SCA v CA of Ireland 2014
24-25 May 2014, Meadows
The SCA regained the Appleton Trophy by winning 15 games to the CA of Ireland's 6 in a match cut short by heavy rain and flooding on Sunday afternoon.
The teams' statistics suggested that the home side would have the advantage, but of course upsets in matches like this are not unknown. The players on each side were:
SCA:
John Surgenor (handicap -0.5)
Campbell Morrison (-0.5)
Bill Spalding (2)
Fergus McInnes (3)
Robert Inder (4)
Jamieson Walker (7)
CAI:
Nathaniel Healy (0?)
Evan Newell (0?)
Jane Morrison (1.5)
Frank Martin (7)
Alan Looney (8)
John-Francis Martin (12?)
The match began with a round of doubles, all won by the Scots although one of the wins was by only a single point on time. Two rounds of singles followed, with four of the six games in each round going to the SCA, making it 11-4 overnight.
After a veritable feast at Jamieson's house (thanks to Jackie Shannon and Jola Jurasinska for sterling work on the catering), the teams reconvened on Sunday morning and discussed the plan for the day. The original plan had been for one round of doubles and two rounds of singles in which everyone played their opposite number twice; but three of the visitors had to leave for evening flights and would not have time to complete a third game, and therefore the singles involving them were shortened to one game each, so that the total number of games in the match would be 27 (15 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday) and therefore 14 points were required for a win.
Sunday morning was less rainy than we had feared, but a heavy shower arrived at lunch time (at which point the match score stood at 13-5 after another +1T result which gave one doubles point to the Irish) and created puddles on the lawns. After some sweeping with squeegees and a little waiting for water to sink away, play resumed, but it was stopped again by a torrential downpour which caused extensive flooding. Time to break for tea! Playable conditions were restored in the late afternoon, allowing some more games to finish, but after a third episode of flooding we decided to call it a day. By this time the score was 15-6 and so the match was decided in favour of the SCA.
As usual this was an enjoyable weekend, and we look forward to next year's match in Ireland.
Fergus McInnes
Results
(SCA names first)
Saturday:
Campbell Morrison & Robert Inder beat Nathaniel Healy & Jane Morrison +4T (11-7)
Bill Spalding & Fergus McInnes beat Frank Martin & Alan Looney +14T (25-11)
John Surgenor & Jamieson Walker beat Evan Newell & John-Francis Martin +1T (20-19)
John Surgenor lost to Evan Newell -2T (22-24)
Campbell Morrison beat Jane Morrison +6T (22-16)
Bill Spalding lost to Nathaniel Healy -16
Fergus McInnes beat John-Francis Martin +26
Robert Inder beat Frank Martin +23
Jamieson Walker beat Alan Looney +14
John Surgenor beat Jane Morrison +9
Campbell Morrison beat Nathaniel Healy +8
Bill Spalding lost to Evan Newell -17
Fergus McInnes beat Alan Looney +16
Robert Inder beat John-Francis Martin +13T (19-6)
Jamieson Walker lost to Frank Martin -8T (12-20)
Sunday:
Campbell Morrison & Robert Inder lost to Evan Newell & John-Francis Martin -1T (19-20)
Bill Spalding & Fergus McInnes beat Nathaniel Healy & Jane Morrison +26
John Surgenor & Jamieson Walker beat Frank Martin & Alan Looney +1T (19-18)
John Surgenor beat Nathaniel Healy +7
Campbell Morrison beat Evan Newell +21
Bill Spalding lost to Jane Morrison -3T (17-20)
Match score: SCA 15, CAI 6
The state of the lawns when we opted for an early tea break on Sunday afternoon.
Evan Newell (left) presents the Appleton Trophy to Fergus McInnes (Nathaniel Healy in background).