Thame Badminton Men Return To Meet Rivals

THE final match of the season for the Thame players was the return game against local rivals, Mill Lane of Chinnor.
Although Thame had won the home match, the Chinnor players had the distinct advantage of their home court. With no promotion or relegation issues, this was a straight forward match.
For the first time this season, the team was without Ben Cooper. As a result, Lance Adlam and Andy Scarlett started off the match. The low ceiling meant that the Thame pair were unable to use the high clear when in trouble. At the same time the Chinnor pair of Stewart Chapman and Roger Payne played a driving game that Adlam and Scarlett struggled to hold and they lost the first game.
Although they were beginning to come to terms with conditions, the extra points they won were still not enough for the Thame pair to win. However, they were able to pass on tips to the youngsters, Gareth Allingham and Chris Daniels. Those tips, together with better movement, saw the Thame pair win the first game against Steve Gilmour and Martin Ray.
The second game saw no change and the youngsters dominated the Mill Lane pair and won the second game and thus the rubber.

The next rubber saw Adlam, with a redesigned pair of shorts, paired with Daniels for Thame, whilst Chapman paired up with Gilmour for Chinnor. Mill Lane started off well and kept forcing Adlam to the back and negate Daniels’ power. Having lost the first game, a tactical change saw Adlam trying to get to the front earlier and bring Daniels into play. The change worked and Thame won the next game to level the rubber.
Although Mill Lane tried to compensate for the change in tactics, they were unable to deny Thame the win in the final game. Scarlett then joined forces with Allingham to play Payne and Ray. Scarlett changed his racquet to reduce the power off the strings and was immediately rewarded with success. With Scarlett’s serving accuracy, the returns were being set up for Allingham to kill off and give Thame an easy win. The domination continued in the second game to give Thame the rubber and an unbeatable lead in the match.

Scarlett stayed on court to play with Adlam against Gilmour and Ray. He continued playing well and all round court. Adlam also showed improvement to give Thame the first game. In the second game, the Thame pair only had three turns at serving as they out- played Mill Lane without conceding a point.
The last rubber saw Daniels playing with Allingham against Chapman and Payne. The Thame pair started of with confidence but began to make too many mistakes and this cost them the game. The Mill Lane pair stood fast when Daniels tried to smash his way to a win but were able to stump the tactic and went on to win the rubber.
The match ended as it had at Thame with a 4 ? 2 win to Thame. The season has ended for this side with Thame a two wins, two draws and two losses record, but having allowed some players to gain valuable experience.

By Andy Scarlett