Cambridge take the honours 3-0 as both Jamie and Ed win in 2 sets and take the Doubles 8-1. The winning number was 4….More to come…For the

As Ed (Kay) points out in the preceding post, if you want fireworks, CURTC at 6pm on Thursday November 5th, is the place to be. Jamie (Giddins) and Ed play at a level I can only aspire to but I asked Kees as to what we could look out for, and hopefully learn from, during the match….

Those of you who have seen Ed recently must have noticed his Winning Gallery shots*. The moment his feet are in position there seems no doubt as to where the ball will land up. But unlike my good self, Ed tends to hit the Winning Gallery more than the Grill. So keep track of Ed’s Grill vs Winning Gallery ratio. (For the record, in two hours of Doubles this morning, I hit one Winning Gallery and two Grills giving me a ratio of 2, beat that Ed!). Jamie is very strong in retrieving off the back wall, especially in the back-hand corner, watch out for his positioning and feet placement. He also, as I’m sure he will agree, had a bit of a slow start against Oxford in his Singles match. Let’s make sure he knows we are quite happy for him to win in two sets.

Serving plays a critical role and at this level and the Railroad is much in evidence. Look out for Ed’s which was on song against Oxford. In particular, (try and) keep track of where the ball bounces on the Penthouse on its way to hopefully another point for the Home team. Against Oxford, the Doubles was highly entertaining, Ed and Jamie are pretty experienced so keep an eye on how they interact as they move around the Court. Some of this is fairly obvious (guarding the Tambour as opposed to the Grill) but some is quite subtle. For example, watch out what happens when a Railroad is served.

*We are having a competition…. If you guess (correctly, of course) the number of Winning Gallery shots during the entire match (from both teams), you will win not just bragging rights until the next National League match but also a valuable prize. Entries to me (Christie Marrian) by 6:30pm tomorrow. £1 per guess…..