A Team report London 27 - 17 Berkshire
Posted by Rupe on October 03 2010 20:28:57
London 'A' 27 - Berkshire 'A' 17
October 3rd 2010
The match started similary to last month, with us winning the first 4 only to see the visitors come back at us with 6 out of the next 7 frames. We won 5 in the second set too, leaving us 10-12 down. In a match where which we needed to win to regain second place, never mind making ground on Surrey's top spot, this was very disappointing. Four of us hadn't won a frame yet between us, I'm not sure when that will have happened last (2 of the four, I should point out, Sean and Darren, responded with wins in their final 2 frames, and none of us ended up with the dreaded "nil").
At that halfway stage though, something happened. Not sure what. Maybe it was just Jack and Joe starting off the 3rd set with wins to draw us level. That got us going, got the noise level up a bit, and we never looked back. An 8-3 win in the 3rd set was followed by 9 in the 4th... all that including a run of 10 in a row. Great stuff.
Seeing the team that Berks brought, to be frank I'd have taken 27-17 gladly at the start. With the likes of both the Sabharwal brothers and Brad Robinson showing up regularly, Scott Yardley back playing, and their new hotshot Giuseppe D'Imperio, it's no accident that they've been challenging at the top this year. This was the strongest team they'd brought to London in many years. At that halfway stage they were sounding scarily and not unreasonably bullish. So well done London 'A', very well done.
Surrey had to come back from 21-16 down to scrape a draw at home to Hampshire. And they've got Berkshire next month.
Whatever happens in November, I'd like to say now that I'm very proud of this year's much-changed team and the position we've got ourselves into.
Scores on the doors...
Jack Pople 4/4 (man of the match)
Joe Prince 3/4
Rob Chalmers 3/4
Chris Snyman 3/4
Andy Breen 3/4
Darren Baker 2/4
Sean Halligan 2/4
Tony Bailey 1/4
Jamie Fay 2/4
Rupert Ward 1/4
Jerry Tickell 3/4