Having lost the ‘virtual’ toss, Team Dulwich trecked two and a half hours from South East London to the depths of Bedfordshire. We were made very welcome by Len Buckingham and after the all important cup of tea, play commenced. Leighton have two lawns, both of which have very individual characteristics. It would be fair to say that Team Dulwich have never played on such entertaining lawns! Big hitters Simon Carter and Pierre Beaudry soon learned that long clearance shots were a matter of luck rather than judgement and reigned in their play to beat Leighton’s Richard Keighley and Eve Buckingham 7-3, 7-2. In the singles, Dulwich’s Gloria Watson had a close match against Roger Stroud, just winning 7-4, 5-7, 7-6. Rising star Ken Watson found his Leighton opponent, David Ball, too difficult to beat and lost 6-7, 5-7.
Dulwich v Leighton-Linsdale 3 June
After lunch, Pierre found his form with the lawn and beat Eve 7-0,7-2. Richard also found his form, with very precise placements and good ball control to take both games against Simon to tie break with Simon eventually winning 7-6,7-6.
Ken had more success in his second singles, beating Roger Stroud 7-5, 7-4. However, Leighton’s man of the match David Ball again proved his form by beating Gloria 7-2, 7-4.
A splendid day was rounded off by a delicious home made tea. The fruit cake was particularly tasty.
Final score Dulwich 5 Leighton Linsdale 2.