A Happy Loss

Published: 27 Jul 2006 - 22:03 by raystrach

Updated: 27 Jul 2006 - 22:03

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It is not often you lose in straight, but are happy with the result. Despite still carrying an injured calf i decided to play in last night's competition match because it was a semi final.

My playing at number 1 ensured that all my team mates remained in their correct position thus giving the team the best chance of success. It promised to be a very close contest. We had a strong chance of one very good win, two potential cliff hangers, and a strong possibility of me losing very badly.

I wa very apprehensive about getting a complete mauling. I had been getting the better of Steve on the last few occasions, but most recently was upset when he gave me a Squash lesson. I feared very much that it would be worse this time.

As it turned out, I was able to compete to some extent. I was playing so much better than our previous match and took the majority of opportunities that were presented to me. I actually went very close to snagging a game. While that was not to be, at least my 18 points gave the team something to work with.

Our number 2 player the 16 yo Sunil did as expected and played a strong game to win to just a few points which tipped the balance back in our favour, leaving the result very open as the next two rubbers were expected to be close. We has an edge in one match but were underdogs in the other.

This is where things got much better for us and worse for them.

Our number 4, who I was hoping would pick up at least two games, started strongly as he often does, but instead of losing the plot just when he looks like he wa going to win, just kept getting stronger! It was very good to see from our point of view. The player he beat, played in my team last season and was instrumental in us winning the title, but not this time.

The good part was that my 18 points was not matched by our two opponents combined, leaving us with the win before the final rubber. As it turned out, our remaining team member also had a great win.

Steve confided in me later, that he feared that he as going to be the one to lose it for his team. At least he played his part in getting the team off to a winning start, but I was quite happy that at least that small win was as much as they got.