Hart Squash

To set the scene, Bounty 1 have just been promoted to the Premier Division in the Winter league, Hart 2 were without Rob, James, Ian & Jason.  It was wondered by some whether we would be in the pub before 9pm……………

First on, with his new bionic knee and against doctors orders, was Hilmar (3) who took the first game comfortably.  Hilmar hasn’t played much lately, what with his knee and all that ash from his homeland and this started to tell as games 2,3 and 4 slipped away.  It was a creditable performance though and the roar was certainly back. 1-3 defeat for Hart.

Meanwhile Elliott (4) was giving it some welly despite a niggly hamstring, but was edged out 10-9 in a tight first game.  The wheels came off a bit in game 2 and game 3 looked to be going the same way with Elliott trailing 4~8, but he then found some great shots and retrievals.  Sadly it was not quite enough, losing the game 10-9 and going down 0-3.

Mac (5) played an opponent who was about 7 feet tall with an 8-foot wingspan.  Mac played “awesome” (his words not mine) and dispatched his goliath-like opponent with ease – playing only 1 drop shot in the process -which he missed! (his words again, not mine).  3-0 to Mac.

Simon (1) followed Elliott on court against an opponent who thrashed him last summer.  Not expecting much Simon was relaxed and played possibly the best squash of his life taking the first game with ease and the second a little less easily.  Game 3 and Simon was puffing a bit. At 0-5 a conscious decision was taken to abandon hope for that game and take a long breather and for once this worked. Simon regained his earlier dominance in the fourth and despite a few anxious points at match point, held his nerve and took the game and match 8-5. Definitely an early contender for the performance of the Summer.

So with the match nicely (and unexpectedly) poised at 2-2, Paul (2) took to the court against a ratty, serial arguer who would have been better paired against Hilmar!  Honours were shared in the first 2 games but Paul came on strong in the 3rd taking that one comfortably. Game 4 was nip and tuck all the way to the breaker.  At 9-8 up Paul anticipated his opponents straight drive from close to the front wall to perfection and was rightly awarded a stroke to seal a 3-1 victory.

Overall a stunning start for Hart 2 winning 3-2 (15-8) and we were in the pub by 10pm !

The First Team had a cracking match with Wellington which they almost won.
Chris took on a guy who has played one before, but Wellington have ’shuffled their pack’ again. Chris was well in with a shout at 1~1, but was unable to get into the 3rd, & and the 4th ran away from him as well. 3~1 loss
Gareth was really looking good at 2~0 up against a stylish leftie, but the lack of squash played over the last few weeks caught up with him and he was not able to maintain the form and a 3~2 defeat was the end result.
Robbi took on Peter Garfoot and had a really close match, but again fitness was the difference. After a slow start, Robbi got into his stride and was on top at the end of the 3rd, but Peter’s consistency wore him down and the last 2 games were lost 9~4, 9~4, and another 3~2 reverse.
The best was saved to last. Stefan went on and was in good form. 2~0 up and you can guess what happened next… It was all the squash played in the previous few days, and the third was lost with Stefan looking a little sluggish. But only a temporary blip, and the 4th gave Hart a deserved win.

Finally Dan taking on an old adversary who did not do anything special and just kept getting the ball back. Here’s the game scores – 8~10 9~6 9~2 – getting on top? Fraid not! 6~9 – into the fifth, and the longest game of the 5, nip and tuck all the way, with Dan finally getting the decisive point at his 7th match ball, 9~7,
A very honourable defeat 17 points to 11, against one of the best teams in the Premier.