Friday 25 Sep 2020 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
2020 Autumn League: Home Vs Worthing Simpsons
Handcross Start the Season in Fine Form Winning all Games and Scoring the Maximum 6 Points on Offer
With the summer league being postponed due to COVID-19 regulations the SCPA have decided to introduce a brand-new mini league tournament known as the ‘Autumn Cup’. Handcross have entered a strong squad of 12 players with a new captain in Liam Kidd steering the ship. The Autumn Cup first league stage has been drawn that you play against the next nearest clubs to you to reduce travelling time. 6 leagues were formed each with 3 teams in and Handcross were drawn alongside Clymping Crusaders and Worthing Simpsons. With our first match away to Clymping being cancelled we had to wait until Friday 25th to compete in our first match. With most of the squad being available captain Liam had his first tough decision to make to choose a squad to play. The players selected were Tony C, Sam, John, Peter, Tony K and Liam.
Despite it being a very cold windy evening the only downer of the evening was the fact that one of our flood lights had stopped working and will have to be repaired. With the two triples matches being the first games to play the six Handcross players were split into two teams of Tony K, John and Sam; and Peter, Tony C and Liam. The latter team overcame their opposition in as many as 6 ends running out confident winners at 13-2. They finished so quickly in fact that by the time the Handcross supporters of Nigel and Jane arrived the match was already over.
The team played very well each doing their jobs well. Peter was shooting boules when required Liam was consistently pointing near to the coche and Tony C was excellent in making his boules count when the other team had thrown all their boules ensuring we scored maximum points each end. The other triples game went on slightly longer, but the result was still the same with the Handcross team producing a comfortable win of 13-4. The lockdown period meaning everyone has been playing less clearly meant some people had forgot the rules as Sam decided to throw his two boules one after the other when his first was holding the shot and the opponents still had boules left - or maybe up north they play different rules!
With the light fading fast and one flood light being out all the strings had to be moved up one terrain in order to maximise the light available to us. With the triples being completed it was on to the doubles matches and the captain decided the pairings for the doubles would be: Tony and Tony, John; and Peter, Sam and Liam hoping to carry on the winning ways and win all the games. This is exactly what the team managed to do with all three teams winning their matches. Tony and Tony were first to finish with a very attacking motto being enforced which meant that both teams when they scored would score many points. Tony K's golden boules seemed to be effective in both carreauxing the opponent’s boules but also the wooden sleeper at the end. Tony C had some more consistent pointing and the two ran out 13-8 winners.
Sam and Liam were next to finish. After rushing into an early 9-0 lead the two found it difficult to get over the line. Liam’s pointing seemed to dip in form with excuses such as ‘I can’t see the coche in the dark’ being used. Sam’s shooting was very good throughout the match, however he himself admitted he didn’t think he’d hit a single boule straight instead clipping the boules which had been effective in most ends. The pair eventually got over the line winning 13-6.
With John and Peter now being the last pair to finish all eyes had turned to watch them and the pressure was on to ensure they kept up our winning ways. With the Handcross boys being 11-5 up and holding one point on the ground, rather than trying to point in for game or promote one of John’s boules that was short Peter went for an ambitious shot clearly wanting to impress the crowd. The shot however didn’t come off and John was unable to make his last boule count meaning the crowd were treated to another end. The Handcross boys would not find 12 to be dreaded for them and managed to close out the game in the following end winning 13-5.
With no food or refreshments being provided after the game due to new COVID regulations all that was left to do was wish Worthing a safe journey home and that we look forward to playing them in the reverse fixture at their terrain.
(Liam Kidd)