Week 7 saw four of our five teams in League action, starting with visits on Wednesday 30th October to Edinburgh International for Team 1 and to Gullane for Team 5.
Greig McDonell, Colin Green and Peter Aird knew that their visit to EI in the Premier Division would be a tough encounter – the previous season had seen two good wins for the Penicuik trio but those matches could easily have gone the other way. With Peter unable to get to the venue on time, matches were played out of order and after the first four singles only Greig had recorded a victory – 3-1 down when Peter arrived – he played the next two singles and won them to draw the match level at 3-3. In hindsight, Peter should have sat out the doubles to give him a rest but instead he combined with Colin in a three set loss – advantage EI. The last three matches were played simultaneously – that meant 4 matches in a row for Peter and he just ran out of steam losing in five ends to Marek Domagala. Meantime, Greig could find no answer to the attacking play of Debjit Choudhury and to round of a miserable night for Colin he lost to Babu Valaguruvan in four sets. So two wins for Peter and one for Greig resulted in a disappointing 7-3 loss for the visitors.
Team 5 made the long trip to the East Coast to take on top of the table Gullane in Division 4. Sian McDonald, Mat Dyluk and Ian Millar were under no illusions as to how difficult this match was going to be. In fairness, Sian got the side off to a decent start, unluckily losing out in five ends in Match 1. That, however, was as good as it got for the visitors. The Gullane outfit showed why they sit at the top of the Division 4 table as they dropped only one further end all night in their 10-0 victory – where was Team Captain Roscoe? Protecting his average apparently!
The next night was Halloween and Teams 2 and 4 were trying to avoid any horror results as they faced Corstorphine and Edinburgh University respectively.
James Wighton, Gary McDougal and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz took to the table for Team 2 in Division 2 and after the first three singles matches they held a 3-0 lead. Gary narrowly lost match 4 but wins for James and Krzysztof gave the Penicuik trio a commanding 5-1 lead going into the doubles. The doubles have been a horror story for Team 2 so far this season. Krys and Gary didn’t work out in Match 1, James and Gary lost in Match 2, James and Hannah didn’t do any better in Match 3, Krys and James lost in Match 4 before James and Gary gave it another go in Match 5, only to lose again – this was the night fortunes were going to change – Krys and James both unbeaten took to the table and duly lost another doubles – SIX doubles matches played and SIX lost – some practice needed it appears. Despite their shocking doubles performances, James and Krys won their remaining singles as the hosts recorded a good 7-3 victory.
In the other half of the hall, Team 4 could only field one regular player of their four registered as Chamika Diyunugalge was joined by Phil Daly and Jay Jayalath playing up from Team 5. They took on Edinburgh University 5 in Division 3. In the first three matches, Jay was unlucky losing out 12-10 in a nail-biting five end encounter but all three matches were lost. Match 5 saw Chamika play some terrific stuff as he recorded a 3-2 win but with the other two singles lost, the hosts trailed 5-1 going into the doubles. Another marathon as Chamika and Jay came back from 2-1 down to win 11-9 in the fifth. 5-2 and the hosts needed to win all three remaining singles for a point. Jay was again unlucky losing out in five but ultimately that was as close as the home side got to a win as they suffered an 8-2 defeat. Not a horror show but a disappointing result for Team 4.
And so, to our Player of the Week Award. It wasn’t a great week for the Club with three losses and only one win – that win saw both James and Krzysztof undefeated in singles play. It’s difficult to split them this week – they both won 9 ends and lost 1. Our Player of the Week Panel got bored counting up points won and lost so we turn to who the other side thought was better on the night – the player of the match according to Corstorphine and therefore our Player of the Week is James - Well done to him.
As for controversies this week, the theme continues a little from last week with player availability a bit of a concern. Team 4 had to call on two players to play up from Team 5 in a game, which on paper, looked as if it could have produced a chance to pick up some points. In fairness, the three players who were unavailable all had other commitments but it does show how important it is to have a squad of players to call upon. Our opponents on the night had EIGHT players registered to play in the team. We’ve always taken the view that having a pool as big as that would be counter-productive (and a nightmare to get everyone playing a fair amount of games). Given how difficult it is to get postponements these days, however, one can easily see how having a bigger pool would be advantageous. In seasons gone by, if you only had one player out of 4 available, a postponement request would be put in without hesitation. It seems, however, that more and more clubs are taking the view that fixtures just need to be played. We, as a Club, would struggle to give postponements to others because of the limited availability of our venue and so we have to understand that asking other clubs to postpone is likely to result in a similar position being taken by them.
We were not surprised therefore when in Week 6, Team 2 sought a postponement of their match away to West Lothian in Division 2. No came the response from our Bathgate based opponents. Difficulty in rearranging etc. As we have said before refusal of postponements, irrespective of how merited they are, lead to a bit of ill-feeling and a suggestion that those refusing the postponement are not very “sporting”. But we just have to live with it. What was a surprise is that the very next week West Lothian sought a postponement of their fixture against our Team 4! They cannot get their venue on the date set for the fixture. Not our problem is it? Surely we’re just going to tell them, sorry - you guys refused last week so we’re refusing this week – of course not – we’re not like that. We don’t hold grudges! We want to play games not take concessions! We’re all so accommodating and sporting (or maybe Team 4 just weren’t aware of the refusal the previous week!! Fixture rearranged for later in the year. Let’s just hope that WL, if called upon in future, are able to return the favour!
The only other matter of any note arose in Team 1’s visit to Edinburgh International. As we mentioned, Peter was unable to get to the venue on time – he was very late. In the old days, more than 30 minutes after start time and you’d forfeit your games. We had played four singles before Peter arrived and some EI players (spectators) commented that the 30 minute rule could be invoked. Of course that rule doesn’t exist anymore – now we have the strange situation that a player can turn up as late as they want and so long as the hosts are able to complete the 10 matches in time there is no punishment for the late arrival. If we hadn’t been able to complete match 10 for example that match would be awarded to the team who had been on time but for venues where there is no time limit does that mean someone can turn up at the end of the match effectively and still be allowed to play? A player turns up at North Merchiston just as the doubles are finishing (match 7). I’m here and able to play – NM don’t have a “finish time” so that player can play his three matches in a row at the end of the night! That can’t be an outcome that this rule was intended to allow but that seems to be what we have.
Week 8 is already upon us!
Greig McDonell, Colin Green and Peter Aird knew that their visit to EI in the Premier Division would be a tough encounter – the previous season had seen two good wins for the Penicuik trio but those matches could easily have gone the other way. With Peter unable to get to the venue on time, matches were played out of order and after the first four singles only Greig had recorded a victory – 3-1 down when Peter arrived – he played the next two singles and won them to draw the match level at 3-3. In hindsight, Peter should have sat out the doubles to give him a rest but instead he combined with Colin in a three set loss – advantage EI. The last three matches were played simultaneously – that meant 4 matches in a row for Peter and he just ran out of steam losing in five ends to Marek Domagala. Meantime, Greig could find no answer to the attacking play of Debjit Choudhury and to round of a miserable night for Colin he lost to Babu Valaguruvan in four sets. So two wins for Peter and one for Greig resulted in a disappointing 7-3 loss for the visitors.
Team 5 made the long trip to the East Coast to take on top of the table Gullane in Division 4. Sian McDonald, Mat Dyluk and Ian Millar were under no illusions as to how difficult this match was going to be. In fairness, Sian got the side off to a decent start, unluckily losing out in five ends in Match 1. That, however, was as good as it got for the visitors. The Gullane outfit showed why they sit at the top of the Division 4 table as they dropped only one further end all night in their 10-0 victory – where was Team Captain Roscoe? Protecting his average apparently!
The next night was Halloween and Teams 2 and 4 were trying to avoid any horror results as they faced Corstorphine and Edinburgh University respectively.
James Wighton, Gary McDougal and Krzysztof Laszkiewicz took to the table for Team 2 in Division 2 and after the first three singles matches they held a 3-0 lead. Gary narrowly lost match 4 but wins for James and Krzysztof gave the Penicuik trio a commanding 5-1 lead going into the doubles. The doubles have been a horror story for Team 2 so far this season. Krys and Gary didn’t work out in Match 1, James and Gary lost in Match 2, James and Hannah didn’t do any better in Match 3, Krys and James lost in Match 4 before James and Gary gave it another go in Match 5, only to lose again – this was the night fortunes were going to change – Krys and James both unbeaten took to the table and duly lost another doubles – SIX doubles matches played and SIX lost – some practice needed it appears. Despite their shocking doubles performances, James and Krys won their remaining singles as the hosts recorded a good 7-3 victory.
In the other half of the hall, Team 4 could only field one regular player of their four registered as Chamika Diyunugalge was joined by Phil Daly and Jay Jayalath playing up from Team 5. They took on Edinburgh University 5 in Division 3. In the first three matches, Jay was unlucky losing out 12-10 in a nail-biting five end encounter but all three matches were lost. Match 5 saw Chamika play some terrific stuff as he recorded a 3-2 win but with the other two singles lost, the hosts trailed 5-1 going into the doubles. Another marathon as Chamika and Jay came back from 2-1 down to win 11-9 in the fifth. 5-2 and the hosts needed to win all three remaining singles for a point. Jay was again unlucky losing out in five but ultimately that was as close as the home side got to a win as they suffered an 8-2 defeat. Not a horror show but a disappointing result for Team 4.
And so, to our Player of the Week Award. It wasn’t a great week for the Club with three losses and only one win – that win saw both James and Krzysztof undefeated in singles play. It’s difficult to split them this week – they both won 9 ends and lost 1. Our Player of the Week Panel got bored counting up points won and lost so we turn to who the other side thought was better on the night – the player of the match according to Corstorphine and therefore our Player of the Week is James - Well done to him.
As for controversies this week, the theme continues a little from last week with player availability a bit of a concern. Team 4 had to call on two players to play up from Team 5 in a game, which on paper, looked as if it could have produced a chance to pick up some points. In fairness, the three players who were unavailable all had other commitments but it does show how important it is to have a squad of players to call upon. Our opponents on the night had EIGHT players registered to play in the team. We’ve always taken the view that having a pool as big as that would be counter-productive (and a nightmare to get everyone playing a fair amount of games). Given how difficult it is to get postponements these days, however, one can easily see how having a bigger pool would be advantageous. In seasons gone by, if you only had one player out of 4 available, a postponement request would be put in without hesitation. It seems, however, that more and more clubs are taking the view that fixtures just need to be played. We, as a Club, would struggle to give postponements to others because of the limited availability of our venue and so we have to understand that asking other clubs to postpone is likely to result in a similar position being taken by them.
We were not surprised therefore when in Week 6, Team 2 sought a postponement of their match away to West Lothian in Division 2. No came the response from our Bathgate based opponents. Difficulty in rearranging etc. As we have said before refusal of postponements, irrespective of how merited they are, lead to a bit of ill-feeling and a suggestion that those refusing the postponement are not very “sporting”. But we just have to live with it. What was a surprise is that the very next week West Lothian sought a postponement of their fixture against our Team 4! They cannot get their venue on the date set for the fixture. Not our problem is it? Surely we’re just going to tell them, sorry - you guys refused last week so we’re refusing this week – of course not – we’re not like that. We don’t hold grudges! We want to play games not take concessions! We’re all so accommodating and sporting (or maybe Team 4 just weren’t aware of the refusal the previous week!! Fixture rearranged for later in the year. Let’s just hope that WL, if called upon in future, are able to return the favour!
The only other matter of any note arose in Team 1’s visit to Edinburgh International. As we mentioned, Peter was unable to get to the venue on time – he was very late. In the old days, more than 30 minutes after start time and you’d forfeit your games. We had played four singles before Peter arrived and some EI players (spectators) commented that the 30 minute rule could be invoked. Of course that rule doesn’t exist anymore – now we have the strange situation that a player can turn up as late as they want and so long as the hosts are able to complete the 10 matches in time there is no punishment for the late arrival. If we hadn’t been able to complete match 10 for example that match would be awarded to the team who had been on time but for venues where there is no time limit does that mean someone can turn up at the end of the match effectively and still be allowed to play? A player turns up at North Merchiston just as the doubles are finishing (match 7). I’m here and able to play – NM don’t have a “finish time” so that player can play his three matches in a row at the end of the night! That can’t be an outcome that this rule was intended to allow but that seems to be what we have.
Week 8 is already upon us!
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