Christ Church and St George’s road tennis masters wasted no time in advancing to the next round when the weather finally permitted the National Sports Council’s 2010 Inter Parish Road Tennis Tournament to continue at the Deighton ‘Pa’ Roach Centre in Bush Hall on Saturday night.
The rains once again threatened to disrupt the preliminaries that would have been completed over a month ago. But, a large crowd and the players showed little concern for the drizzles as the action heated up the court and chased away the showers.
Cardinal Beckles played with a lot of flair and panache in seeing St George go one up over St John as he disposed of Anthony Edwards, 21-14, 21-16. Wendell Husbands then fought to pull a game back for St John and to force a tie breaker as he took the first set from Goldburn Bailey before losing a three-setter, 22-20, 19-21, 17-21.
Bailey was the better player but he tried to cap points with aggressive play which saw him losing key points to the more defensive Husbands. In the second set, Bailey made numerous attacking errors to slip from, 10-6, to then fight from, 10-13.
The battle between Christ Church and St. Andrew’s masters could not be tilted by the presence of Senator Irene Sandiford Garner of St Andrew as Cedrian Hinds beat Michael Sealy, 21-11, 21-14, before Peter Moore gave Christ Church the two nil victory by turning back Randolph Doughlin, 21-10, 21-13.
Moore, a veteran player and coach at the NSC, was surprisingly held 4-0 by Doughlin in the first set. Doughlin then barely avoided a ‘sow’ as Moore reeled off some classy shots to hold set point, 20-9. Moore’s southpaw play mystified Doughlin who attacked what would normally be a right hander’s back hand to literally play into Moore’s vicious forearm.
St Michael also proved dominant in the seniors as well, as in the lone ladies’ clash. Judy Rouse trounced Deborah Roach of St Peter, 21-8, 21-16. While seniors Michael ‘Mikey’ Jean and the highly animated Stig Merrick of St James put on a fine display of tennis with Jean being the correct brand, winning 21-14, 21-18.
The battle between Leon Carter of St. Michael and his St James opponent Lloyd Deanwas pure delight as both players unleashed classic smashes and deft touches in three pulsating sets. In the end Carter sneaked home, 24-22, 19-21, 21-18.
The action continues on Wednesday night at seven at Road View, St Peter.
