Cumbria Badminton Association

County B - Match Reports

Cumbria 2 v Yorkshire

The following weekend Yorkshire 5 visited us at Carlisle. We were enthusiastic, but not very confident. Three eights of the team were reserves, with Andy Lovatt being called in with only 3 hours notice. We were definitely the more mature team! Malcolm led by example and took on the mantle of first singles, but was beaten off court by John Armistead who was still smiling at the end of his game, but there were mutterings about not playing singles again. Rhonwen was trounced again, but Emma kept up her singles winning form and was told by the Yorkshire manager that she was the only person to have beaten her opposition all year - and that was with a bad back and a dead leg. Mike Grantham and John teamed up to play doubles and defended like their lives depended on it. This often frustrated their opposition, but they could not quite turn it into victory. Malcolm and Andy went to three ends in one of their doubles, but that win was elusive. For those of you who know Andy, yes he was beetroot by the end of the match! In the ladies double, Michelle Lovatt made her debut this season teaming up with Dawn Westgarth. They took one couple to three ends, but again Yorkshire proved too strong. Rhonwen and Emma did manage to pull one back in their games.

Emma opted to sit out the mixed as she was playing for the firsts the following day. This left Rhonwen making her mixed debut for the season - and playing with Malcolm at first mixed. Terrified, but keen they took to the court and no-one was more shocked than Rhonwen when they went to 3 ends...but you know how the story ends! 13-2 to Yorkshie, but this was a 100%improvement for us! (Clutching at straws??)

Anyway, this makes the important score 15-1 to the ladies. I think this deserves wine as well as a meal!

Cumbria 2 v Glasgow

We then entertained Glasgow at Carlisle. We thought we might have a chance at a point here. Oh yes, we're an optimistic bunch. John Armistead bravely took on another sigles, but did mutter something under his breath about singles not being as easy as it used to be. In the other mens singles, Joe Robinson put in an excellent performance in his second end, but the opposition was too strong and he did not have that dream debut. First off in the ladies singles was Rhonwen who won in 2 ends, 21-19, 21-16 and, after 5 minutes recovery during which she couldn't even must the energy to speak, declared it the hardest singles she has played in years. Emma had the more difficult game and some amazing rallies. She kept up her winning form and triumphed in 3 ends.

Bouyed by their singles successes, Rhonwen & Emma teamed up in to win both their ladies doubles events, but unfortunately these were the only successes in the doubles. Lionel, who had arrived in his suit to receive his team colours, reckoned that Malcolm and he would 'have them in the third end.' I'll let you guess the flaw in this plan! Then the mixed went on court. Surely we could win 2 to get a point?????? OK, you know the story and we were still left languishing at the bottom of division 4. At this point we thought of emigrating to Norway - 'nil point' ringing in our ears. 11-4 to Glasgow.

Yorkshire 5 v Cumbria 2

So you've been wondering how the second team have been doing since Christmas. Well, let's just say we went to Harrogate and started really well with Emma Gillespie winning her singles. And let's not go into too much detail about the rest of the day, except that the beams in the hall were right in the way of the singles serves and there was only one very minor detour when the boss took the wrong turning at Appleby to pick up some of the team. 14-1 to Yorkshire.

Lancashire 4 v Cumbria 2

Well done to team manager Malcolm Grayson - for the first time in years, the the 2nd county had a team sorted a week before the match and there were no last minute changes! The team travelled to Ribby Hall to play Lancashire 4 and were in good spirits. The previous day, 4 of the team had taken part in the Cumbria Orbital Tournament where Mike Sedgewick thrashed one Lancashire player and Emma Gillespie beat the no 2 seed. Emma continued her good form in the singles and won in two ends. Mike had different opposition (the guy he beat obviously didn't want to play singles again) but could not find his previous form. After the 2nd ladies singles event Rhonwen almost admitted that she might be too old for singles. Greg Reynolds made his county 2nd team debut playing 2nd mens singles and put in an excellent effort, doubling his first game score to get easily into double figures in the second game - quick learner!

In the doubles events, Mike and Malcolm had a tough 3 ender, but could not quite match the pace of the Lancs boys. Greg teamed up with John Armistead and it was great to see Greg playing some intelligent, tight net shots on his first appearance. They had a couple of close ends, but the opposition proved too strong. In the ladies events, Emma and Rhonwen managed to win both their events although they were pushed to three tough ends against Lancs first ladies pair. In the other ladies events, Laura Westgarth made her county 2nd debut partnering her sister Dawn. Despite some brilliant shots - you should have seen that cross court drive from Laura and the net shot from Dawn that spent half a minute creeping up over the tape - they could not quite overcome the opposition.

That left the mixed doubles (but I went for a shower so I can't tell you much about those games!). Final score - Lancs 4 -12, Cumbria 2 - 3.

Then comes the post script. The blond went to get in the car and discovered she'd left the lights on. Never mind, Mike and John showed off their muscles pushing her out of the car park bay so that the jump leads could reach Malcolm's car. Now either Malcolm couldn't rev his engine enough or the engine just wasn't good enough but the blond's car would not start. Time to call the AA! Lesson no 1 there is hardly any mobile reception inside the leisure centre, but there is good reception in the car park - and yes, it was raining. Lesson no 2 - the phone numbers in the Yellow Pages are for joining the AA/RAC, not for requesting assistance. Anyway we eventually got through to the RAC and they said someone would be with us in about an hour. What were we to do but go to the bar. Lesson no3 - if you would like and orange and lemonade, be sure to say 'fresh orange' or you'll be served with the diluting stuff (too many additives for us sporty types). The nice RAC man arraived in due course and gave us lesson no 4 - get some decent jump leads with big cores 'not the cheap ones from H******s!' Thankfully we were soon on our way back home, although John did go very quiet during the conversation about the joys of ceilidh dancing!!

For anyone who is interested, the score is now 8 games to the ladies and only 1 to the men and the ladies are alrady chosing which restaurant the men will taking them to at the end of the season!

Glasgow v Cumbria 2

Temporary captain Malcolm thought he was doing really well to have a team sorted by the Wednesday before a match despite it having three reserves who were all making their 2nd team debut - Liz Bell (Whitehaven), Dawn Westgarth (Appleby) and John Armistead (Sedbergh). But then at 9pm on Saturady night he got the phone call which all managers dread - Mike Sedgewick was injured and could not play. Something to do with jumping over a fence at a fire works display and twisting his ankle. Quite how high the fence was, which way up he landed, how muddy it was and just who he was trying to impress by jumping the fence have still to be determined! Despite several phone calls late on Saturday and early Sunday morning, a replacement could not be found and we travelled up to Glasgow with only three men.

Having set off with plenty of time to get lost and then have lunch before the match, we arrived to find out that the match was due to start at 2pm, not 12 noon! Oops! We tried to take inspiration from watching the juniors being coached but they were obviously a league above us.

When we eventually started, things were not looking good. John was thrown in at the deep end with a singles match. Credit to him - he more than doubled his first end score in the second end (double figures in the second end) With progress like that he'll be winning soon. Rhonwen managed to go to 3 ends but lost and we were 4-0 down.

In the doubles, Malcolm and Lionel were ecstatic to win their first event and put pressure on the ladies by saying that the men were carrying the team. Rhonwen and Emma could not live with such comments and duly upped their game to win the second of their ladies doubles events. A challenge was then laid down - number of events the men win vs number of events then ladies win over the season - losers have to buy the winners a meal after the last match of the season. Keep tuned for progress. Liz and Dawn came very close to winning their first ladies doubles, being beaten narrowly 21-19, 21-17.

This left us with only 2 points going into the mixed games. John and Dawn were first on but what an epic it turned out to be. They were outclassed in the first end, but were very determined and won the second. The third end was very tight and a battle all the way. Unfortunately Glasgow edged ahead to win the third end 21-17. Liz was still getting used to the speed of the shuttle (and the speed of Lionel) in the first end of their mixed and the second end was much closer, but the Glasgow couple were too strong. Malcolm and Emma went to three ends, but again the Glasgow team triumphed. This left us with a 13-2 defeat, but we will get better and we will get a full team out at some point in the season!! The important score after two matches is: Ladies 5 - Men 1.

Cumbria 2 v Northumberland 2

The seconds played Northumberland 2 at Appleyby last Sunday.

Similarly to the first team, we had to play with several reserves.

The only victory in the singles came from Rhonwen Bryce who won in two ends.

In the doubles, the opposition proved too strong for the men, but the ladies manged to win three events - a double victory for Rhonwen with Emma Gillespie while Kay Armour with Janette McWhirter managed to win one event.

We couldn't win hte match, but wining two mixed matches would give us a point. Unfortunately it was not to be despite Malcolm Grayson and Kay Armour winning their games.

This left the score at 10-5 against Cumbria.