badminton match 5

St Andrews 4
New Malden 2

Mens Fours Division 2

I fielded a weaker team in light of the fallout from the first match. Nerves were not eased as Robin (one of their stronger players who plays in our first Mens team and their Mixed 1 team) said they were putting out a reasonable side. So it looked like defeat was on the cards. Our team comprised me, Anushka, Benno and Chris Hanson. They did turn up with a couple of reasonable players but also two older guys who were a bit slower around the court, which increased our confidence.

In the event, Anushka & Benno did well to win the first rubber in 3 ends. I frustratingly lost with Chris in a very tight rubber 19-21 27-25 18-21, and Benno likewise lost with Chris. So at the halfway point, New Malden were 2-1 up. Fortunately we started using our brains in the second half of the match and won the remaining 3 rubbers in straight games to overcome the opposition 4-2, yielding another valuable 2 points to us in our search for a good finishing position in the table this year.

badminton match 4

St Andrews 6
Chart Centre 3

Mens Division 3

Mens 2 have now got some points on the board at home following a good win over newly promoted Chart Centre. Ringo partnered with new superstar Lawrence, and they combined to win all 3 rubbers including an impressive straight games win over Chart Centre's best pair. I played with Matt, but we couldn't beat their best pair, though we won the other 2. Anushka and little Ben made up the final pair and won 1.

badminton match 3

St Andrews 6
Albury 3

Hybrid Division 2

First Hybrid game of the season, and it turned out to be a funny affair against some bewilderingly stroppy players. First to bat were Anushka & Sarah B, who lost in straight games to their top man & lady. Steve & Sarah K grimly clawed back a rubber in 3 ends to level the scores. Gerry & I went on 3rd, narrowly losing the 1st game but eventually settling to win well, 18-21 21-9 21-11. The Sarah twins got thrashed by similar scorelines to make it 2-2 after the first 4 rubbers, then Steve & Anushka just hung on to take the coveted M1/M2 rubber. I won our only straight-games win of the night with Sarah B to make it 4-2 after 6 rubbers, but Gerry and Sarah K contrived to lose the 7th rubber setting up for a nervous finale. Luckily Anushka & I won ours in 3 ends, as did Steve & Gerry, making a final score of 6-3 in a fairly close encounter.

badminton match 2

New Malden 7
St Andrews 2

Mens Division 3

Mens 2 team slumped to a 2-7 away loss against New Malden, who were relegated from Division 2 last season. Our cause was not helped by fielding a very weak team including 4 reserves. Seemingly nobody wanted to travel to this match! Our side on the night was Ringo & Kaz, myself & Gerry, and Benno & Stewart. Disappointingly, New Malden also fielded several reserves but they were on the whole too strong for us. They had an older guy called John Parslow playing for them who I beat convincingly in the Hybrid last season, so was hopeful I could do so again in this match, but we ended up losing 15-21 16-21. Benno & Stewart actually managed to beat John though, which was pretty comical, and our 2nd rubber was gifted to us courtesy of John's partner falling and injuring his back, so they conceded a 2nd rubber. Just as well or the scoreline could've been 1-8!

badminton match 1

St Andrews 6
Howard 0

Mens Fours Division 2

The new season started with a bang as I fielded a strong team against Howard. We had previously played them in the Hybrid section of the District League and they had some reasonable men, so I was unsure as to what side they would put out for the Fours. In the event, their men in this match were not as strong as thought. Total match duration was just 65 minutes. None of the 6 rubbers went to 3 ends and the score in at least one game of each rubber was 21-10 or less to us. Tonight's team was Martin, Steve, Ringo and myself. Chris H was playing on an adjacent court and was pretty unhappy to have been dropped, though last year he made just 3/8 matches; worse, I've had pressure from the powers that be to give games to players who aren't in any other teams, and avoid using the big guns like Martin & Steve. The politics roadshow continues...

next year

I will try and make the blog a bit less about badminton. It has gone through various evolutions over its life, maybe it's time for a change. Back in 2003-5 for example, the blog was almost unrelentingly about poker. I haven't yet given much thought to what the new change of focus should be, any ideas?

badminton match 24

Howard 6
St Andrews 3

Hybrid Division 1

Final match of the season, so it was somewhat disappointing to fizzle out. We needed to score 4 rubbers at the very least in order to ensure survival in the division, and  in typical St Andrews fashion we started the match in slightly too cavalier end-of-season mood.

Scott & reserve Sarah B were up first, just stealing the first game of the opening rubber but badly succumbing in the following two games 20-22 21-9 21-14. Steve & Sarah K went a bit closer in the 2nd rubber, but still lost 21-19 21-19. I struggled with Gerry throughout the 3rd rubber, going down in the first end but we fought back valiantly to take the 2nd game before bowing out in the final, 21-14 18-21 21-16. So having been set a target of 4 rubbers to stay in the division, we were 3-0 down after the first 3. Far from ideal was an understatement.

The ladies started to put up a fight and won the 4th rubber, again in 3 games. Scott & Steve continued our ascension by winning the 5th in a close encounter 19-21 20-22, but our progress finished there as Gerry & Sarah K couldn't find a way past their opponents, losing in straight games. Next, I was up with Sarah B (a good first team player) and felt reasonably confident about my chances, given I had beaten this pair on home turf last month. They made a good fight of it however, and we needed all our determination and concentration to take the 7th rubber 23-25 13-21.

With our 3rd rubber won, we needed to win 1 of the last 2 to ensure survival. Sadly for us, Steve & Gerry were blocked by their Man 1 & 3, losing a very close best of three in 20-22 22-20 21-18. It was now or nothing - and the final rubber of the season fell to myself & Scott...we didn't really get into a comfortable rhythm against our opponents and they won in straight games to deny us survival.

We finished this interesting season tied on points and rubbers won/lost with New Malden. After this point, survival is determined by rubbers, games and then points between the bottom two sides. We lost 6-3 away at New Malden but then fought back to win 6-3 at home. So that was still tied. Unfortunately our match secretary crunched the numbers and found us to lose by 20 games to 21 over the two legs. Relegation by the tightest of margins! Still, Steve will be pleased to play so many rival teams next year which have bars on their venues...

badminton match 23

St Andrews 8
Ebbisham B2 1

Mens Division 3

Final match of the season on home turf. A convincing scoreline hid some close games, though. Our pairs for this match were me & Scott, Kaz & Anushka, and Steve & Gerry.

First on was me & Scott, cruising through the first game of the first rubber 21-7, though a few too many errors on our part nearly gave them the 2nd game - we saw it out 21-18. Steve & Gerry went on against their top pair Gavin & Peter next, again winning in straight games 21-12 21-18. Kaz & Anushka went on last (but had the most favourable order of play, 3-5-7) and also won 21-5 21-18, continuing trends of not just winning in straight games but winning the 2nd game to 18! So, comfortably 3-0 up after the first 3.

Steve & Gerry returned on court for the 4th rubber, winning again in straight games 21-13 21-11. Then it got tricky from there. Ebbisham kicked it up a gear and really made Kaz & Anushka work. Gavin & Peter won the first game but our lads just held on to steal it in the 3rd game, 16-21 21-14 23-21. That gave us the 5th rubber and the 2 points for winning the match.

Me & Scott started brightly and opened the 6th rubber with a 21-11 win, but we really took the proverbial foot off the gas and surrendered tamely 18-21 13-21 to hand Ebbisham what would be their only win of the match. There were no such problems for Kaz & Anushka against their weakest pair, with another comfortable win 21-14 21-6, making the score 6-1 after 7 rubbers.

If the opposition hoped to gain further inroads against me & Scott after taking our eye off the shuttle, they were to be proved wrong as we went on court for the last time and prevailed 21-14 21-19 against Gavin & Peter, before Steve & Gerry fought valiantly in the final rubber to just edge it 21-19 19-21 21-18. The match was most notable for how we all struggled at some point against opposition pairs the rest of the team cruised against, but overall we ran out 8-1 winners.

The big question is, with 2 teams out of 5 in our division being relegated this year, have we done enough to secure our place? We currently lie 2nd bottom of the table, but we are tied with 3rd place Coulsdon & Purley on 8 points, though they have a much better 'rubber difference'. There can't be many teams who have won half their matches on the calendar and still go down! Ebbisham are definitely relegated having lost all 8 of their matches.

badminton match 22

St Andrews 0
Penguins 9

Mens Division 1

With Nick out after hurting his hand, Adam busy at work and Anushka suffering from 'man flu' symptoms, I finally got my first call up for the Mens 1 team in the highest division. As if my expectations of an insanely tough match couldn't get much higher, Penguin arrived with a strong team determined to make sure of victory, and in turn be crowned this year's champions of the Sutton League.

Our team was Neil & Martin, Conor & Robin, me & Ben. I did my best to throw a spanner in the works by misplacing my rackets at the start of the match, frantically legging it back to Wallington to search the house and back to the church again! I ended up borrowing Neil's spare. In the event, me & Ben were 3rd pair up first against Tao & Arak (the latter playing for Canada...gulp!) and unsurprisingly lost in successive games 12-21 11-21. Surprisingly we just outscored Neil & Martin against that pair, (11 in each game) so I was pleased with that. Our second rubber was against a quick powerful pair, Yestin & Chris - again we succumbed to 12 and 15, and again outscored Conor & Robin who posted 11 and 9.

Our final rubber of the match was against Vibul's nephew Jay and his partner Colin. We made a sluggish start and some poor unforced errors handed us a heavy defeat to 9, but we were actually ahead in the second game 16-12 before somehow conspiring to lose to 17 - seems like the opposition found another couple of gears just when they needed it.

It was always going to be super tough against a team who normally play 2 divisions above my usual, but overall a good experience. Hopefully as 3rd pair we didn't disgrace ourselves, but taking into account that the other pairs were also unable to win a rubber shows just how tough Penguins were on the night. Thanks to Neil and Anushka for giving me the opportunity to play, I really played my heart out every single point!

badminton match 21

St Andrews 5
Ebbisham D 1

Mens Fours Division 2

I employed the familiar tactic of giving match experience to Benno, and beefed up our defences by naming Steve over Ron. Anushka was the other player.

Ebbisham D's captain is the father of three boys, so most of the time we can expect at least 2 O' Briens to be named on the team sheet. Tonight was no exception, with the frighteningly young Gareth starting as their Man 1, something not lost on Steve who struggled to take the opener seriously! We did eventually knuckle down and won in straight games.

We had to play out of sequence as Anushka was nearly 45 minutes late....*cough*. I had a strange game with Benno in which were unlucky not to convert a win, losing 21-23 19-21. So it was 1-1 to us after the opening 2 rubbers. Anushka turned up not long after and was forced to play two rubbers back to back (no time to waste in Fours!), winning both of them to give us a score of 3-1 and at least one point. Steve continued the progress and won with Benno, whilst after busily stuffing his face, Anushka came on court for the last time with me to win again, making a fine 5-1 win overall.

badminton match 20

St Andrews 4
Howard 5

Hybrid Division 1

The last home match of the season was another close encounter. Scott went on first with Sowji but lost in straight games, before Steve equalised the score with Sarah in a very tight best of 3. Unfortunately I couldn't help further our cause and lost with Gerry 24-26 16-21. The ladies won in straight games and restored parity, before Scott & Steve had an unusual loss to Howard's top two men. Luckily Sowji and I played very well and won 21-12 21-14 to make it 3-3 after 6 rubbers.

With the game entering the final third, we needed Gerry to contribute something to the scoreline but he lost with Sarah 16-21 8-21. I dragged us back into the match, ably assisted by Scott in a pulsing 8th rubber, won 18-21 21-16 21-14 setting up King Steve for the grand finale and deciding 9th rubber. Sadly, it seemed as though Gerry was having an off day and though he had one of the best mens partners in Steve, they slumped to a straight games defeat, gifting Howard the points and ensuring our own relegation struggles continue.

badminton match 19

Ebbisham D 4
St Andrews 2

Mens Fours Division 2

Safe in the knowledge that there was no relegation for this division, and with promotion hopes long since cast by the wayside, I named a weaker team in the hope of creating a closer match against Ebbisham's lowest-graded section, taking along the veteran Anushka alongside septuagenarian Ron and match inexperienced Benno.

Frustratingly, Anushka & I were on first as man 1 & 2 but could not settle quickly enough, and lost 21-11 26-24 when on the verge of pushing for a deciding game. Benno played fairly well and, when playing with Ron, took the opposition to 3 games. Sadly Ron was showing the effects of seniority and neither myself nor Anushka could win when we partnered him. The downside of Mens Fours is that if one player loses all 3 of their rubbers, the match cannot be won - you can only hope for a draw at best. I won the remaining rubber with Benno, as did Anushka, but it was too little too late and Ebbisham held on for an unlikely victory.

badminton match 18

Woodcote 9
St Andrews 0

Mens Division 3

Our fourth match in just 10 days saw us travel to Aberdour School down the A217. The team was strengthened slightly by the inclusion of Scott at Benno's expense. Steve partnered Gerry again after successfully winning all their rubbers at Ebbisham; Kaz went with "man-flu" sufferer Anushka.

Scott & I went on first and were frustrated to lose the opener 22-24 20-22, whilst Steve & Gerry lost against their top pair 21-11 21-14. This set the tone for the remainder of the match - regardless of our efforts, it seemed as though Woodcote had the answer. However Scott & I may have moved up to 2nd pair billing after Kaz & Anushka slumped to straight defeats in all their games!

The only slightly entertaining aspect of this evening was Woodcote continuing their time-honoured and mildly unsanitary tradition of serving refreshments in the mens changing rooms.

badminton match 17

Fusion Leisure 3
St Andrews 3

Mens Fours Division 2

A very tricky away match. As captain, I named an above-strength side due to Chris, Ron and Paul being unavailable to play for varying reasons. The team that travelled to Selsdon was me, Steve, Kaz and Anushka. In fairness I advised the Fusion captain of this change to create a closer match...I got my wish! They ended up with a side full of youthful enthusiasm, with an average age probably 10-15 years below ours.

Fusion started very strongly against our top 2 men Steve & Kaz, winning the first game 21-13 17-21 21-5. Not to be denied I went on with Anushka  and won in another best of 3, 20-22 21-17 16-21. Steve and Anushka couldn't keep this momentum up though and lost in straight games. I won with Kaz and Steve in the next two rubbers to ensure we at least had a point for our efforts, but unfortunately Kaz & Anushka couldn't convert the final rubber into a 4-2 win.

A fairly good result overall, against a spirited and determined opposition.

badminton match 16

Ebbisham B2 3
St Andrews 6

Mens Division 3

Mens 2 congregated gratefully in the warmth of the bar at Ebbisham before going on to put up a decent fight against the current bottom-of-the-table team. Luckily it seemed as though the opposition hadn't put out their strongest side either, which definitely helped us.

Kaz, Anushka, Steve and Gerry won all 3 of their games whilst I drew the short straw and had to partner Paul. We actually started brightly enough, winning the 1st game against two different pairs 21-10 and 21-13, but concentration waned and they fought back well to deny us any contribution towards the final score.

In the event, it was a little irrelevant as we had already won at least 5 rubbers to take the match. A good team performance and valuable points in the bag - this year the bottom two teams from our division will be relegated, so it is vital to overtake one of the others!

badminton match 15

St Andrews 2
Woodcote 7

Mens Division 3

Decimated by injuries, a makeshift team was hastily scrambled to try take the fight to Woodcote. We won this corresponding fixture last year 6-3 but lacked options or a cohesive strategy this time around. The opposition were alright but beatable. Yesterday marked the start of an intense weekend with 2 mens matches in as many days.

Top player Steve played with Kaz, Anushka went with a barely fit Ringo whilst I partnered Benno. Top pair did quite well winning the only 2 rubbers for our team whilst Benno & I slumped to straight game defeats in all 3 contests.

Unfortunately a predictable outcome, but hopefully better results soon - starting tonight against Ebbisham of course!

badminton match 14

Wimbledon 6
St Andrews 0

Mens Fours Division 2

I needed an extra day just to cool down in order to write this report. Things looked ominous from the outset - with the match due to start at 7:30, it was only at 7:05 I found out by phoning Anushka that his car had broken down and would I mind detouring to Carshalton to pick him up. We arrived late and played probably one of the worst matches of Fours' season.

Notwithstanding his unreliability, me & Anushka went on as 1&2, losing the first 10-21 but winning the second 21-10. Halfway through the deciding game, he had a tantrum when I disagreed with his strategy and deliberately overhit the next 4 points out. We lost the 3rd 14-21. He'll never play in my team again. Wimbledon's players probably enjoyed picking on the two weaker players, Paul and Ron. In Paul's case they were playing fast flat shots to his backhand that he had trouble returning; in Ron's case they were merely dropping him and he didn't run in to cover his positioning.

The other rubbers were all conceded in straight games. We are now 2nd bottom of the table but only by virtue of having played more games, so it's even possible that Ebbisham D could overtake us in the meantime.

badminton match 13

St Andrews 6
New Malden 3

Hybrid Division 1

A better result on home turf, though there were a couple of contributing factors. We had an above average strength team with first team player Neil ushered in to replace "busy working" Scott and Anushka replacing Gerry...captain Sarah must be getting jittery about the very real threat of relegation! New Malden likewise fielded an average to strong team. When we played at theirs in the first Hybrid match of the season, they had a strong player called Dennis who wasn't here this time round; in his place was Tariq from their second mens 6, but they made up for it by having one stronger lady than previously.

Neil & Sowji were on first but lost in a best of 3 to Robin & Jo. Debatable if that was surprising as that New Malden pair are in their first mixed team. Steve & Sarah won, and then me & Anushka entered the fray, winning in straight games to make it 2-1 to us after the first 3.

After palpable excitement of a very close first game which was just lost 27-29, the ladies rubber was conceded in straight games. The clash of the titans (Man 1 & Man 2 from each side) was next; Neil & Steve did us proud and won comfortably. Next up was me & Sowji vs Tariq & Lyn. We easily won the first game and were well ahead in the second, but took our foot off the gas and lost it. I switched my brain on for the deciding game and we prevailed 21-12 17-21 21-10. We were 4-2 up after 6 rubbers.

Anushka didn't fare well with Sarah; she missed some shots to bring New Malden back into the match. We needed to win one of the last two to take the game. I was on next with Neil and we made short work of Chris & Tariq, winning in straight games 21-11 21-11 to secure our points. To round off the match, Anushka won well with Steve, resulting in a nice 6-3 home win. Me & Steve won all 3, Neil & Anushka won 2 and the ladies won 1 apiece. This victory went some way to shrugging off the embarrassment of last night.

Bizarrely, having lost 3-6 away at New Malden in the season opener, we are now 9-9 with them on aggregate for this season, and also 9-9 on aggregate with Sutton Adults having won 5-4 at home but losing 4-5 away. It looks to be very tight at the middle to lower end of division 1 this season. En garde!

badminton match 12

South Beddington 8
St Andrews 1

Mens Division 3

Total humiliation last night away (well, just down the road for me) at the hands of South Beddington. Our main excuse was that the shuttles seemed very fast. Even just tapping them, we were making an awful lot of unforced errors and hitting them out of play. The floor seemed a little slippery too, but at this level we should have dealt better with it and tried at least to take the game to them. We didn't, with the net result of getting a thumping. Steve & Scott won our sole rubber, the less said about the other games the better. Onwards and upwards...next match is tonight, no rest for the wicked!

badminton match 11

St Andrews 3
Epsom Downs 3

Mens Fours Division 2

With Ron ruling himself out due to "no strength in his legs" (old age?), Anushka was summoned as his substitute. He went on first with Paul and won in straight games, followed by me & Chris who inexplicably lost in a best of 3 after killing the opposition in the first game. Anushka and I fought back and won the 3rd in straight games, but Paul and Chris endured a torrid time and lost a poor rubber in straight games. Anushka couldn't do any better with Chris, losing again, before I went on for the final rubber with Paul and salvaged a 3-3 draw and an important point in a tense best of 3, 21-16 19-21 21-18. So me, Paul and Anushka won 2 whilst Chris won nothing. We should have really won this game, not pointing fingers or anything Chris!

badminton match 10

St Andrews 5
Coulsdon & Purley S3 4

Mens Division 3

A magnificent performance by all involved. This home match against the unbeaten league leaders looked extremely difficult on paper, only compounded by the knowledge they had been demoted from Division 2 and that we had lost to them 2-7 away in the opening match of the season.

Steve & Matt were on first, followed by Kaz & Scott. Both prevailed. Then it was my turn with Anushka to play their 3rd and best pair Martin & Ian (the latter ironically still coach of our junior section!). We were unlucky to lose the first game 18-21 but fought back ferociously in the second to win 21-12 before marginally losing the last. After the first 3 rubbers, we were 2-1 up.

Steve & Matt continued to play superbly and won their 2nd rubber, but when Anushka and I returned on court we had a bizarre straight games loss against probably their easiest pair Colin & Ian. Kaz and Scott couldn't convert good movement and positioning into a win either; after 6 rubbers C&P had levelled us at 3-3.

I wasn't about to go home empty-handed though and promised myself I'd get something out of this game. The 7th rubber saw me and Anushka take on their youngest pair Paul & James. It turned out to be a very tense nail-biter. We won the first game but conceded the second. Towards the end of the final game their players had a relatively poor patch which we pounced on and just secured the win 22-20. Steve & Matt returned for the 8th rubber and won us the match, but Kaz & Scott on last couldn't convert.

This was a great win against a strong and determined side that will boost our confidence for all remaining matches of the season; to date, no other side in our division has beaten C&P at home, with the exception of Woodcote who haven't played them home or away yet.

badminton match 9

Sutton Adults 5
St Andrews 4

Hybrid Division 1

The match started sluggishly for us, conceding the first 2 rubbers - then I went on with Gerry and won in straight games 11-21 15-21 to pull one back for us. Unfortunately the ladies lost, as did Steve and Scott. We were therefore 1-4 down after 5 rubbers, but fought back well to win the next 2 to make it 3-4 after 7. In the 8th rubber (me and Scott on), the game exploded into life as their youngest player Doug got upset on court with Scott's serve, arguing that he hadn't struck the shuttle properly. Doug refused to shake hands with Scott after that marathon game (which we lost 28-26 20-22 21-16) and their captain accused two of our players of having illegal serves, prompting our captain Sarah to argue with theirs ("qualified coach John") on the sidelines for a good 20 minutes which culminated in her threatening to report him to the League. It is bizarre how John had the entire match to raise the subject of illegal serves but only chose to do so at match point in the 8th rubber, which is the worst kind of gamesmanship and should see sanctions. Worse was that he accused one of our best players Steve of an illegal serve but didn't confront him directly about it and only complained to our captain. With the greatest of respect to Sutton Adults, Steve has previously played teams far better than them and nobody has ever complained about his serve. A truly hostile team and one that we will probably not play again.

badminton match 8

Chaldon 9
St Andrews 0

Hybrid Division 1

A predictable result, given Chaldon are the strongest team in the division by a country mile. We used Anushka as a sub, as Gerry was ill. The closest we came was probably the game I had with Anushka, in which we lost to 17 and 19. I guess that isn't bad but it was still not good enough, at least not to make consistent inroads into the competition. It was pretty disheartening to hear our captain cajole us into "enjoying it because we weren't going to win", what kind of goddamn attitude is that?