Reivers Feel the Heat

Kirkaldy 2 11-7 Border Reivers

 

Gary Bramble 0-3 David Brown

The first rubber of the night was won well by Kirkaldy veteran Brown 15-12, 15-9, 15-8. The challenge here was the sheer heat in the Kirkaldy Courts, The Reivers were used to colder conditions.The heat meant the ball was bouncier than usual and the shots that Bramble would kill in Galashiels courts were just bouncing up and Brown would capitalise with front boasts. The Veteran ran off 3-0 fairly quickly.

 

Graham Bensted 0-3 Steve Creene

This was much the same story as the first game as Reivers Bensted wasn’t used to the heat in the court and it completely changed the style of game, Creene made homer advantage count and although he triumphed 15-9, 15-8, 16-14 the game was closer and better than the scores suggested. This was won mainly when Creene played long full length shots that found the corners.

 

Del Sharratt 1-3 Robert Brown

Del started strongly winning the first 15-13, albeit assisted by some poor unforced errors by Brown who let some simple shots go wayward and gave away some silly points.

The second game seen Brown take control, Del was pinned to the back half of the court and Brown would therefore throw in a drop shot every so often that was out of Del’s reach and took it 15-6. Del was struggling in the heat and in the third game Del had to stop for breathe for 30 seconds as he was finding the heat too much and Brown took it fairly easy 15-5, after a couple of minute break Del seemed to find his feet a bit at the start of the fourth abut again proved to struggle in the temperatures and the Kirkaldy team – who were well used to playing in the heat took this one 15-6 for 3-1.

 

 

 

Amir Hosny 3-2 Alex Allan

15-8, 9-15, 10-15, 15-11, 16-14. This was tie of the night. Reivers Hosny, who seemed to make a habit pf playing in 5-set thrillers as his previous Cap had seen him go down 3-2; this time Hosny held out. Hosny managed to stay focussed despite the conditions and managed to play some tight shots and generally run down his Older opponent. Hosny nearly lost th game with some poor serving but managed to stay focussed and took the teams first victory of the night.

 

Tony Elliot 3-0 Andy Cant

Tony Elliot’s record for Reivers now is played 14 won 14. Although this game was no walk in the park. Elliot had pulled a nerve in his neck playing football over the weekend and found this impeded his movement and vision in the court, but the Reivers top seed put the pain to the back of his mind and triumphed over the Fifer 15-9, 16-14, 15-13.

 

Captain Sharratt said after the match “That’s the hottest court I’ve played on! They have recently installed some new Gas heaters at Kirkaldy, I’ve played in some hot courts before but they must be the hottest; I can’t remember ever finding it hard to breathe in the court due to the temperature before – but that is what home advantage is all about; when they come to the Borders the ball won’t be bouncing as much and hopefully we can use that to our advantage.