First of all congratulations to the victors, the Shillingford Shysters, and particularly to their Captain "Tricky" Nickson who lead his strong team from the front and batted his way to victory. I choose the verb"batted" with some care as the crowd was constantly amazed at the variety of surfaces and parts of the racket selected by Simon. Mike Brooksbank was a worthy opponent, trying his hand too at shots "off the wood", but was outwitted by Tricky's superior use of the frame. Enthusiasm and noise levels on court (and occasionally in the dedans) were high and at one point a mighty bellow from Simon was matched by a deafening roar from Mike at the receiving end, after a particularly punishing rest.
The contest was ably marked by Ross Brown, whose impeccable performance was only occasionally marred by some harsh decisions in favour of the winning team. Mean spirited folk might speculate that the Shysters lived up to their name and exceeded the marker's "prize fund" put up by the Woodie's (see the rumours in yesterday's Shilllingford Bugle), but that's not how tennis is played at the Oratory... at least not this season....
In the second match, Messrs Box and Huelin started well winning the first set comfortably but "Thumper" Glyn and "Wily" Fox lived up to their nicknames and delivered a "bagel" second set for the Shysters. However this stiffened the Woodies' reserve to provide a proper battle some spectacular serving by Tom Huelin inspired a pyrrhic victory in the deciding set of the match.
The players were distracted throughout the doubles match by aromas from the gargantuan feast prepared by Mrs Tomalin which was undoubtedly responsible for the swift and continuous play. The prize giving ceremony and speeches from the Captain of the winning team were warmly received by the well-oiled and by now vociferous crowd. Medals were proudly sported by the winning and finalist teams and the new trophy was proudly held aloft by the Shysters' Captain.
The Oratory Club Captain, "Thurmper" Glyn paid a particularly moving tribute to the talents of Ross Brown, not only in organsising a throughly enjoyable competition (now firmly on the Club's calendar) but also in embodying everything to which a Real Tennis Club might aspire. He also welcomed Rachel Davies, the new Commercial Manager for the Sports Centre and Official Photographer for the Village League Competition.
Exhausted and replete the players and spectators wandered home after a long and wonderful evening of feasting and tennis. Until next year........
Next up - beer and football. Groan.
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