THE KNIGHTS ARE VANQUISHED

Still smarting from defeat at the hands of the Bandits from Glossop the Knights advanced on Werneth Low to gain back self-esteem and put the cricketers to the sword. Sir Dave de Clark called to see the wizard, Cathbad of Chadkirk on the way, to have the magic potion applied to his bat. The wizard remarked that Mark Lambe had called in last week as well. Brian of Romiley began the joust against Sir Ken de Wood and although he dropped the first set he soon came to terms with the Knight's game and comfortably won the next three. Sir Ken must have collected lots of taxes from the peasants in Strines that day as he was in such a benevolent frame of mind, gifting Brian more double faults in one game that he normally does in a season! Ian of Tintwistle was next on v Sir David and it didn't last long. The magic potion had the cricketer completely baffled and he soon sat down, beaten in three short sets. I was on next against Sir Alan D'Arnell but I had a problem. I'd heard about the wizard and the magic potion, so when Sir Dave finished his game I brushed my bat against his hoping for some benefit. The rubber fell off! So with a bat borrowed from Brian I faced the Knight and I played better than I had for a long time. Sir Alan and myself play in fairly similar styles so when we meet it's usually a game of attrition and on this occasion I managed to outlast him and although I dropped the third set I landed some good forehand smashes to take the fourth. Ian almost made a miraculous comeback in his first set against Sir Ken as he went 1-9 down but with some inspirational play he levelled at 9-9 and then blew it. The fightback did his confidence well though and once again with the help of quite a few double faults from the Knight, he won the next three. With Brian's exceptional form this season we expected him to blow Sir Alan away in double quick time but the Knight, still smarting from losing to me for the first time in many seasons, was determined to show statistics can sometimes lie. Brian took the first set reasonably comfortably but Sir Alan fought back tenaciously and with some deadly chopping and decisive backhand drives, allied to a loss of concentration from Brian, he took the next two sets and an upset was on the cards. The knight went for his magic Lucozade and chocolate but it was past its sell-by date and had no effect as Brian shook off his lethargy and started to land some big drives and the pair shared some great rallies but inevitably it was Brian who emerged the winner as fatigue took its toll on the Knight. Playing in a suit of armour must take it's toll on you. I went on against Sir Dave and I did return the odd serve, just the odd one and when I did we had a decent game. I sat down. Poor Sir Alan had to drag himself to the table once more to face Ian of Tintwistle and was determined not to finish the evening winless as he fairly blitzed his opponent to take the first two sets. Ian's game was all over the place as he tried to force the pace and not until the third set did he settle down and let the Knight make the errors. He took the third and fourth sets, not without some alarms but the Knight's challenge fell away in the fifth as Ian landed some excellent backhand drives. I had a cracking five setter with Sir Ken and if I'd've taken the third set, which I lost 14-16, I think I could have won the match. I took the next two however, including another 16-14, but Ken was much steadier in the fifth as I missed too many forehand smashes and the Knight benefitted from a couple of nets and edges. Brian's Titanic duel with Sir Dave was the game of the night as even he struggled to combat the Knight's serves. He dropped the first two sets, one rather calamitously to 3 and we thought that was that, but sensing that the potion was beginning to wear off he hung in and aided by a few double faults from the Knight, he took a close third and fairly romped away with the fourth which set up a superb fifth set. Brian had at last mastered the Knight's serve and relied on his opponent to make the errors unleashing his formidable back hand drive whenever he did. The Knight returned them but Brian was ready with the block and so it went on with ne'er more than a point between them until inexplicably, at 11-10, and serving to stay in the match, the Knight served a fault, handing the game to Brian. The doubles also went to five with the Knight's just shading it 9-11. So ended a fabulous night's tennis and the Knight's mounted their chargers and slunk off back to the wilds of Strines but they had been excellent company and we look forward to the return in the Land of the Giant Jigsaws. Lee