17th MARCH 2018

The annual Fitzwilliam match took place on the 17th March at Roehampton Club, with the GB Vets hoping to turn the last two years drawn matches into a win on home soil. Events however conspired against the team which despite a strong line up on paper could not match some late changes to the Fitz team, forced by extenuating circumstances!

 Trevor McVeigh at 5 was advised not to play at the last minute, due to a suspected aneurism. A replacement proved difficult, but London based Irishman, Stevie Richardson, agreed to fill in at the top of the order. This gave Alan Thompson a rather harder game than he was expecting, as Stevie is a Surrey Cup first division player, and he duly took the match 3/0.

Tammy Bennett evened up the score with a fighting 3/2 win against old rival Michael Roden.

However the doubles pairing of Bedford Lloyd and Kim Ricks could not quite get the better of Ciaran McCoy and Damien O’Reilly, who won 2/1. However, Bedford got his revenge in the singles against Damien, with an unexpected 3/2 win.

With the Match at two all could Captain Steve Jackson and Peter Culver at 2 and 3 respectively pull off an unlikely win? Unfortunately with the order strengthened at the top, Steve and Peter found themselves playing tough opponents and despite a glimmer of hope, both went down 3/1, so game set and match to Fitz 4/2!

Ah well the match was played in excellent spirit and we look forward to the return match in Dublin next February.

 An excellent lunch was provided by the Club and finished in good time for the Fitz team to depart to Twickenham and seal a weekend of wins with Irelands domination of England in the rugby. In the evening we joined the Jesters and PUBS (Public Schoolboys) who also had fixtures against Fitz and we enjoyed the hospitality of Queens Club, where we enjoyed an excellent roast dinner. We were regaled with some excellent speeches and also a couple of songs, written specially for the occasion!

An interesting footnote was provided by Trevor McVeigh who, when presenting the cup to his own team, told us why it is called the McVeigh Cup. Trevor’s father was somewhat of a polymath and played squash, cricket, hockey and tennis for Ireland. Apparently he twice got the better of no less a player than Bill Tilden! That kind of ability across all sports simply does not happen nowadays.

 Stephen Jackson