Broadwas had another fabulous GC win on Sunday, when the club’s High Handicap South West Federation GC team entertained Moreton-in-Marsh B at Stoney Ley.
Keen to avenge the drubbing Moreton B gave us at Redesdale Place just over a week ago, the slightly modified Broadwas team took to the beautifully sunny lawns for an extremely enjoyable, yet keenly competitive match against a largely unchanged Moreton B side.
The Broadwas team comprised Jim Norris (9), Malcolm Armstrong (12), David Creed-Newton (10), David Harington (10, Brian Humphreys (10) and the inept rookie team captain who, embarrassingly, has slipped to a cringeworthy handicap of 16!
Captained by Wendy Coleman (12), Moreton B comprised Andy Jayne (10), Christine McCormick (14), Jacqui Thomas (14), Kathy Jayne (12) and Marilyn Talbot-Smith (16).
The day opened in perfect conditions, albeit with a heavy dew on the lawns. The courts soon dried out in the warm sunshine though, to give Broadwas a good start in the first round of singles. David Harington beat Wendy Coleman 7-3 in the first round, followed by a 7-4 win for Jim Norris against Moreton’s lowest handicapped player, Andy Jayne. Brian Humphreys completed a trio of wins in the singles, beating Jacqui Thomas 6-5 on Lawn 3. Malcolm Armstrong and the rookie captain narrowly lost out in the doubles when they ran out of time and were beaten 6-5 by Marilyn Talbot-Smith and Christine McCormick. David Creed-Newton unfortunately went down 3-7 to Kathy Jayne.
In the second round, Malcolm Armstrong and the rookie captain both shook off their early morning defeat in the doubles. Malcolm beat Kathy Jayne with an emphatic 7-1 scoreline, while the rookie beat fellow 16-handicapper Marilyn Talbot-Smith, 7-2. David Harington produced his second win of the morning by beating Christine McCormick 6-4, despite facing four marbles in the clash. Brian Humphreys didn’t fare quite as well, losing 3-7 to captain Wendy Coleman. In the doubles, Jim Norris and David Creed-Newton had a great win over Andy Jayne and Jacqui Thomas, beating them 6-3 on Lawn 1.
After lunch, Malcolm Armstrong grabbed his second singles victory of the day when he beat Marilyn Talbot-Smith 7-2 and Jim Norris narrowly beat the ever-consistent Christine McCormick 7-6, in their clash on Lawn 5. David Creed-Newton wasn’t so lucky, going down to Moreton B’s lowest handicapped player Andy Jayne, 4-7, while the rookie captain went down with an identical score to the phenomenally accurate Jacqui Thomas, whose handicap only went down to 14 very recently. In the doubles, Brian Humphreys and David Harington beat Wendy Coleman and Kathy Jayne 4-3 after extra strokes when time was called.
In the final round, Moreton came out fighting, with Andy Jayne beating Malcolm Armstrong 7-4, while Wendy Coleman narrowly beat David Creed-Newton 5-4 on Lawn 2. Brian Humphreys bit back by beating Marilyn Talbot-Smith 6-5, although in a dogged and tense game on Lawn 1, Kathy Jayne eventually beat David Harington 3-1. In the final doubles game of the day, Jim Norris and the rookie narrowly went down 6-5 to the scarily precise Jacqui Thomas and Christine McCormick. As time was called, Jim Norris scored the fifth hoop for Broadwas with a spectacularly accurate jump shot and only just missed out on clinching a draw when his final shot of the match hit the hoop upright.
referee John Guy
It was an extremely enjoyable match against a friendly, yet determined and skilful side who once again demonstrated their prowess in the use of extra strokes at the crucial time.
Many thanks to our visitors for their sportsmanship and especially to the Broadwas team who played exceptionally well.
Special thanks as well go to Club Captain John Guy who gave up his Sunday to referee the match. His services were well-used during the day.
Oh! I’d better tell you about the final score after all that.
Broadwas 11 points. Moreton-in-Marsh B 9 points.
It made one rookie High Handicap GC captain, VERY happy.
Paul Felton