Newbury League Double

The evening matches in the Newbury League have now finished, culminating in an unprecedented double for the Men’s and Ladies’ A teams.

The Ladies, under the captaincy of Nikki R, retained their Division 1 title by a bigger points margin than last year, but pride of place goes to Nigel B’s Men’s team which, for the first time in the club’s history, has also won the Division 1 title.

Since returning to the top division in 2001 (after having made a fleeting visit in 1999), the team has consistently finished in the lower half of the table.

This year, with the arrival of a couple of new members and the development of some of the less experienced players, the squad was stronger.

Thanks to the fixture list, the final match was a winner-takes-all affair away at title rivals and regular champions Kintbury. After two rounds of a nine rubber contest Goring found themselves trailing 4-2 and needing to win all three remaining rubbers to claim the title.

The first two matches to finish were victories for Goring so at 4-4, in the gathering gloom, it was left to David W and Richard P, on their second match point, to clinch their third victory of the evening in the tie break.

The Ladies B team, captained by Anne K, retained its place in a hotly contested Division 2. Defeat in their last match would have brought relegation. As it was, a comfortable 6-2 victory secured third place.

The two mixed teams had mixed fortunes. The A team, captained by Patricia K finished in third place in Division 3; an exact repeat of their performance last year.

Mary D’s B team, having been promoted to Division 4 this year, returns to Division 5 for next year. They go down however basking in the glow of a thumping 9-0 victory in their final match.