A strange night, with the injury to Johnny Terry played when he probably shouldn’t have given he was not well at all and dosed up with pills.  The first singles of the night featured Terry against Nabil and it could be another first as Nabil won three straight though there was a deuce in the middle. 

Neil was up next against Simon, someone he has trouble against but he struggled through despite a couple pf scares. 

Mike then took on the Comets youth policy and bemused Ben to win in four though not without two deuce legs, one each way. 

That brought Neil and Nabil to the table and with yet another deuce game Neil managed a three straight win.

 Terry and Ben next and things got even worse for Terry as in the first set to not include a deuce he lost to Ben in four and along the way re-aggravated an old “rotation cup” shoulder joint and was in obvious pain. 

With the bit between their teeth Mike then played Simon and Simon out-Miked Mike giving him nothing in a tactic that gained him  a three nil win. 

Three all and all to play for. 

Neil then played Ben, a match that happened quite a few years ago in the Medway League when Ben was a junior; and the old head ran out a winner in four though the fourth was another deuce where Neil was 8-0 up and Ben came back to 8-8 before Neil managed to win to 11! 

That brought us to not only the only five setter of the evening but also the longest deuce of the evening, 18-16 to Mike over Nabil.  That probably decided the set as although Nabil came back to level legs 2-2 Mike then came good in the fifth and ran away with it. 

Terry then came to the table with the match win on his shoulders, having taken more pills he won the first two legs at a canter and although he suffered TLS he then won the fourth to bring home the win. 

That left the doubles and with Terry really not fit to play Neil and Mike took on Nabil and Ben. It was one of those doubles where the order dictated the flow of the game and went from -0-1 to 1-1 to 1-2 to 2-2 and then the all-important fifth. Sure enough Nabil/Ben turned round 5-3  up but Neil/Mike fought back and at 9-9 it was anyone’s. Despite their valiant effort Neil/Mike lost out and Nabil/Ben salvaged another point to make the match score 6-54 to Castaways, a rather different score to the 10-0 from the first half. 

With Comets A winning 10-0 on the same night that realistically means the title is decided but the Nat West v Castaways match next week might well decide runners-up.