Date: Mon 20th October

Venue: Oxford & Cambridge Club

Result: Swans 3 – Gradidge 2

Match Manager: Uttara Raju

The Swans vs Gradidge showdown was back on the courts at O&C last week, and it was a thriller 

First on, the Gradidge captain Hirson leading the way against a young Swan Alms, the match was unsteady at times but nevertheless Alms returned serve well and besides decent lengths played a number of drops at really quite sensible times. Hirson fought back well in the 3rd pushing Alms to the back of the court but youth prevailed as Alms closed him out with another judicious drop.

The battle of the Daves on next, with Goss dominating the first 2 games. However, in the 3rd and 4th Simpson reproduced last week’s form. He played really quite well. A perfect backhand drop from mid court and even gaining applause from the stands and his opponent with a backhand volley kill. Simpson deservedly squared the match at 2/2. Unfortunately, in the 5th too many cross-courts onto the left-hander’s forehand were his undoing. Goss was a strong opponent and he produced some delightful attacking boasts from his forehand. Great match!

Raju’s opponent was a strong and capable striker of the ball on both sides of the court but he was coming back after a 5 year hiatus. Raju was outplayed in the 1st but her rallying provoked some puffing from her opponent. This was all the information needed. Raju changed tactics and attacked the left-hander’s backhand deep. This combined with fetching most things back was too much for her opponent. The score seemed comfortable in the end but in fact this was a good performance by Raju. Now she needs to copy Simpson’s form of late, dominate the T, volley and think before serving.

Eaton vs Creswell was on next and it featured 2 contrasting styles of play, Creswell opting for the traditional line and length game, whereas Eaton tried to baffle his opponent with very well disguised drops and boasts a match that truly showed everyone brings their own game to the court. Despite playing 5 gruelling games neither player wanted to stop going with Cresswell winning 19-17 in the final game after plenty of match points being saved. 

So there we stood at 2-2 in matches the final match would be the decider and it came down to Warner for the Swans and Lloyds captain Murray-Willis, a great deciding match with strong lengths and volleying however Murray-Willis forgot the key detail when playing Warner, if you hit to the forehand you better be ready for the boast. Unfortunately that was his undoing with Warner putting away any lose shots to the forehand side he clinched the match and the fixture for the Swans in great fashion. 

And as always lovely dinner and conversation to round off the evening! 

Thank you everyone for playing, see you in March, 

Uttara

Swans vs Gradidge – with an attached photo of Hirsons book of truth

Simpson vs Goss 2-3

Warner vs Murray Willis 3-1

Eaton vs Creswell 2-3

Raju vs Carins 3-1

Alms vs Hirson 3-0

Apologies for the delayed match report (if it helps I have been deservedly told off by Clarky for my tardiness)