed out that life isn’t fair and used Bannockburn as an example! Tony’s response was that the handicap system should have seen him have “a few extra cannons and muskets rather than having his hands tied behind his back whilst giving his opponent an extra dagger to thrust into his heart” Classic! And finally, after Ryan won the most garish outfit of the week a couple of weeks ago, we’ve got a new contender pictured here! And playing TT how it should be played with a beer in hand! We may have had a bad week but still having fun!
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