Hit and Miss A   v    Caprica                       9^th October 2017

‘Oh the dirt I could dish on these two’

Still basking in the fright they had given to Blackburn Seniors A the previous week where they ended the level doubles 6,2 up before realising they must have peaked too early, the young pretenders, ably captained by Sue Hirons, warmed up in readiness for tonight’s game. Their other ladies, Laura Beard (soon to be Mrs Chris Whitwell) and her bridesmaid buddy, Olivia Lucas, two very competent players from Colne, along with Laura’s soon to be husband, Chris, skipping Jonny Bradley and Ian Bythell. The home team, captained by Mr Nonchalance himself, Keith Ashton, had Abdul Malik, multi-tasking a little crèche at the side of the court, and the promising Rees Parry, fresh up from the B team. The Hit and Miss ladies were Julie Bates and Cheryl Parry partnered by the sprightly Alison Leaver, that energetic left hander.

In the first set of ladies’ games, the Caprica bridesmaids took an exciting game from Cheryl and Alison with Olivia’s thoughtful placing of the shuttle and deceptive flick clears forcing the home team to dig deep. Alison and Julie, however, proved too strong for the second ladies, Sue and Olivia, despite some excellent retrieval play from the opposition. In the men’s doubles, young Rees partnered the experienced Mr Nonchalance and multi-tasking Malik against the energetic Ian, playing first with Chris and then with Jonny. There were many long, exhausting rallies in all four men’s games, but the Hit and Miss men came away with all four games with Abdul producing the shot of the match, a beautiful cross court net shot.

In the mixed doubles, Laura and Chris were so eager to take on Abdul and Julie that the games momentarily went out of order. Fortunately, this gave the exhausted third men, Ian and Rees, time to recover. The order of the games is something the committee will need to re-visit I think as whoever plays at three seems to have their games consecutively according to the score sheet. Keith and Cheryl took control at top mixed against Chris and Laura (soon to be Mr and Mrs), but the away team snatched another game against Alison and Rees where Sue and Jonny’s tactical format proved highly successful. In their second mixed game, this time against Keith and Cheryl, Captain Sue finally realised the opposition were fallible. Despite Mr Nonchalance reaching shots which at times seemed to be out of his bottom drawer, the excellent drop shot winner from Jonny split the games. The experienced partnership of Abdul and Julie, however, proved too much for Olivia and Ian, despite much court coverage from the Caprica pairing.

So, a well fought and competitive match with some excellent play from both teams. Good wishes to Laura and Chris for their forthcoming wedding. Oh, the ‘dirt’ promised in the title: they met on court (this is why badminton is so good for you!) when Chris hit Laura in the face with the shuttle. ‘Was she on the other side of the net I hear you ask?’ No, she was playing with him and foolishly turned round at the wrong time. Enough said…apart from ‘and they lived happily ever after’.

Tonight’s pictures include a blast from the past courtesy of the Hit and Miss Captain: the 25 years on the trot winners of the League, the YMCA A team!