Despite only having 3 players on tuesday morning (thank you Mr Thompson for making it 4 by tuesday evening !) and still only 4 by wednesday morning, Northants 2nd Team continued their fine run by beating Daventry 5 by 4 rubbers to 1 at home on wednesday evening. After sending out the team email (including a Special Guest at number 5 - I really had no idea !!) in the wee hours of wednesday morning, step forward Mr Earl Harrison - counted out by recovery from an Operation since before Christmas, by 08:30 we had a team - but more of Earl later !!

Tim Arthur at 3 went on first and gave his usual display, making Neil Aldersley run around retrieving balls from all parts of the court and Neil looked shattered by the end of the second game, with Tim barely breaking sweat - however the third game saw Neil's dogged resistance pay dividends and the lack of a ruthless streak in the Harborough player's armoury led to Neil winning a deserved point for Daventry - Tim then pressed home his advantage and younger legs to win the fourth and the rubber.

Ian Shirley at 4, put in a very impressive performance in beating the younger Steve McQuillan 3-0 - Ian's consistent serve enabled him to dominate the T with regularity, not allowing his opponent a foothold in the match.

Steve Loxton on debut at number 5 gave a very strong performance in beating the opposition captain, Austen Humphrey 9/1, 10/8, 9/1 - Steve was another to dominate the T and rarely looked like losing despite Austen making him fight all the way in game 2.

What can I say about Pete Rhodes's game at 2 with Ben Humpage ? - Not a lot, didn't see it, was over too quick, winning to 0,2 & 4 - Pete is still unbeaten and one of the reasons the team is at the right end of the league.

Back to Earl - it was a typical Harrison performance in getting value for money from his match fee - Ian Shirley drew the short straw in marking and nearly ran out of scorepads !! Having lost the first two games, with Dave McQuillan making the most of Earl's rustiness, Pete decided dinner was still a long way off and went for a shower - the fact he was back before the end of the fourth game tells the tale of the fightback from Earl - the games were tight with no player giving an inch. Dave had however saved something for the last game and ran out the 9/4 winner to take a rubber for Daventry. Luckily enough the earlier games were concluded quite quickly otherwise it could have been a later dinner !  - new team resolution is to stick Earl on first and play the remaining 4 matches on the other court ! - but seriously Earl, great to have you back.

So an excellent 17 points to consolidate our position.

Next up Dallington away on wednesday.