
Team 4 v North Merchiston (Division 3)
Tuesday 14th January saw Team 4 travel to face North Merchiston 3, hoping, like the previous week, to overturn a loss from the first half of the season. It was the same trio for the visitors as Rachel Petrie, Patrick Shanks and Chamika Diyunagalge took to the table. Their opponents, on the other hand, only had one player from the first half fixture. Their previous number 1 had won his three and contributed to a doubles win in the first half 6-4 victory for the Edinburgh side – he, however, had been committed up two divisions into Division 1. Without him in their ranks this was a very different game. Having had a “poor week last week, Rachel got the team off to a great start with a victory over Anders Lundberg, a player she had lost to in the first half of the season. Chamika then lost out in five ends before Patrick restored the advantage for the visitors. Rachel continued her good form with a win in match 4 before Patrick secured victory in Match 5 and when Chamika won match 6, Team 4 were cruising at 5-1. Having been criticised last week for dropping the player of the week, Chamika took to the table with Patrick this week and the win was secured with an excellent doubles victory. 6-1 became 8-2 with further wins for Patrick and Rachel and Team 4 left Edinburgh feeling great. In their last five matches, Team 4 have picked up 9 points out of a possible 10 – that run of form has seen them rise from relegation favourites to mid table – maybe not safe in mid-table but they must be close…..
Teams 3 v North Merchiston (Division 2)
Thursday night at Ladywood saw Teams 3 and 5 in action against North Merchiston 4 and Edinburgh University 6 respectively. Team 3 of Craig Linton, Charlie Brindley and Bob Porteous had a terrific win the previous week in record quick time against Corstorphine. Their opponents in this Division 2 fixture find themselves in the bottom three of the division so on paper this looked as if it should have been straightforward. Bob was first up and at 1-1 the match was in the balance – he squeezed through 11-9 in the third end and that dented his opponent’s confidence as he secured a four end victory. Craig showed good form with a 3-0 win in Match 2 and when Charlie repeated the result in Match 3, it was the perfect start for Team 3. The unlucky Julia who had taken an end of Bob then lost the first end to Craig 17-15. She picked up another end but ultimately fell to a 3-1 defeat. 2025 has been great for Team 3 – 14 matches played and 14 won – that run came to an end in match 5 as Bob lost out to Nick Adams but at least a point was secured when Charlie won his second match of the night. The doubles saw Criag and Charlie go the distance – they changed ends in the fifth at 5-0 up and were coasting – hold on a minute – a 14-12 loss gave the Edinburgh side their second win of the night. The last three singles, however, all went the way of the hosts as Team 2 recorded an excellent 8-2 win.
Team 5 v Edinburgh Uni (Division 4)
Meanwhile, in Team 5’s match against the students in Division 4, Captain Roscoe Cairney returned from illness to join up with Jay Jayalath and Mat Dyluk. This was an important match for the hosts – their opponents sat a place below them in the league table, five points behind but the students had a game in hand. A loss for Team 5 would bring their Opponents within striking distance. The team knew that at worst a draw would go a long way to securing their Division 4 safety. Jay won match 1 but when Roscoe lost in three tight ends in Match 2 the pressure was on. Mat gave the advantage back to the hosts with an excellent four end win before Roscoe won in four ends and Jay won in three. 4-1 up and it was looking good for Team 5. Mat lost out in match 6 before the all-important doubles. Jay and Roscoe were 2-0 up and a point looked secure until the students turned things round with wins in ends 3 and 4. Apparently there was never any panic as the hosts regained their composure for an 11-5 fifth end win and at least a draw was secured. The draw became a victory as Roscoe and Jay won their final matches for a 7-3 triumph. What a terrific start to 2025 for Team 5 – two wins out of two and whilst there will be some tough matches ahead they find themselves 7 points ahead of the students and 8 points clear of relegation. Whilst it’s maybe too early to say they are safe already; we’re going to say it anyway! For a team who didn’t want to step up to Div 4 they’ve already amassed almost double the amount of points they earned in Division 5 last season.
Team 2 v Edinburgh Uni (Division 2)
And so, as we reached the end of the week, 2025 had been perfect for Penicuik – 8 matches played and 8 victories – could Team 2 keep it going in their Division 2 fixture on Friday night v University 3? The students had a terrific end to the first half of the season which had brought them into contention for a promotion place. If Team 2 were to keep pace with League Leaders West Lothian they could afford no slip-ups. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Ian Hislop and James Wighton travelled to St Leonards Land knowing that this was going to be a tough match. Match 1 set the tone for the night – James was 2-0 up and looked in control but in the blink of an eye it was 2-2 and the fifth end went the distance. James held his nerve for a 12-10 win. Ian then lost out in four ends before Krzysztof was victorious in Match 3. The lead vanished again as James was involved in another deciding fifth end, having again been 2-0 up – this time his luck ran out as he lost the decider 11-7. The advantage swung the way of the visitors, however, after two straightforward wins for Krzysztof and Ian. So, 4-2 going into the doubles – Team 2’s first doubles win of the season came last week and they’re now on a roll as Krzysztof and James battled to a four end win. 5-2 and a point was secured. With time running out the last three matches were played simultaneously – Ian lost in quick fashion, but it was Ok as by the time of his loss, both James and Krzysztof were 2-0 up in their matches. The important sixth win was on its way! Krzysztof looked in complete control as he won his first two ends 11-3, 11-4 – plain sailing. Hang on, from nowhere his opponent squeezed the third end 11-9 and then won the fourth 11-6. A deciding fifth end it was to be – no need to panic though as James would have taken care of business – 11-6, 11-8 to the student in ends 3 and 4 and James’ match was also going to go the distance. James couldn’t turn the momentum back his way as he fell to an 11-6 fifth end loss. Match score 5-4! With the momentum against him, Krzysztof somehow managed to dig in and to the massive relief of his teammates he secured an 11-8 victory. A vital win for Team 2 keeps them level on points with top of the table West Lothian.
Player of the Week
We said last week that it's not often we get to gloat about great weeks so let's take some time to reflect on 2025 so far!! 5 matches played in Week 15 and 4 in Week 16. 9 fixtures involving the Club and NINE wins. Ninety individual matches played over the first two weeks of 2025 and SIXTY FIVE wins. We are pretty sure there are some tough weeks ahead so let's enjoy it while we can!! As for our Week 16 player of the Week, that's another tricky decision – Craig and Charlie from Team 3, Patrick and Rachel from Team 4, Krzysztof from Team 2 and Jay from Team 5 were all undefeated. Another notable mention to Mat – he can’t stop winning! Another win for him for Team 5 – his next goal is to win more than 1 on a match night. With our Week 15 winner, Chamika, slightly off form, Team 3 relied on great nights from Patrick and Rachel to get them over the line – they must be in with a chance of the reward this week? Craig and Charlie also looked good, but they lost the doubles match from 5-0 up in the fifth – that’s enough to put them out of the running. Surely this week Krzysztof has done enough to win the award – 3 singles wins and a doubles victory in a crucial 6-4 win for his side. He’s top of the individual averages and without him, Team 2 would not be in the position they are. But hold on there's a late entry putting his name forward - although Team 1 didn't play this week, Colin won the Edinburgh Veterans Championships. Well done to him on that achievement, but in a "smallish field" this time, it wasn't enough to sway the selectors, who tried hard to find a reason to give the award to someone else, but good news for Krzysztof, they couldn’t succeed. An excellent night for him and he even turned up at Saturday morning coaching to tell us all about how terrific he was! A well-deserved winner this week.
Controversy of the Week
Our controversy of the week this week comes from Team 3’s match v North Merchiston. It’s not so much a moan about a dodgy umpiring call but a moan about how not to make things more difficult for yourself. In the deciding fifth end of the doubles, at a crucial point in the match (8-6) to Penicuik, Charlie receiving serve was convinced the serve from his Merchiston opponent landed on the wrong half of the table. He effectively stopped playing to call it out. The serving team disputed the fact that it was out. They thought it was in. Craig who was receiving the serve was well out at the corner of the table and didn’t have the best view of it. The man who did have the best view was Charlie standing nearest to the middle line. Over to the umpire to decide. We’ll be fine here because it’s Penicuik umpire, Bob! Of course not – we wouldn’t dream of suggesting that we might get a “biased home umpire call”! Bob couldn’t call it in or out. And that’s our moan! An umpire, seated at a desk, in line with the net probably has the worst view of all five involved in the game when it comes to deciding whether a ball was on the correct side – especially in Bob’s case – he’s only about 4 ft 11 and can hardly see over the scoreboard! Here’s an idea guys – why is the umpire in a doubles match sitting down? Certainly, in the past, we were always told that in doubles the umpire should stand – at least then he has a better chance of seeing what’s going on. We know that our Team 1 always stand if they are umpiring a doubles match, but in fairness we haven’t seen many other teams adopting this practice. Should all teams make it clear to whoever is umpiring that they should do so? On this occasion we also had the benefit of VAR. Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the rules about being able to use it!! Decide for yourself whether this was in or out!!
"The expedite system shall come into operation after 10 minutes' play in a game or at any time when requested by both players or pairs...... each player shall serve for 1 point in turn until the end of the game, and if the receiving player or pair makes 13 returns in a rally the receiver shall score a point. Once introduced, the expedite system shall remain in operation until the end of the match."
This would certainly speed things up in games where both players simply won't attack. So watch out anyone who is due to play Edinburgh Uni - apparently stop watches have been ordered for all and good luck to the umpires who have to then have their wits about them to count the strokes as well as watching for everything else. In fairness, our club president still remembers a Handicap Cup Match where he and a young Hannah played with the one and only Ian Hislop against Muirhouse. Ian's opponent wasn't going to attack and neither was Ian. The watching crowd were so mesmerised by the players that snoring could be heard coming from the onlookers as well as from the umpire! Ah memories of the good old days!
Week 17 looks a little tougher on paper for the Club - could we possibly extend our unbeaten 2025 a week longer?? Positive thinking required!