ROUND 5 – A1 GRADE MATCH REVIEWS “D C HAMMER” DISMANTLES “FRANKSTON EXPRESS” With the Mornington magician, Jarryd Cathcart out of action again due to illness, his spot was taken in the starting line up against Frankston by younger brother and Australia’s no.1 ranked U/18 player, Dillon Cathcart “The D C Hammer” in a player swap that would have sent shivers down the spine of most thinking opponents. However, there was no spine shivering evident from the “The Frankston Express” Sam Palmer and after psyching himself up all week for his now traditional grudge match against the older Cathcart version, the Frankston wonder gun was more than confident of taking on any Cathcart that could be thrown at him. “The D C Hammer” celebrity appearance got off to a shaky start when he and partner Nick Underwood lost the doubles to Palmer and partner Geoff “Lobby” Lloyd, before Palmer and Cathcart squared off for the main event. After some good old fashioned table tennis fisticuffs that showcased the talents of two of Mornington’s finest, it was “The D C Hammer” who reigned supreme, coming home with a wet sail that saw him well and truly tame Palmer in the sixth, to record a 4-2 victory. However with both Palmer and “Lobby” recording wins against Underwood, Frankston got over the line 3-2 to remain the only undefeated side in the competition at the half way point of the season. With Mt Martha winless and on the bottom of the ladder, “Iron Jay” Mark Flavel decided that his reputation had taken enough of a battering and he took himself away on holidays for a recharging of his table tennis batteries. His place in the starting line up was taken by crowd favourite, “The Leaping Gazelle” Barry Emsley, who joined “Gentleman” Jim Conlon in the match against Somerville’s Peter “Pretty Boy” Du Plooy and Chris “Thrasher” Robinson. It gives your Face Book Editor, much genuine pleasure to report that “Pretty Boy” FINALLY showed the form that we all know he is capable of, when he dispatched both “The Leaping Gazelle” and “Gentleman” Jim without dropping a game to end the most excruciating run of bad form in the recent history of our club. “The Leaping Gazelle” known for a booming forehand found that his forehand was totally devoid of any boom whatsoever, which rendered his game infertile, and with “Gentleman” Jim again struggling, the resulting 4-1 score line was actually a flattering result for the disappointing Mt Martha duo. “The Carrum Downs Colossus” Phil Bolitho, once again stood tall in our sides 3-2 win against Langwarrin’s Craig “Wiss” Entwistle and Shane “Chainsaw” O’Connor and given that the good guys won the doubles and “The Colossus” won both his singles matches, you don’t have to be Einstein to know how your Face Book editor fared. The only thing that managed to keep me entertained on Thursday evening was the A3 match, seen from a distance between “The Chilean Marvel” Juan Carlos Seguel and Sandy Kouroupidis. When my attention was drawn to the “action” the match was already into its second excruciating hour. This was a classic, last man standing chopathon and with “The Marvel” leading 3-2 and scores tied 7 all in the sixth, these two played a rally that I swear must have lasted five minutes. Like an Indian snake charmer, “The Marvel” seemed to be in a trance like state as he rocked backwards and forwards moving the ball from one side of the table to the other until Kouroupidis could take no more and looking dazed and cross eyed, he finally surrendered the point. From a distance it looked like Marco Baretta, who was umpiring at the time, was making a mobile phone call. I assumed he may have been calling for an ambulance as he looked decidedly unwell by this stage of proceedings, but then I realized he simply had his head resting on one hand as he presumably fought off sleep or perhaps the urge to bash his head into the umpire’s chair as a means of ending his prolonged torture. After perhaps the longest match that has ever been played at the stadium it was “The Chilean Marvel” who came out on top, leaving Kouroupidis to no doubt wonder what better and more productive things he could have done with this hour and a quarter of his life. Hit hard and prosper Greig Whitelaw
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 04:57:09 +0000
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