Thame Badminton Men Stay On Top

The first match of the year saw Thame Badminton Mens team entertaining Leys C from Witney. Having beaten Leys away, the selectors decided to play Ben Cooper to give him more experience against a stronger side compared with his Aylesbury league experience.

Chris Charman and Chris Daniels started off their fifth game as the Thame 1st pair against the Leys opening and best pairing. With their contrasting styles complementing each other, Charman and Daniels dominated the game to win easily. The second game saw them easing off and this allowed the Leys pair to make a come back and force setting at 14 all. Switching back on, the Thame pair then won the game and thus the rubber. David Hargrave returned for only his second match of the season to partner Club Chairman Trevor Walker. With both players suffering the effects of recent winter colds, their play was sluggish. The first game saw them miss-timing some of their shots but this did not prevent them from overcoming the Leys 2nd but weakest strength pair. Continuing in this vein of play, they won the rubber by winning the next game. Keith Richards was paired with Ben Cooper but not having played together for 3 months showed. The Leys 3rd pair ran the Thame pair around the court with Richards line judgement out leading to some late decisions on whether to play shots. Losing the first game, the Thame pair realised that they must keep in rallies if they wanted to get the opportunity to win points. This they did and managed to win the second game but they slipped back to lose the final game and the rubber.

The Thame first pair totally dominated the Leys 2nd to win the first game. However, the second game saw Charman and Daniels easing back which allowed the Leys pair to win more points but not enough to prevent Thame winning the rubber. Hargrave and Walker were now loose after their first rubber and this allowed them give the Leys 1st pair a hard and close fought match which was only resolved after the sides had to set. Unfortunately, Thame were on the losing end. Working hard to overcome the effects of the colds as well as the Leys pair, the Thame pair came back to win the next 2 games to claw back the rubber. After a discussion about their play, Richards and Cooper took on the Leys 2nd pair in a rubber, which if won, would give Thame a winning position. With almost everything that was wrong in the first rubber changed, the Thame pair won the first game with relative ease. To the surprise of the on-looking selector, Richards and Cooper then went on the to win the second and final game 15 ? 0.

The final game for the Charman and Daniels combination was against the Leys 3rd pair. As in their rubber against the Leys 2nd pair, Thame won the first game easily. Worryingly, they again took the foot off the accelerator to allow the Leys pair to win more points than they should have been allowed. Nevertheless, this was the 4th time in 5 matches that Charman and Daniels have won all their rubbers. Hargarve and Walker were up against the Leys 3rd pair and by now were visibly tired. The Leys pairing were both young and fit and the Thame pair did well to win the game. However, they were pulled back by the Leys youngsters in the second game and lost. Summoning their last reserves of energy and using their greater experience, the Thame pair was able to win the final game. The final rubber saw Richards and Cooper take on the Leys 1st pair. Their improvement from the start of the match continued as they won the first game. However, the Leys 1st pair quickly saw some weaknesses in the Thame pairing and exploited them to the full to win the second game. Although Richards and Cooper tried hard, they could not regain the dominance they had in the first game and lost the game and rubber.

The Mens team have maintained their unbeaten run and retain their position at the top of their division. Their next match is against Didcot Power against whom Thame had their hardest match of the season.