Thame Badminton Phoenix Fixture – By Andrew Scarlett

THE last home match of the season saw the men?s team in the Aylesbury & District league play Phoenix D.
In the first match in Aylesbury, Thame had lost the match 2 ? 4. The recent results for this team have been improving and hopes were high for this fixture.

Ben Cooper started off with Adrian Broadway but both struggled, although Broadway was holding his own with his serve. The pair struggled and was well beaten by the Phoenix first pair in straight games. On the adjacent court, Lance Adlam was paired with Gareth Allingham who was continuing his comeback. Adlam and Allingham started off quickly and soon won the first game conceding just 2 points. The second game was more difficult as the Phoenix pair of father and son started to play a wider game and made Adlam move around the court. However, the tactic was not able to prevent the Thame pair winning the second game and the rubber.

The next rubber saw Cooper paired with Adlam. Cooper was not aggressive enough when in a position to take control of rallies and this saw Thame lose points they should have won. This continued as Phoenix took the first game. After the turnaround, Cooper started to improve and get his placements correct. With Adlam mixing up the serves, Thame were able to come back and level the rubber. The good form continued in the final game as Thame won the rubber and move into the lead in the match. Broadway was now playing with Allingham and they played well together. Broadway was serving well with his disguised flick service catching the Phoenix pair out. Meanwhile, Allingham was attacking the Phoenix serve and was smashing well. With this level of play, the result of this rubber was never in doubt and Thame duly won in straight games.

The last round of rubbers saw the pairs revert to the starting line up. With the match score standing at 3 ? 1, the team supporter was confident of victory. Cooper and Broadway started well and were always in contention. However, the Phoenix pair took their time and slowly moved ahead to win the first game. The second game saw the Thame pair lose their way with Cooper seeming to lose confidence. They could not pick up their game and Phoenix went on to win the rubber in straight games.

With the match now at 3 ? 2, the pressure was on the Thame pair. Adlam continued to serve well and not just relying on the flick serve. Additionally, Adlam?s movement around court was the best he has played for a number of years. Allingham responded with an improvement to his play and the pair won the first game. The Phoenix pair then upped their own level of play and just managed to win the second rubber. The final rubber saw the Thame pair keep the level of play up and they battled against an uncompromising Phoenix pair. The two sides exchanged points all the way to 14 all. With the sides level, Phoenix chose to set to 3 points. Phoenix won the next 2 points to leave them on match point. Thame saved this and then went on to level the scores before losing serve. The match had been played in a very good spirit and the last point reflected this as the Phoenix serve landed right on the line. It was left to Allingham to give judgement and he called the shuttlecock in to give Phoenix a last point win and the rubber.

The 3 all draw was an entertaining and enjoyable game of badminton played in the right spirit. Thame now have only one match to play this season against local rivals, Mill Lane BC of Chinnor.