Barbarians in Aussie Ashes-Style Collapse
This week the Babas were up against the students. A bunch of 40-somethings against a pile of kids, what could go wrong? This week saw the team badly affected by the snow, so a hurriedly put together team of Dave Grieve, Me, Neil Love and Brian Sloan took to court along with a virgin appearance by Robin Pollok.
Neil, playing 3, needed to get away so was first on court. I hadn’t realised he was in that much of a hurry. How best to describe that game? Neil Love love.
So, one game down we reverted to the order and Robin Pollok took to court – eventually. A lengthy warm up off court, was followed by a quick skipping lesson and his opponent looked on bemused as Robin brought out a second ball and proceeded to warm up on his own side of the court. Eventually the referee had to call time and the game began. Robin got off to a great start going 5-0 up before driving the ball into his own head. Nobody laughed (too loudly). A quick couple of points for his opponent were followed by a controlled performance as Robin served out the game 9-2. This assured, calm and controlled performance (yes, I can assure you it was Robin Pollok) continued into the second as his opponent got only two serves on his way to a 9-0. In the third, Robin got off to a 3-1 lead, but you could see some life start to spark in his opponent. Robin clearly sensed the rising pressure as he served from the forehand court, only to hit the ball straight back into his own hand. This time, we definitely laughed. Points were exchanged up to 6-6 and we wondered if Robin’s nerve would hold. But Robin made good use of his long reach to close out 9-6 and record a 3-0 victory in his first game for the Babas. Great performance.
Brian was up next and had a very tight game against the speedy Scott. Both players retrieved like their lives depended on it in the first. Eventually Brian got into a 5-1 lead, only to concede four successive points to bring up 5-5. Some further excellent retrieving saw serves exchanged before Brian began to edge ahead, one point at a time. Brian was the victor 9-5. The second game was nothing like the first. Brian raced out to a 7-0 lead on a single serve before being pulled back to 7-7. But again, some excellent retrieving saw Brian edge the second 9-7. The third reverted to the style of the first with both players having 18 serves just to reach 6-6 before Brian again proved the stronger mentally to win 9-6. 2-1 to the Grange.
I was next up. The first was a gut bursting tale of an opponent without the respect to understand when a shot is so good, that getting it back is simply rude. Time after time I had the ball deep and low in the backhand court only to lose the point to an attacking boast and a nick. But patience (and tight serving) won the day 9-5 after an amazing 32 serves (and that’s just mine). At this point we were 1-0 up, but I felt like I’d played 5 already. The second was a recovery game as my opponent simply refused to miss and it was lost 9-4. At this point, I was surprised to see Dave on the balcony – surely he couldn’t have finished already? But it turns out that his knee was simply not up to it this week and had lost 9-4, 9-0, 9-3. So the match was now 2-2, 1-1 and I felt as fit as a pensioner (sorry Harvey).
The third was very tight as I began to anticipate the inevitable boasts, but it turns out that it doesn’t help knowing where the ball is going if it is stuck in the corner. Points were traded to 5-5 and the balcony was giving constructive feedback (to be honest, I’ve never lost from the balcony either). But just as I began to believe I could take the game, some tremendous (not what I thought at the time) boasting from difficult positions saw my opponent take the game 9-5. In the fourth, the game was again tight and at 2-2 we had each had 10 serves. But his superior fitness and accuracy saw the game edge away for a 3-1 loss.
So all in all, a 12-9 loss from a leading position with a collapse at the top of the order. We’ll never win the Ashes this way.
Afterwards, back at base much pizza was shared as Heriot Watt 1, 2 and 3 were all on site having played their relevant Grange team. A good social evening, despite the result. Onwards to next week, when another new player joins the babas.
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