ROUND 10 – A1 GRADE MATCH REVIEWS With Peter “Pretty Boy” Du Plooy, out of action in the last home and away round of the season and “Iron Jay” Mark Flavel sedately attired and wearing his underwear, round ten was always going to be a rather tame affair. It did however give me the opportunity to display my tipping talents when, as predicted, Jarryd “The J C Train” Cathcart defeated “The Frankston Express” Sam Palmer in seven, to hand the Leading Player award to my playing partner Myles “Ripper” Collins. “Ripper” should have charged Mt Martha’s “Fever” O’Meara and Chris “Thrasher” Robinson for the table tennis lessons he provided to the Mt Martha pair on court 4 but, his unfortunate pairing with your Facebook editor meant his heroics were not enough to get Somerville over the line. At least I can take solace in the fact that I successfully predicted my table tennis demise at the hands of “Thrasher” and “Fever” and my one winning attacking shot for the night against “Fever” may have been the golden point that got Somerville into the four by 1.61% over fifth placed Mornington. So in effect, I contributed handsomely to the fact that “Ripper” and I will participate in the Bronze medal playoff game next week and that my sheep-eating partner will get to experience the “medals presentation after party” food spread, that our club has become famous for. Palmer’s loss to Cathcart is a worry as his Frankston franchise gears up for a showdown against the ageing Carrum Downs pair of “Iron Jay” Mark Flavel and “The Carrum Downs Colossus” Phil Bolitho. After an unexpected 3-0 loss to “Iron Jay” in the semi final of the Club singles championships a few weeks ago, Palmer is displaying the classic signs of a mini form slump that may result in next week’s gold medal game being closer than pundits suggest. Like a table tennis divining rod, “Sam the Fan” chose to sit away from the court 4 matchup between the second love of my life, Somerville and Mt Martha, and instead focused on the Carrum Downs - Langwarrin match on show court 2. “Sam the Fan” definitely knows how to pick them because he was witness to the upset of the season when he sat court side to watch cellar dwellers Langwarrin, upset next week’s gold medal finalists, to record just their second win for the season. With Luke “Boom Boom” Bronsema again unavailable, his place in the Langwarrin side was taken by first gamer Sandor Duis, who took no time in displaying his table tennis credentials with 4-2 wins against both “The Colossus” and “Iron Jay” Duis’ partner, Shane “Chainsaw” O’Connor looking tanned and fit after weeks of lying on his back under the Fijian sun, was not surprisingly, underprepared for this encounter and dropped both singles matches to his older and greyer haired opponents. However Duis and “Chainsaw” took a marathon best of five doubles rubber 3-2 which included 19-17 score lines in the 4th and 5th games that both went the way of Langwarrin. In doing so, they struck a hefty psychological blow to the confidence of the Carrum Downs party boys. And so dear readers, we once again find ourselves counting down to next week’s finals series. The players lounge has been freshly painted, chair rails installed to protect the walls from boisterous after party hijinks, and the pie warmer serviced. Everyone will be a winner on finals night as they tuck in to the pies, pasties licorice allsorts and potato chips on offer to both victors and the vanquished. Nevertheless, there is nothing quite like the feeling of medal of any colour hanging around your neck as you battle it out with other players and spectators for a share of the now famous post presentation food spread and so, as they say in the classics – may the best teams win. Hit hard and prosper Greig Whitelaw
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 10:51:26 +0000
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