Hunters 2nd team pulled off a stunning win against Trinity 1st team, on home turf at Bilton School.

Trinity, possibly a little rattled after turning up at the wrong venue, weren’t quite as warmed up as our home team, allowing the first pair of Steve Turner and Aseem Sharma to win the first match comfortably.

On the next court, things looked good for Hunters as well, with a 21-17 victory to Simon Piercy and Neil Porter. However Trinity composed themselves and took next two games to secure their first rubber.

In the next matches, Hunters had it more their own way, with Simon and Neil winning in 2 games, while Steve and Aseem dropped their second game, only to wallop Trinity 21-5 in the third.

With the match at 3-1 heading into the split, Simon Piercy and Steve Turner made easy work of their match, winning 21-18, 21-7 to secure the win for Hunters. Aseem and Neil battled hard, but lost their match in two games, the second in a close 19-21 encounter.

Overall match score 4-2 to Hunters 2, a very good win against a strong first team.

Hunters 1 report

The first team turned up early (minus 1 – of course!), confident and ready for a battle with the Team’s Chief Snack Co-ordinator, Tactical Advisor and Physio (A.K.A. Fiona) equipped with doughnuts to keep us sustained for the onslaught.

The first pair of Steve Turner and Michal Helis took on Simon Piercy and Ishtiak Jamil (arguably a last minute ringer!) who after a hard fought three gamer lost out to the sharp smashing Jamil and courageous serving Simon (private joke).

After watching the celebrations from the second team camp following the major upset from the first rubber; Steve and Michal then took on the pair of David Pugh and Lee Rickard who also proved difficult to shift in another amazing three gamer. A mention should be made to David who ran round like a terrier picking stuff up. The only way we could stop him getting the shots back was to smash the shuttle in the net! Which we seemed to do a lot of!!! But the passionate COME ON’s from Steve helped the 1^st team to a VERY narrow victory.

Jeremy and Phil showed no mercy with both the second team pairs; doing their stuff as they have proved on multiple occasions. Taking on the helpful teachings from the remains of a GCSE PE Badminton lesson on the white board. They earned their doughnuts – and possible a GCSE in Badminton!

Then came the split. Phil and Steve took on Simon and Lee who after a strong fight, fell to the first team pair. Despite the lack of a high serve as demanded by the prophecy on the white board!

Jeremy and Michal then took on the Ankle Biter and the Ringer in the second split rubber. This also proved fruitful for the first team.

When the battle was done Hunters 1 took the match 5-1. The war continues…..

Hunters 2 report

The usual season openers pitched Hunters 1 v Hunters 2, giving the first division teams a chance to loosen their arms against “friendly” opposition. Looking to improve on the 6-0 result from last season, Hunters 2 were always going to face some tough games against their first team counterparts.

Most of the games went to form, with the notable exception of Simon Piercy and Ishtiak Jamil taking a rubber for the 2nds against Steve Turner and Michael Helis. An overall result of 5-1 to the first team seemed a fair results on the night.