Hey folks, Simon Parker here reporting for Cambs3's last weekend! So much to tell, but will try to keep it as brief as possible! Campbell stolen by the 2s and Rachel unable to play, Mike and Alison subbed in.
Lost 6-5 to northants2
Lost the first 6 games (all the singles and 1 mens), won the next 5. Lots of close ends but we were well beaten in the singles. 10-minute highly embarrassing score row in the middle of Me and Mike's men's (are we 19-16 up or 19-18 up?) Eventually settled on 19-17 and then won the last two points anyway rendering the whole thing completely pointless. Cringe. Good win for Ruth & Alison in the ladies in 3 close ends.
Lost 9-2 to Suffolk2
Very comfortably beaten in all of the singles except mine against their 3rd man which I managed to scrape. Lost all the rest except me and Mikes doubles which we won in three; won 21-10 in the last after a great piece of advice from Mike which really deconstructed them as a pair. Liz & Mike very nearly took their mixed but lost 21-18 in the 3rd - pretty good for a pair who had never played together before!
NOW THE FUN BEGINS
So the 2nds had TWO injuries on Saturday, which meant they took Alex and Tom (the only two players not staying overnight in Oakham!) for the Sunday. I then spent about 2 hours on the phone to various reserve men to see if anyone would make the trip. My first 10-15 players couldn't make it SLASH couldn't drive and weren't up for taking the train. I eventually managed to recruit Martin Crossley and Chris Parker to take the train up and play - I swear to god I'm not just being "that guy" and asking my brother/clubmate, I genuinely did ask everyone on the reserve list plus a few others!!!
Fresh from that stress, the remaining 7 of us went out for dinner and drinks, which was actually really good fun :)
On the Sunday, Martin and Chris managed to miss their stop (ahhhh!). Meaning Liz had to sit around for about an hour until they arrived in Peterborough to pick them up (THANKS LIZ!). Everyone was late. Negotiations with the opposition ensued but they were graceful, thankfully.
Won 6-5 Against Lincs2
Once again, we lost all of our singles (partly because all 3 of our normal singles men were taken by the bloody 2nd team at this point hehe) except Alison who took hers in two very tidy ends. We then won almost all of the remaining fixtures, including Chris & Bertie's mens and Martin/Kerry's Mixed. Alison and Ruth unfortunately struggled against a strong 2nd pair, but in the best viewed game of the season, Kerry and Mike won the very final game 28-26 sealing the win to rapturous applause and many-a high five!
A really fun season in the end and a really good atmosphere within the team throughout the weekend. I'm sad it's over now! Thanks to everyone that played for us over the season :)