[<<] [>>] by Frances Colman at Phyllis Court
25 Apr 2015 (GC - Murphy Shield)

Phyllis Court got their GC Inter-Club Murphy Shield campaign off to a great start with victory over visitors Hurlingham.

It is always nice to welcome Clubs from further afield to the banks of the River Thames at Henley in Oxfordshire, and all the more so when visitors are linked to us as a reciprocal Club.

The Murphy Shield is a restricted competition in which teams can field one player who is a 2 handicap, and the sum of all four team players' handicaps must be 12 or more.
Mike Fensome (2) and Frances Colman (3) teamed up as the hosts' numbers 1 & 2 and won a good first doubles match in three games against Hurlingham's Tony Bingham (2) and John Malvern (3).
All four players' good clearance percentages were the feature of the encounter.
Meanwhile Don Rutherford (3) lost in three games to John Culhane (5) but Mary Gaynor (4) earned Phyllis Court a lunch-time lead with a straight two-game win over Veronica Carlisle (4).
The second half of the fixture was quite tight with three of the four matches going to a deciding game.
Fensome saw off Bingham in two games and Colman's victory over Malvern settled the fixture for the home side, before the visitors' Carlisle and Culhane rallied to bring the end result to 4-3.
Phyllis Court go on to play Leighton-Linslade, who got a bye into the next round, on a date and at a venue to be decided.

Results

(Phyllis Court names first)

Mike Fensome (2) & Frances Colman (3) beat Tony Bingham (2) & John Malvern (3) 7 - 4, 6 - 7, 7 - 5
Don Rutherford (3) lost to John Culhane (5) 4 - 7, 7 - 4, 3 - 7
Mary Gaynor (4) beat Veronica Carlisle (4) 7 - 4, 7 - 4

Mike Fensome (2) beat Tony Bingham (2) 7 - 2, 7 - 5
Frances Colman (3) beat John Malvern (3) 7 - 3, 6 - 7, 7 - 2
Don Rutherford (3) lost to Veronica Carlisle (4) 7 - 1, 5 - 7, 6 - 7
Mary Gaynor (4) lost to John Culhane (5) 7 - 0, 6 - 7, 6 - 7