Mid Glamorgan Wilt Under Pressure

Mid Glamorgan were left ruing their missed opportunities today as a spirited Wiltshire outfit came to Trefforest leaving as victors with an impressive winning margin of 10-5, thus securing the bonus point.

Mid Glamorgan had many players missing for this match and therefore required the full depth of their squad to produce a team. This gave the opportunity for some future stars to show their worth and for some old faces to come back into the fray.

The match began with the singles and unfortunately for Craig Walkley making his first appearance since 2009, it wasn’t a happy return. He came up against a very talented Sam Barber who comfortably won 21-8, 21-4. Gareth Day had a much tougher match but unfortunately ran out of steam in both games, losing out 21-13, 21-17 to Simon Woodhouse. The ladies singles provided some excellent entertainment and it was left to the future stars to represent their team. Ellen Mahenthiralingham produced an excellent display winning 21-10, 21-13 against Alice Walters. Louise Breen, making her debut today looked like she was going to make it a winning start but just lost out – story of the day! Louise lost to Lisa Turner, 12-21, 22-20, 21-12. It was 3-1 to the visitors.

It was much of the same in the doubles as both the mens, and ladies pairs were left frustrated. Michael Lewis and Craig Walkley paired up as did Gareth Day and Alex Ewins. Mike and Craig had a 50% success rate as the lost a very close encounter against Simon and Gary Davies, 17-21, 23-21, 22-20, but did manager to overcome their disappointment taking the rubber against Wiltshire’s second mens pairing, 18-21, 21-10, 21-19. Alex and Gareth breezed past their first opponents, 21-10, 21-14 but had a tougher second, coming out on top, 21-18, 21-19. In the ladies doubles Michelle Smith paired up with Lauren Lewis and Kelly Blake paired with Ellen. Michelle and Lauren lost their first match again in a 3 setter, 16-21,  21-13, 21-18 and ran out of steam in their second match losing 21-9, 21-15. Ellen and Kelly had an extremely close first match but again just lost out, 17-21, 23-21, 22-20. They managed to take the second game therefore still giving Mid Glamorgan a chance going into the mixed winning 23-21, 21-13.

So to the mixed with the match poised at 7-5 it was up to Mid Glamorgan to come out fighting and they did. All three pairs made a fast start and it was looking good. Mike paired up with Kelly and they were in a tough match but lost composure after a shocking call by the umpire and unfortunately lost out 21-18, 16-21, 21-15. Alex and Louise had to swallow another close defeat losing out 18-21, 21-16, 21-19. Even though the match had gone Lauren and Gareth were left in there fighting hoping to prevent the bonus point being secured. However, again they just missed out losing, 21-17, 15-21, 22-20. Match score 10-5 Wiltshire.

A very frustrating day for Mid Glamorgan who have lost their unbeaten run, this has upset the immensely. The break over Christmas will give the team time to recuperate and recharge their batteries. I have no doubt that they will come back fighting. On behalf of Mid Glamorgan badminton team I would like to extend our gratitude to the Wiltshire team who played fairly and within the spirit of the game. We wish you all the best for the season and a very Merry Christmas from us all.  We would also like to extend a huge thank you and seasons greetings to the umpires who gave their time to officiate our matches.