InterTown

Sunday, 23rd January
Vets A: Oxford 10-0 Birmingham A
Karl Bushell(3) Andy Misseldine(3) Alan Cherry(3)

Vets A followed up their win over Nottingham with a 10-0 demolition of Birmingham A: the Oxford trio, Karl Bushell, Andy Misseldine and Alan Cherry, were far too strong for the opposition and now lead the Div 1 table with 10 points (3 wins/3).

Sunday 23rd January
Vets B: Shrewsbury B 1-9 Oxford
Neil Hurford(3) Tony Stead(3) Nigel Taylor(2) Neil/Tony(1)

Vets B (Neil Hurford, Tony Stead and Nigel Taylor) enjoyed similar success at Shrewsbury B, winning 9-1, to keep up their challenge at the top of Div 2.

Sunday, 16th January
Vets A: Oxford 7-3 Notts A
Karl Bushell(3) Alan Cherry(1) Jeff Rigby(3)

Vets A beat last year’s champions, Notts A, 7-3 at home (Jan 16th). Karl Bushell saved two match points against Hon Choy before winning 14-12 in the 5th. Alan Cherry defended superbly against Wayne Glossop’s top spin attack, losing 11-13 in the 5th. Overall Oxford were a bit too strong for Notts, with Jeff Rigby conceding only one game in his three singles matches.

Sunday 9th January
Juniors: Birmingham A 10-0 Oxford
David Smart(0) Jack Shardlow(0) Niall Harris(0)

Juniors lost 0-10 at Birmingham A, fielding a youthful side with 12 year-old Niall Harris making his 2nd appearance. Jack Shardlow made his debut for Oxford and was the pick of our players on the day: he will be a very useful acquisition to our junior ranks.

Sunday 12th December
Vets B Oxford B 7-3 Derby A
Mark Scott (3) Glen Freeman (2) Anders Markvardsen (2)

An excellent performance by the Bs, led from the front by the in-form Mark Scott. Glen Freeman is a seasoned practitioner at this level, but it was good to see a new player brought into the team, Anders Markvardsen, also making his mark.

Sunday 5th December
Juniors: Gloucester 8-2 Oxford
David, Simon, Niall

David held the team together with two good wins – good to see how much the Gloucester boys have improved over the last year!

Sunday 7th November
Men’s: Walsall 5 Oxford 5

Last year’s champions are already finding it harder-going this season, having lost to new entries Coventry and now held to a draw at home by Oxford, for whom Pavel Jaskolski found top gear, taking a splendid maximum. Ironically Gareth Hayward, who has been in scintillating form in the Oxford League, drew a blank, leaving Jingyu Sun to secure the draw with two singles wins.

Sunday 7th November
Junior: Oxford 0-10 Rugby
Anthony, David, Tom

A one-sided match against Rugby’s top notch juniors, including two who are well up the England rankings. Oxford’s best effort was in the doubles, losing 9-11 in the 5th.

Sunday, 24th October
Veterans Division 1: Nuneaton A 4-6 Oxford A

Oxford Veterans’ first team travelled to Nuneaton for their first match of the season. Oxford got off to a slow start with Karl Bushell losing to Aidan Walsh and debutant Alan Cherry losing to David Grundy. Andy Misseldine then got Oxford into the match with a close victory over Andy Lebutt, 11-9 in the fifth. Karl then beat David Grundy and teamed up with Andy to win the doubles. The next match was crucial to both teams and Andy Misseldine played at his best to beat Aidan Walsh in a highly entertaining and competitive match. Nuneaton won the next match when Andy Lebutt easily disposed of Alan Cherry, but further wins by Andy and Karl secured victory. Nuneaton won the last match to leave the final score 6-4 in Oxford’s favour. Man of the match - Andy Misseldine for a superb maximum, backed up by Karl Bushell with two wins and the doubles. Alan Cherry played well on his debut but without success.

Sunday, 10th October
Juniors: Oxford 10-0 Hinckley
Tom Marrs, David Smart, Anthony Howgego

A one-sided encounter with no matches going to five. We won the corresponding fixture 8-2 last year, but that was a much closer affair all round. Since then David Smart has strengthened the Oxford side, but four of the players involved were the same and it was gratifying to observe that the Oxford players have improved much more than their counterparts.

Sunday, 13th February
Vets A: Oxford 5-5 Stafford A
Karl Bushell(2) Andy Misseldine(2) Jeff Rigby(0) Karl/Andy(1)

We played three matches at home on Sunday, 13th February, all at a cracking standard. Vets A (Karl Bushell, Andy Misseldine and Jeff Rigby) kept up their strong challenge for the title in an epic 5-5 draw against a strong Stafford A trio (Andy Dixon, Adrian Hough and Paul Myatt).Two wins each from Karl and Andy, who also won the doubles, enabled us to fight back from 0-3 and 2-4 down, but it was a titanic struggle, with the doubles and one of Karl’s singles wins achieved at 11-8 in the 5th.

Sunday 13th February
Men’s: Oxford 3-7 Coventry
Jingyu Sun(2) Pavel Jaskolski(1) Gareth Hayward(0)
Oxford 5-5 Leamington
Jingyu Sun(3) Pavel Jaskolski(1) Gareth Hayward(1)

The Men’s team played two matches in succession, losing 3-7 to Coventry and drawing 5-5 with Leamington. Jingyu Sun (whom we will have for one more season) played exceptionally well to beat Ryan Stockham (Coventry) 3-2, Simon Griew (Leamington) 3-1 and Mark Jackson (Leamington) 3-0. His only singles defeat came at the hands of Xiaoyang Ma, a 17 year-old who apparently trains with the English National squad in Sheffield – this was at deuce in the 5th. Pavel Jaskolski won 2/6 and Gareth Hayward 1/6.

Sunday 17th April

Veterans Division 2: Oxford B 8 Shrewsbury B
Neil Hurford (3+), Glen Freeman (2+), Nigel Taylor (2)

Oxford went two nil down, but captain Neil Hurford steadied the ship and went on to record a maximum in singles + doubles with Glen. We will now finish 2nd in Div 2 (of the 4 Veteran Divisions), whatever the outcome of our final match at Telford.

Junior: Coventry 6 Oxford 4
David Smart (1), Simon Price (1), Lewis Sumner (2)

Aaron Riley excelled for Coventry, but Oxford Juniors fought back well to almost snatch a draw. The doubles was narrowly lost by David Smart and Lewis Sumner, but Lewis (14) gained in confidence and to record two singles wins on his debut was a fine achievement! Simon Price (13) finally won a singles at the 5th time of asking. These are young boys to be thrown in at this level, but they have already started to make their mark.

Men’s: Oxford 10 Stafford 0
(Pavel Jaskolski, Jens Kaften, Chris Hawkes)

Another ML debacle, as Stafford were unable to raise a side to come to Oxford, particularly unfortunate, as Jens Kaften and Chris Hawkes were set to make their debuts.

Sunday 10th April
Veterans Division 1: Nottingham B 2 Oxford A 8
Jeff Rigby (3), Karl Bushell (3), Alan Cherry (2)

Vets A completed their season with maximum points from the trip to the Nag’s Head in Pleasley, a village near Mansfield, where Nottingham B play their matches. Alan Cherry lost the first singles to Dean Brookes, and Karl Bushell and Jeff Rigby lost the doubles, but Oxford took the rest for an 8-2 victory. Bob Hume top scored for Notts B with 15 cigarettes and 4 pints of bitter! Karl thus ended the season with 15 wins from 18 singles matches. Jeff Rigby won 9/12, Andy Misseldine 8/9 and Alan Cherry, in his first season playing for Oxford, 6/12. We now await other results but with five wins and a draw from six matches ought to have tied up the league title. Karl also has every chance of winning the trophy for leading player.

Sunday 20th March
Veterans Division 1: Leamington A 2-8 Oxford A
Neil Hurford (2+), Jeff Rigby (3+), Karl Bushell (2+)

Another fine win for Vets A, taking all four points from the trip to Leamington. Jeff Rigby was on top form, winning his three singles matches and partnering Karl Bushell to a deuce-in-the-5th doubles victory, which just secured the extra point. Substitute Neil Hurford gave an excellent performance and the Oxford team are now left in a very strong position to win the league for the first time in living memory!

Sunday 13th March
Veterans Division 2: Oxford B 10-0 Nottingham C
Neil Hurford (3+), Mark Scott (3+), Tony Stead (3)

Notts C were missing one player, so were unable to raise a side. Far too many teams in the ML ask for postponements, often at the last minute, because they are unable to find substitutes for their star players. There is no point in entering the league and agreeing dates, if you do not have a squad of players to call upon. Inevitably on such occasions, you end up rearranging the match on a date on which the opposition turn out their best side but you are unable to. Match conceded by Notts C.

Saturday 12th March
Men’s: Birmingham 6-4 Oxford
Jingyu Sun(2) Pavel Jaskolski(1) Craige Campbell (1)

Two singles wins for Jingyu Sun and one each for Pavel Jaskolski and Craige Campbell were not quite enough to share the spoils with a strong Birmingham side at Colebridge TTC. But it was wonderful to see Craige not only playing again after his recent illness, but also organising and captaining the side.