Tuesday 17 Nov 2020 at 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
2020 Autumn League: Away Vs Clymping
A first Trip to Clymping for Handcross Sees Another Victory for the Team
Three new players made their first appearance for Handcross in a very wet Sunday morning match against newly formed Clymping Petanque Club. It was appalling weather conditions with it being wet and windy but the Handcross team managed to pull through.
The team consisted of three new players: Justin, Bill and Gerard; and the return of John, Tony K and Liam. The first matches were the triples and captain Liam decided the teams would be Tony, John and Bill leaving Justin, Gerard and Liam himself. John, Bill and Tony shot out of the blocks quickly, seemingly not wanting to be in the rain any longer than needed, and raced into a 9-2 lead. The team seemed to be in fine form: John was consistently pointing close to the coche on a difficult Clymping terrain. The piste had larger stones than used at many venues and some bedded-in stone which were not visible making it difficult to point and trust the landing. A lob point was proving to be most successful and John and Bill had mastered this in the initial stages of the game.
After getting into a convincing lead the team seemed to struggle losing their lead and the opposition getting their team back into the game and bringing the score to 9-9. It was at this point the team decided enough was enough and they switched things round a bit. Bill was now shooting as pointing had become difficult and Tony was playing the first point and then allowing John to follow up. This was an interesting tactic and not one normally seen but Tony was able to make the first point count a bit more meaning the opposition would be using up more of their boules to beat the first point. This led the team to score 3 points in the end and followed it up winning the next, meaning they won the game 13-9.
The other triples match got off to a slow start, each team scoring a series of 1’s until the score was 2-2 then the Handcross boys managed to double their score in one end and lead 4-2. Not being happy however with how the team was playing captain Liam decided a change was needed. Gerard, who was in the middle, was moved to pointing, Justin who had been shooting was now playing in the middle and Liam would shoot. This change seemed to help. Liam was able to hit a few more boules and make his boules count more than when he was pointing very inconsistently. Gerard was having some difficulties pointing but still was making some very useful opening points forcing their shooter to have to shoot more. Justin was his usual consistent self with his pointing and was effective in making his boules count. The boys won a few ends in a row and went into an 8-2 lead. Clymping then made a come-back and the score was 9-8 and it could’ve gone either way. With the rest of the team now watching on as they had finished first the Handcross team managed to win the 4 points needed and were 13-8 victors.
Having a 2-0 lead going into doubles captain Liam, similarly to the Worthing match, decided to try and win the match 5-0 and split the players into the following teams: John and Tony, Justin and Bill, and Gerard and Liam. John and Tony managed to win in convincing style 13-2 and taking the pressure off the rest of the team knowing that with 3 matches now won the overall result would be a win for Handcross. Bill and Justin were playing on the tricky end terrain and what on paper was a very strong doubles pairing they never seemed to get going and lost the match 13-2. A huge 'well done' goes to Bill who overcame Justin in the singles competition and will now play fellow squad member Peter in the final on the 18th October which will be a spectacle to watch. Perhaps Justin was still holding a grudge against Bill as the pairing didn’t seem to play well and Bill in fact seemed to gift Clymping a large majority of their points. Most noticeably in the final end the Handcross boys were holding 5 points and Bill with his last boule unintentionally moved the coche back and ended up giving the Clymping team the win.
With the piste all to themselves and the spectators watching on it was just left to Gerard and Liam to entertain them. Having started off poorly the Handcross pairing were losing the game 9-1 and it seemed like there was no way back for the team. Gerard was finding it difficult to point, continually landing on hidden stones and his boule not going where they wanted to. Liam's shooting had also gone off. As the rain was coming down heavier a coat had to be worn, hindering his shooting arm. Amazingly however with the rest of the team cheering them on the two lads rallied themselves. Liam’s coat was now removed and his performance improved. Gerard's pointing had now improved and the team managed to win 3 ends in a row scoring four points on each, the last of which there was an opportunity to win after Gerard’s initial first point had taken all the opponents boule and it was still holding. He then pointed his remaining two boules short meaning Liam had to shoot two boules to try and make them scoring boules. Liam took the shot on and amazingly got a double with the first shot meaning they were now holding 3 points and Liam had two in his hand to point in to win the game. Unfortunately, his first point kicked off and they only managed to score 4 making the score 12-9. Losing the next end the game score was then 12-10 and it was anyone's game. However the Handcross team dominated the next end scoring the one point they needed still having two boules left in their hands and the team won 13-10.
A good result for Handcross. Winning 4-1 means they’re now confidently top of the league with two wins from two, only dropping 1 game in them. The next game will be on Friday when Handcross welcome Clymping for the return match at home.
(Liam Kidd)