East Dorset beat Ashby 5-1

[<<] [>>] by Keith Southern at Cheltenham
23 Sep 2020 (GC - Inter-Club Shield)

GC Murphy Inter-Club Shield final East Dorset v Ashby played at Cheltenham on Wednesday September 23 2020.

East Dorset beat Ashby 5-1 with one rubber unfinished.

Teams and handicaps :

East Dorset : Michelle Leonard (3), Hannes Hamann (3), Mark Hamann (3), Tony Green (4).

Ashby : Mick Haytack (3), Rupert Knapton (3), Martin Wroughton (4), Richard Sanville (5).

Scores (East Dorset names first) :

Michelle and Hannes lost to Mick and Rupert 4-7, 3-7
Mark beat Richard 7-3, 7-5
Tony beat Martin 7-4, 7-3

Michelle beat Mick 0-7, 7-4, 7-3
Hannes v Rupert 3-7, 7-5 (unfinished)
Mark beat Martin 7-6, 7-3
Tony beat Richard 6-7, 7-5, 7-6

From a reduced 2020 entry the 2019 winners, East Dorset, retained the Murphy Shield by beating Ashby in this year's final played at a hospitable Cheltenham.

Apart from one brief sharp shower the forecast rain was mercifully light and of limited duration. East Dorset's victory was largely based on dominant results from their lower order but the final match score was perhaps somewhat flattering.

In the morning East Dorset quickly won both singles and made a start on the two bottom singles rubbers, taking the first game in one but losing the first game in the other. Meanwhile Ashby had patiently taken a win in the doubles to leave the lunchtime match score at 2-1. After a short lunch break East Dorset soon wrapped up the third singles rubber to take a 3-1 match lead but at that point the overall match result remained in doubt for some time as Ashby turned the tide to hold a 1-0 lead in each of the three remaining rubbers.

The decisive result came in the bottom singles in which East Dorset prevailed at hoop 13 of the third game in a contest that was tight throughout and which could have gone either way. With the overall match result settled, and therefore the pressure off, East Dorset got back into the top two singles, winning one and leaving the other unfinished in the interest of long homeward journeys.

On behalf of the CA John Bowcott presented the trophy and acted as match referee, although he had little to do in that capacity.