Thame Badminton Team Maintain Winning Form (By Andy Scarlett)
THAME Badminton Club were rewarded after travelling, for the third time, for their Men’s match against Redefield C in the Oxford & District League.
The side was again weakened by unavailability of players but nevertheless, the club captain was confident of a victory.
Chris Daniels and Chris Charman started off against the Redefield first pair. Their timing was out to start off with but this did not prevent them from winning the first game. As they became accustomed to the speed of the shuttlecocks, Daniels? smashes dominated from the back whilst the Charman caresses at the net ensured the rubber was won with the loss of only 8 points. On the adjacent court, Trevor Grace and club chairman Trevor Walker had a similar troubled start with timing. The Trevors adjusted and with left-hander Grace causing positional problems for the opposition they won in 2 games conceding just 7 points. Third pair Keith Richards and Andy Scarlett started off well leading 11?8 but then they fell apart as Scarlett stood statue-like watching the shuttles pass him by and found themselves having to set at 14 all. Three tight serves by Scarlett with smashes by Richards saw them to the first game. The second game saw no improvement as both players missed easy shots. Despite their poor display, Richards and Scarlett just kept in front and ran out winners but conceded 26 points.
The Daniels and Charman pairing returned to court on form and demolished the Redefield 2nd pair conceding just 5 points with the Redefield unable to stem the smashes and drop shots. Walker and Grace struggled in their first game against the Redefield 1st pair and lost to 5 points. They picked up in the second game but could not win the vital points and ended up losing 11 ?15. Richards and Scarlett took on the Redefield 2nd pair not believing they could repeat their poor play. Both players raised their game and were ruthless and won the first game to love and were leading 14-0 in the second before conceding a point, to win the rubber. This gave Thame an unbeatable 5 wins in the match.
The final game for Daniels and Charman was against the Redefirld 3rd pair and the Thame pair continued to dominate to win the first game 15-2. Suddenly, the Thame 1st pair seemed to switch off and lost their first game of the night 12-15. They rallied in the third game to win to 7 points. Richards and Scarlett then took on the opposition first pair and surprised them by winning 15-4. However, the change of ends saw them lose their way despite some good play and lost 7-15. Another change of ends saw Scarlett continuing with the short service setting up the Richards winning smashes. However, the change of ends saw an 8-3 lead collapse to a 8-12 deficit from which they could not recover. The last game of the evening saw Walker and Grace playing the Redefield 3rd pair. Just as with the Thame 1st pair, Walker and Grace won the first game 15-10 but then lost the second 7-15. Walker and Grace then concentrated their efforts and for the second time in the evening saw a 15-0 win for Thame.
The Mens team have now won their opening 4 fixtures and are top of their division. With the club unable to play the first choice line up for any of these matches, the performances of the selected teams bodes well for the rest of the season.
