Sussex County lost to East Dorset 3-4

[<<] [>>] by Chris Daniels at Southwick
24th August 2004 (AC - Mary Rose)

Parkstone names first:

Dave Trimmer (1.5) & John Crowe (4.5) beat Bill Arliss (1) & Gene Mears (3) +24
Peter Shepheard (7) lost to Pauline Duke (8) -19
Julie Hudson (8) lost to Christine Constable (5) -11

Trimmer beat Arliss +18
Crowe beat Mears +15
Hudson beat Duke +4
Shepheard lost to Constable -15

Heavy overnight rain meant standing water on lawn 2, so the morning games were moved to lawns 1 and 3 at Southwick. In the Doubles, John Crowe's good rushing and solid break play, coupled with Dave Trimmer's precision short game, allowed them to over-power the Sussex pair and take an early lead, but the accurate long-range hitting and experience of Christine Constable and Pauline Duke enabled Sussex to carry a 2-1 lead into lunch.

By the afternoon, lawn 2 had dried sufficiently for use, although all lawns were still significantly slower than the super-slick Parkstone courts. Nevertheless, Trimmer prevailed early against Arliss, with Crowe following up almost as quickly with a good win over Gene Mears. 3-2 to Parkstone.

With Constable always in control against Shepheard, the tie came down to the deciding singles between Julie Hudson and Pauline Duke. Julie took the opportunity to peg out Pauline, and then held her nerve to patiently finish the tightest of the day's games, and clinch an East Dorset victory 4-3.

The East Dorset team would like to extend their thanks to Sussex for such warm hospitality, fine catering (as ever), and a closely-fought match played in just the right spirit.