Katie Scott sets the scene from the latest competitive showdown

With Christmas done and dusted, it’s once more time to get down to business, kicking off with Wychelm’s mixed doubles squad facing Redbridge in a home scramble. Playing our home games this season at Dagenham Park Leisure Centre, with a 7pm start time, may see us lose the initial ‘home turf’ advantage, but hopefully we can still get some decent matches in.

With David still out of action due to a knee injury, I once again had the faithful Binu by my side, with the rest of the team our usual suspects on the mixed doubles circuit.

Results:

Janet and Gary:

  • 14-21 / 19-21
  • 16-21 / 14-21
  • 7-21 / 19-21

Katie and Binu:

  • 12-21 / 21-20 / 10-21
  • 11-21 / 10-21
  • 16-21 / 15-21

Kay and Het:

  • 15-21 / 18-21
  • 8-21 / 20-21
  • 21-17 / 19-21 / 21-15

Our only win of the evening came from the brilliant Kay and Het, so congrats guys for that. Some of the games were impeccably close, with a scattering of 20-21 results to help keep Redbridge on their toes. I’ll own that I made my fair share of mistakes – for some reason I completely mislaid the back tramlines, with numerous clears zooming past to a rather definite ‘out’ call. I also feel that I didn’t always fully utilise my position at the front, passing it to the opposing back player too often for my liking. Once I engaged in more net play, I think that did help Binu and I out as it encouraged more clears for him to attack – always a plus point! Binu played some fantastic smashes, the air literally zinging as the feathers flew.

Redbridge played exceptionally well and they did deserve the win in the end. Despite trying to weigh them down with a rather decadent biscuit display, they were light on their feet with regards to the cross court play, their preferred tactics to direct poor Binu left and right in an exhausting run across the court. There was plenty of low and fast play, with drives and smashes galore, with their mixed captain Steven in particular playing some lovely straight shots down the side tramlines. Binu attempted to mix the play up with some slower deceptive drops interspersed with his trademark smashes.

The mother-son combo pairing from Redbridge were also particularly punchy, with a vigorous and energetic playing style as well as an unusual serve from Glenda. On the whole, I would say Redbridge have a very attacking style of play that focuses on the player at the back of the court directing pacey shots cross court for the majority. I don’t think I played my best, but even if I were on point, I think Redbridge still would have collected the win in this instance.

I didn’t see many of the other games being played, however catching some of Het and Kay’s game, they were really doing well at moving the Redbridge players around the court. Janet and Gary were also ploughing away at their opponents with Gary’s usual fevered competitive spirit and Janet’s dogged determination. The score lines may not reflect the closeness of some of the games, band although I wished to have played better, a fun evening was had by all. Onwards to the next match!