We put up a good fight against the strongest team in our division - the currently unbeaten Sutton Adults. As we had lost the home leg 0-9, we were itching to exact some kind of retribution, although we knew that the odds were probably against us. Luckily, the team captain Sarah saw fit to field an extremely strong team herself. We were lucky to be able to call on Neil, from our Mens 1 team; Nick, the Mens 2 captain; Anushka, a Mens 2 reserve player; and, last but certainly not least, Helen, a Ladies and Mixed 1 team player.
In Hybrid matches, as with other league matches, there is a sequence of play. The captains are supposed to rank their players in order of strength and ability, with the highest being '1' and the lowest being '4'. Thus M1, or Man 1, would theoretically be the strongest man. Sometimes, there is an issue of gamesmanship, and of 'sacrificing' a weaker man to a stronger opposing pair, but keeping your strongest pairs to try and eke out some rubbers further on in a game. St Andrews is a very fair club in that they normally declare players in strength order and don't play too many mind games. Thus we played Neil as M1, Nick as M2, Anushka as M3, and myself as M4.
My rubbers were with Nick, (lost 14-21, 15-21) Helen (lost 14-21, 15-21) and Anushka. (lost 11-21, 17-21) However, overall I was quite pleased with the way that I played, particularly in the opening game of the rubber with Nick. A few points from the end of this game, I had cleared the shuttle but unfortunately set up a smash for one of their players. The opponent predictably smashed it, and on pure reflex I stuck my racket out and the return actually went over the net - but Sutton Adults being as lightning quick as they are, the other player was ready at the net and waiting for my shallow return, so he tried to kill the point, but only succeeded in burying it in the net. There was a nice round of applause from the rest of my team sitting on the sidelines! Overall we lost this game 4-5. Thankfully, after this performance, Sarah has confirmed me as playing in two of the final games of the season: against Howard (match 8, home) and Ebbisham. (match 10, away)
Back to the training ground, then!
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