Aficionados of the former Barbarians blogs will fondly remember the 'Captain's Curse' season. This is where the result obtained by the Captain was reversed by the team. It got so bad, that the Captain had to resort to losing matches, just so that the team could win 4-1.
You get the drift here ...
So, with the Barbarians consigned to be a distant memory, the 4ths took to the field for the first game of the season against Waverley.
Up first was Stephen Davey at 5 who showed no signs of rust as he raced to take the first 9-0. Yvonne looked a little shell shocked, as did Stephen who went on the retain the upper hand and close out the game 9-5, 9-4.
Meanwhile on court 2, Neil Love set about ensuring that the infamous run called 'Neil Love Love' was not repeated as he also got off to a flying start winning 9-2, 9-2, 9-1.
I went on to court with John Allan who played like a revitalised Nadal. The first game edged my way 9-7 and all was going well at 6-1 up in the second, when I noticed Dave Grieve on the balcony. This was strange because he went onto court after me. I heard talk of a sprained ankle, and I thought that 'sicknote' must have succumbed.
How to ensure victory I thought? It came in a flash, if I extended some courtesy to our hosts, we'd be bound to win the game. And so it materialised. The 6-1 lead evaporated into a 7-9 loss which was followed by 4-9 and 7-9 as I proved that being big doesn't mean you can hit a ball past midcourt.
The crowd on the balcony (now joined by Andy 'Tigger' Beames who had also finished) seemed to not get my brave efforts to take one for the team! Surely I had deserved the Victoria Cross?
Turns out Dave Grieve had won 9-4, 9-1, 9-4.
And Tigger had also made light work with a 9-2, 9-5, 9-1 victory.
Ok, so I was rescued by a great team effort. Good start team.
Mike Douglas
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