Pendle & Craven win the Mary Rose Inter Club Trophy by John Filsak (07/10/07)

Heroic effort by Rob Essler in the deepening Wrest Park gloom won the Mary Rose trophy for Pendle and Craven in the final against Surbiton. Rob’s opponent, David Mooney had started off well, and was way ahead, but Rob crept back into contention. With David losing his so-far-reliable long hitting ability the game was Rob’s and the trophy Pendle’s by 4 games to 2. This also saved the manager the problem of having to finish off the pegged-down doubles in the dark (Pendle were ahead in it, but Surbiton had the innings).

Pendle got off to a good start in the morning. The doubles made slow progress, but John Filsak made light work of his game against Bob Stephens after Bob broke down at 2-back, leaving John an easy finish, and Liz Wilson battled her way from a long way down to beat Ian Parkinson. So Pendle were 2-0 up at lunch time. Liz was first to finish in the afternoon, dispatching Bob fairly rapidly. Peter Wilson’s game with Mary Knapp was neck and neck until Mary got in with a long hit to finish. John got off to a good start against Ian, but an uncharacteristic clang gave Ian the innings, and John’s ability to hit anything above 2 yards deserted him. So it looked as though Surbiton were going to level at 3-all, until Rob got going. The rest, as they say, is history. (Nasty cliche, but, hey, we won!)

Teams:
Pendle and Craven: Rob Essler (2), Peter Wilson (2.5), John Filsak (2.5, captain), Liz Wilson (3)
Surbiton: David Mooney (1), Mary Knapp (2, captain), Ian Parkinson (2), Bob Stephens (3.5)