Sidmouth Herald published 16 Jun 2011
B League Match v Budleigh - Pam Bowra's Nerves of Steel Win Through
Sidmouth B League team’s second match of the season was away to Budleigh Salterton. Due to sickness and holidays, both teams fielded the minimum of three players. The match comprised five games – one doubles and four singles, writes Mike Taylor.
In the doubles match, Muriel Philpott and Marian Harris found themselves six hoops behind after only 20 minutes. They were unable to recover from this setback and lost 14-3.
After their early finish, they were able to watch the tense end to Pam Bowra’s singles game. With 15 minutes to go, Bowra was four hoops ahead, but her opponent hit a good run and ran four hoops to make the score 10-10. She held her nerve and hit in to win 11-10.
In the afternoon, Bowra’s opponent, Norman Upchurch, was in top form, winning 14-5. Philpott had another tense ending, hitting in on her last turn to win 11-10. Harris, in her first Association League match, gained confidence as the game progressed, to win 9-6. The final result was Sidmouth 3, Budleigh Salterton 2.
Federation League Team Also Win Against Budleigh
In a highly competitive match played in good spirits, the Sidmouth Federation Croquet team, managed by Roger Hendy and captained by Derek Andrew, beat Budleigh Salterton by four matches to three.
The match started well for Sidmouth with a nail-biting victory by just four hoops in the doubles, with Peter Hills and Ian Friedlander nudging ahead over Michael Peters and Sam Watts. Derek Andrew was not able to clinch his morning singles game against Brian Pollock, but Roger Hendy convincingly won his game against Elaine Norsworthy by 15 hoops.
The afternoon session of four singles matches was a close-run affair with Andrew and Hendy losing their games, but Friedlander for Sidmouth had a resounding success in his final game, winning quite handsomely. With the match at 3-3, the final game was won for Sidmouth by Hills who held off Pollock to win by three hoops.
Advanced League Team Beaten by Much Stronger Bath Side
An intrepid Sidmouth Advanced Level Parkstone Qualifier team of David Temple (handicap 4.5), Mike Taylor and Peter Hills (each handicap 7) travelled to Bath to play a team whose handicaps were -0.5, 0 and 2.5. For the uninitiated, this means that they were much better players than Sidmouth! Sidmouth lost 5-0 with some rather one-sided games. Mike and Peter both threatened with good early breaks, but were eventually firmly put in their places.