Knole entertained old friends Sydenham on the unusual night of Wednesday. The fixture was originally rearranged to avoid a clash with Niall's support for the England football team. In the end, the enforced absence of several others due to work commitments made the World Cup situation immaterial.
Sydenham also had problems with a last minute cry-off, so Knole started 1 up. A good omen, as it also meant we avoided team-tying Peter Brightwell.
David Falconer, who appeared to have been over-tanned by the reflection of rays from the blindingly white walls on Court 1, dropped the first game to Paul Shade, and seemed to have forgotten how his own legs worked or that he had the best first-game backhand drops in the league. Luckily, David recovered (or did Paul tire?), and a safe 3-1 win was recorded.
Niall found it relatively straightforward to cope with the running of Dan Wilcox, and needed few of his trademark reverse boasts or other random trickeries to record a solid 3-0 win. That gave Knole the win bonus and the luxury of a relaxed end to the evening.
Pete Sykes needed no second invitation and allowed himself to just chase everything against a sluggish Tats Manase. Pete seemed unaware of how many times he had to run around Tats to get to impossible balls, when strokes could easily have been claimed or conceded. But it made for great entertainment, and Tats soon realised that he would not be able to wear Pete down enough to sneak a game. Another 3-0 in quick time.
Which left only newcomer Ben Herson - another old Aberdonian and guest from across the Surrey border - to take on the lively John Sherman and his bandana. An up and down match, which probably lasted as long as the other three put together, saw both players alternately frustrated with their own errors, and resorting to self-chastisement for motivation. Ben eventually proved the better chastiser, recovering from 2-1 down to take the last two games quite easily.
So, another maximum 20 points to keep Knole in 2nd place and only one point behind the league leaders Park Langley.
John (guest captain)