The players greet graciously; the manner in which the whole match was played
Big Match Build Up
At the end of the MCC Club Weekend, a couple of days before this match, I reassured Tom Carew Hunt that I had put aside the evening to join him at the Paterson Bowl Final. Tom said:
I’m so glad, as I am now a serious doubt for being able to get into London that evening.
I had a dreadful feeling that I would end up master of ceremonies for the post match presentation; a feeling that was utterly justified.
That sense of dread was magnified when I arrived at Lord’s to discover that the RG Paterson Bowl itself was under lock and key in the MCC museum, which meant that it would not be possible to present the actual trophy on the night.
On reflection, I realised that it is, in fact, an MCC tradition to restrict access to trophies in this way – The Australians have had nearly 150 years to get used to such limited access in the matter of “The Urn”, win or lose.
I also had a slight sense of dread, on Eddie Gray’s account, when I learnt of the handicap Ben Havey was due to receive. Both players are relatively new to the game and both are fast improving, which is rather wonderful, but Ben in particular is currently going through one of those “growth spurts” that talented players can achieve.
I had done battle with Ben only a couple of days earlier, albeit at doubles. Here’s a single rest (rally) clip of me serving to him:
Let The Big Match Commence
So, to the Eddy Gray v Ben Havey match itself. Both players started a little nervously, I thought, with one or two uncharacteristic errors. It was the first “big final” for both of them. It was also the first big final for our apprentice professional Henry de Lord, who has been working on his own game with both of these players lately. But all three of them settled quickly and then did very well.
Jonathan Potter also represented the tennis committee on the night. He was able to comment from first hand experience on Eddy’s recent progress.
Eddy indeed showed us his array of weapons, with several forces to the grille and some superb winners on the floor too. But Ben also has powerful winners, plus a very strong defensive game. That made the nine point handicap difference extremely difficult for Eddy to try and overcome.
Here is one point by way of example, in which an Eddy error results in the glorious ringing of the winning gallery cowbells…but from the wrong side. “Hell’s bells” I like to call them – they used to reside in my late mother-in-law’s apartment.
Here is another really excellent rest (rally) in which both players demonstrated their fast-improving skills, eventually resulting in Eddy landing a hazard chase.
Very soon after that one, Ben’s girlfriend, who was sitting a little nervously close by, asked me if the match was nearing its end. I said
…if I have been counting correctly, this is now match point.
Which it was:
The result: Ben Havey bt Eddy Gray 6-1, 6-1 on handicap.
As their handicaps move towards each other (hopefully both still improving) I suspect there will be some close battles between Ben Havey & Eddy Gray, plus some excellent representation for the MCC by both of them.
We held a short presentation ceremony on court, during which I said that sort of thing and presented both of the combatants with their mementoes. I also gave Ben advice on how to visit his trophy and handed him his well-earned bottle of Pol Roger fizzy pop.
My self-report card: 10/10 for a wonderful weekend, 9/10 for effort, 6/10 for performance, 0/10 for results.
I have written at length about the MCC Tennis Weekend before and certainly don’t want to bore regular readers. For those who have not read about such matters before: the 2024 report majors on tennis derring-do and nervousness about method acting…
This year I’ll focus on the tennis. To get the least interesting bit out of the way, I’ll simply say that my partner, Jeremy Norman, and I, did not do well. Group B was especially strong this year, as evidenced by our group’s runners up eventually taking the top prize – Mason Sharp Trophy. Someone has to bring up the rear in each group.
We did, however, try hard. We also provided some entertainment…in a good way. We even influenced the result of the tournament by eliminating one of the stronger pairs in our last rubber, thus providing the eventual winners a semi-final slot. The following clip shows probably our best, albeit in vain, efforts during that last round robin match.
20 stroke rests don’t happen all that often at our level.
At the very start of our campaign, on the Friday, we were up against Giles Stogdon – my partner from last year, who literally produced a “lights out tennis” moment on court:
Jeremy Norman and I are absolutely convinced that, had it not been for the lighting deficiency on court for the rest of the tournament, we would have prevailed in all of our matches. 😉 . We would say that, wouldn’t we?
As for the Chair of tennis, Graeme Marks, he seemed hell bent on using the prerogative of the chair to sneak those extra few points that can make all the difference. A net cord that still makes the winning line, a spin-backer onto the grille ledge, another spin-backer into the dedans from his partner in crime, Paul Wollocombe…
…not that such “tactics” were enough to get them through to the semis, despite recording a good round robin win against the eventual trophy winners. Such is tournament tennis sometimes.
I was able at least to relax for most of the Sunday, after playing my heart out for pride just before lunch. The semi-finals and finals were a good fun watch, not least because of the convivial (and at times almost rowdy) atmosphere amongst those members who chose to stay and watch the concluding afternoon of the tournament.
It really is always a grand finale and enjoyable afternoon, regardless of the quality or excitement of the tennis matches. This year, as it happens, the tournament built up to a humdinger of a Mason Sharp final, which went all the way to a deciding game.
Firstly, for those who want to watch it, the final of the Osborn Parker (C/D Groups). Iain Harvey & Sebastian Maurin v Andrew Hinds & Giles Watkins.
Secondly, for those who would like to see the whole match, the final of the Mason Sharp (A/B Groups). Steven Bishop & Paul Cattermull v Nigel Smith & Paul Wickman.
If you only fancy the last three minutes of the big final, having already learnt that it went to a deciding game…here is just the deciding game:
It is most unusual for a team from the B group to prevail in the final – let alone the runners-up from the B group. In this case, even more unusual because Paul Wickman went home after their round robin loss on the final morning assuming that his pair had been eliminated. In fact, as the group had panned out, the comparative scores meant that Havey and Walker needed to thrash me and Jeremy Norman in the final round robin rubber of the group in order to overtake Smith and Wickman.
I did berate Paul Wickman, while also congratulating him on a fine tournament win, for assuming that Jeremy and I would be thrashed. “I hadn’t thought it through to that extent”, was his excuse.
Fortunately, “going home” for Paul did not mean “going over the hills, far away and unable to return.” He and Nigel put on a fine show, both in the semi-final and the final. Two of their very best rests were in the semi-final, which I shall use as a closing clip for this piece.
The atmosphere at Lord’s was terrific all weekend. So much effort goes in from staff and volunteer organisers to make the tournament seem effortless on the weekend itself. The organisational effort and skills cannot be demonstrated in a 90 second YouTube clip…but, fortunately, the tennis skills and effort can:
Two Men’s Singles Semi-Finals & The Women’s Singles Final At Queen’s, 22 November 2025
Janie and I warmed up for this event by having our regular hour of “lawn” at Boston Manor, albeit at 10:00 rather than our regular hour of 11:00. We then hot-footed it (if you can hot-foot by car) to the flat dropping off some old computer equipment headed for charity, then picked up Janie’s flashy new specs, then got to The Queen’s Club about 30 or 40 minutes into the first match.
Simon Talbot-Williams greeted us both warmly from his stewarding position, while simultaneously telling me off “for being late”, before helping organise our seating.
Just as well we warmed up for the event, as the dedans gallery had a real chill breeze feel to it, despite the nicely positioned radiator near our feet.
Must have felt even colder up there in the “makeshift media gallery”.
We caught the end of the match between Nicky Howell and Rob Fahey. Then saw all of the match between John Lumley and Bryn Sayers.
After taking some tea and chatting with the assembled real tennis glitterati, Janie and I saw Claire Fahey’s historic win in the final against Tara Lumley.
Our first sight of women’s tennis played at the highest level
Historic, in that the women’s final hadn’t been at Queen’s for decades. We both thought that the format including both men’s and women’s matches was an excellent idea.
More of this men’s and women’s tennis on the same day, please, Janie and I say.
On searching on-line for the results, Google’s AI Overview, for once, has not hallucinated. The following summarises matters expertly.
Men’s (Open) Singles Semi-finals
Two Men’s Singles semi-final matches were played during the afternoon.
Fixture: N. Howell bt R. Fahey
Score: 6/2 6/2 6/5
Start Time: 2:00 PM
Fixture: J. Lumley bt B. Sayers
Score: 6/5 6/3 6/2
Start Time: 4:00 PM (approx)
Women’s Singles Final
Claire Fahey defeated Tara Lumley in the final match, which began at 6:45 PM.
Fixture: C. Fahey bt T. Lumley
Score: 6/0 6/0
What the AI cannot do is express how much we enjoyed our afternoon and early evening at Queen’s, watching high grade tennis. It’s just a shame it was unseasonably cold!
Victory In Australia by Richard Whitehead, MCC Library Book Club, Lord’s, 26 November 2025
Janie and I very much enjoy these library book club supper evenings. This one, at which Richard Whitehead discussed his book about the 1954/55 Ashes tour, might not have attracted our attention, but for Alan Rees (head librarian) taking pains to let me know how much he had enjoyed that book and was thrilled to have secured an evening with Richard.
Save the date…
said Alan a good few weeks before the evening was announced. Hence, once it was announced…we pounced to get tickets.
We were very glad we did. The food and company is always good. On this occasion, as a bonus, we found ourselves next to my real tennis pal of old, Jim Chaudry. Jim has been “off games” for some while now, but I occasionally see him at cricket and have spotted him a few times at the library book club dinners, but until this time, not at my table.
Jim knows how to hold his knife and fork, whereas…
The food was, as always, excellent. Janie went into full tilt food porn photo mode this time.
Both courses depicted on arrival at her place. Thanks, Janie.
As usual, after the talk, the Q&A, and the book signing, Janie and I went home thoroughly pleased and satisfied. That’s some of my holiday reading for our next trip sorted out for sure.
Daisy (Janie) making an exhibition of herself at the Newport club
Mercifully a less action-packed day. We took it easy in the morning and ambled back to the Newport Club via some shops that Janie wanted to see and the wharf area where we took some pictures.
A Streetcar Named Fisher doesn’t have the same ring to it as A Streetcar Named DesireA street car that defies descriptionThey didn’t lie to us – not a spare court in the whole club
With the World Championship over, the afternoon was a far less formal affair, with the main combatants pairing up with Newport pros Tony Hollins and Josh Smith to play an exhibition doubles for us.
The lunch once again was very good and it gave us a chance to chat with some of the members, not least Paul, Chris, Noel, Ellen, Kelsey and Sarah who made us feel very welcome. We even met Sarah’s mum that afternoon.
The informal atmosphere enabled us to view some of the tennis from each of the Newport vantage points, which was a nice bonus.
By the time we got home for a rest ahead of the tournament dinner there was not much time, but still we (I) had a short rest and then we Ubered it to the Newport Beach House for the dinner.
We chatted with the young Lumley’s for a while over cocktails and then sat at a table for the meal with some very interesting people, including Jonathan Pardee to Janie’s right and an architect-regular-combatant of Jonathan’s to my left.
After dinner, we chatted with Freddy, Judith (Freddy’s mum) and Rob Lake for a while, until it dawned on us that we were almost the last people left around!
If the cap Fitz…some beards simply defy description
This turned out to be a crazily busy day but very enjoyable.
With the weather now restored to dry…even borderline sunny, and thinking that we’d get no other chance for exercise, we took a long, photogenic cliff walk.
Here’s our route…except we cannot take the start of this route…
…traversing the island to the forty steps, then being re-routed as a small chunk of the rout just south of the forty steps is being repaired…
Salve Regina……hac lacrimarum valle
…but then walking the cliff route past The Breakers, as far as The Marbles, then returning via Bellevue Avenue.
Less than two hours but more than 90 minutes of walking. Lots of photos.
Then, quick shower and change and off to the Newport Casino Theatre where I was to deliver my “1875 And All That” talk.
Nigel (above) prepares to hand the baton to me…
My talk seemed to go down well. I heard no snoring, no walking out in disgust and people were polite enough to say that they had enjoyed it. Judith, Freddy’s mum, was especially effusive in her praise.
Judith, effusive.
Here’s the very paper I presented – I talked through a little more than half of this paper:
We enjoyed the whole afternoon of talks, although only I had remembered my jumper and Janie was feeling the cold more than me, so I let her use the jumper while I suffered in near silence about the cold. Near silence, I said.
As the weather had improved, Janie and I enquired about playing tennis on the grass, only to discover that the place was so very fully booked out on the Saturday that our only sensible slot was 17:00 that afternoon. We worked out that we could still see the museum, dash home to change, dash back, play an hour of lawn, dash back to change again and still get to the conference dinner on time. So we agreed to do that and I handed over an infeasible guest fee for an hour of lawn and a clutch of tennis balls.
Me & Jimmy Conners (above), Janie & Steffi Graf (below)We gave the museum and the hall of fame a solid but quick once over
The museum tour was very interesting – well laid out in the modern style and with more space available than we have at Lord’s for the cricket equivalent. The International Tennis Hall Of Fame gallery was a bit of a highlight. The opportunity to chat with some of the other speakers and attendees of the conference while milling around the gallery was also a highlight. Janie and I took it at fairly high speed though, to ensure that our timings would allow us to fit in the prized extra item of an hour of lawn.
Freddy grabbed us for this photo op. as we arrived courtside in our whites
We were back in our whites about 15 minutes ahead of our slot. Kim in the pro’s shop took pity on us and showed us to a court that we could use straight away. “Centre Court” (ie the middle one of three) at the side of the court tennis building. We very much enjoyed our hour, playing alongside a friendly bunch of regulars who made us feel very welcome. It was a great honour, privilege (and expense) to have been able to play on the grass at Newport. A big tick on the bucket list.
Exhausted, but unbowed, we returned to the apartment, showered and changed there, then on by Uber to the Stoneacre Brasserie, where we dined with the conference crowd.
Sitting nearest to me and Janie: Michael Wooldridge, Adam Inselbuch, Nigel a Brassard, Marc Lewinstein, and Marc’s dog. All made for excellent conversation apart from the dog, who was very well behaved such that I didn’t even notice their presence until the end of the meal.
With the pre-tennis match reception starting no earlier than 13:00 (we planned to arrive a little later than that) we had time to visit one of the nearer mansions, The Elms, during an ingeniously-picked break in the almost-relentless rain that morning.
Some of the regular houses on the way to the mansion were quite grand.
We found the inside of the mansion rather hideous in its ostentation and faux-baroque grandeur…
…although the kitchens and gardens made the visit seem very much worthwhile.
As seen in The Gilded Age, apparently.
We resolved to take in the other mansions, all of which must be similar in most ways, by dint of a well planned cliff and street walk the next day, weather permitting.
Despite not being drowned like rats that morning, we still freshened up and choose to Uber it to the Newport Club rather than risk getting soaked in our glad rags.
We enjoyed a fine lunch and then witnessed, from the Club Room, Camden Riviere winning the World Championship again by taking three of the day’s four sets to complete the task 7-1 in just two days.
Want to see more than just a couple of photos? You can see all of the play on our day by clicking the link below. You can occasionally see me and Janie sitting up in the top right hand corner of the club room:
John Lumley put up a fine fight on that second day. It was a great honour and privilege to attend that day and to be on the court itself to see the trophy presented.
John Lumley (above) came an honourable second on Day Two.Tony Hollins rounded off the formalities
We returned to our apartment to change into more casual clothes, then went out to try a local restaurant with a good reputation for seafood – The Moorings. Obviously super-popular, even though it’s was out of season they had no tables, but could offer us full menu at the bar, which was very well appointed.
We ended up being served by a very interesting barman/maitre d, who seemed a bit suspicious of us at first, but once Janie asked him a question about the NFL football he became our best friend.
“Let me explain the offensive backfield in motion and offside penalty rules to you…”
Superb clam chowder and lobster rolls, with a fine Napa Valley Chardonnay. A very enjoyable evening.
We took a gazillion pictures that day. If you want to wade through all of that eye candy, then click the Flickr link here or below.
Real tennis Hong Kong dragon, not to be confused with a Welsh dragon
Tom Carew Hunt, in liaison with Charlie Barrows of Real Tennis Hong Kong, thought this occasion an ideal excuse…or should I say opportunity…to have an MCC v RTHK fixture on the same day.
It was a very bright idea which made for a very enjoyable day.
Ton Carew Hunt in the Lord’s dedans gallery, no doubt expounding on another bright idea
We MCC members had several conversations about ensuring that we were able to introduce all of our visitors into the pavilion during the day, only to discover that it was a “relatively relaxed” day, with no requirement to sign guests in.
After my rubber, I “introduced” (or rather, made an unnecessary attempt to sign in) John McVitie, with whom I supped in the Bowlers’ Bar watching cricket for a while, until an untimely short shower temporarily put paid to the cricket.
In the end, despite there being plentiful cricket to watch, I spent most of my time in the dedans gallery, where the majority of the tennis players were hanging out, watching tennis and chatting.
I did offer to mark a rubber or two, but Charlie Barrows was keen to mark most of the match. Tom marked one rubber, which I am told included a controversial call. But, sadly, my investigative journalism came to nought when the players all clammed up under interrogation. Strangely, it transpires that the video camera, normally in full flow throughout such matches, was suspiciously turned off during our match. “Fault-er-gate” will thus remain one of those unsolved mysteries.
Richard Wyse, Peter Brunner, Anthony Prince & Bill Higson line up for the final rubber
Below is the results card, showing, in excruciating detail, everything that Joe Public might like to know about this fixture, and more.
Although MCC took both the men’s and women’s cricket matches on the field of play, Real Tennis Hong Kong pipped MCC in the tennis fixture.
But more important than the result was the warmth and friendliness of the atmosphere throughout the day. Of course, most of the RTHK players are long-term friends of the MCC players through the real tennis community, plus, in many cases, through also being members of the MCC. It was lovely to spend a day at tennis and cricket in that relaxed and congenial setting.
I had hoped to get to Lord’s a bit earlier than 4:15 on Disability Cricket Day, but work and other necessities intervened. By the time I got to Lord’s, most of the peripheral activities had finished, although there were still plenty of people enjoying their day around the Nursey Ground, especially the small stand at the side of the Cricket Academy.
Some of my steward friends urged me to hurry round to the pavilion side of the ground, lest I missed the whole of the flagship match between England and India, as England were seven-down for diddly-squat.
But this was no day for hurrying – I ambled around with my tennis equipment in hand, with a view to stowing the equipment and working out where to sit.
I had no jacket and tie with me, but suspected that it would be a “relaxed dress code” day and that my smart casual look would be sufficient to gain entry into the pavilion.
I asked one of my steward friends whether it was relaxed dress code today.
Totally relaxed – they’ve even told us we can let people in wearing flip-flops today.
I was flabberghasted.
I wish I’d phoned to ask before I left home. I’ve always wanted to wear flip-flops in the pavilion.
Relaxed dress – I still have this longyi somewhere…and flip-flops
On asking one question about the nature of this disability match, another friendly steward handed me a programme – then I found a seat on the front terrace.
The programme was helpful in answering my questions about what “mixed disability” is. In short, there are three categories of disability cricket:
Physical Disability;
Deaf / Hearing Impairment;
Learning Disability.
This mixed disability format requires a mixed team because all three categories of disability need to be represented in the top four batting and each category needs to bowl at least 25% of the overs – thus requiring a minimum of two bowlers from each category.
Clever.
By the time I had got my head around it, the England innings had revived somewhat and were making a good game of it for the last few overs of its 20 over allocation.
That said, India set off in the power play looking as though they would make short shrift of the 124 target.
At that juncture, I realised that I needed to go to the dressing room and change for my next gig – real tennis club night, which I curate, so it would be rude to be late.
On my way out, as I progressed through the Long Room, I ran into Arfan Akram, besuited in a conventional MCC stylee, whom I know well from his role with Essex and my role with the London Cricket Trust.
After greeting me warmly, and us both agreeing that the disability cricket day seemed to be a great success, Arfan asked,
are you going to write this up on your blog?
You don’t say no to Arfan without good reason.
Yes, of course,
I said.
In truth, I was really impressed by the quality of the cricket. It is the first time I have seen this mixed disability format. I think it is a great idea, to showcase the best of the disability cricketers and to encourage players in each of those three disability categories to aspire to make the most of their talents.
I can’t find any video from the match I saw, but here is a YouTube of the mixed disability match earlier in the day, MCC v Middlesex D40 First XI, which was also a humdinger:
I tried to explain to anyone who’d listen to me that I should be allowed to represent at mixed disability cricket, given the ravages of time and the advent of Pinky, my brand-new hip.
I was politely informed that I wouldn’t be good enough, not that I really needed anyone to tell me, given the quality of cricket I had witnessed.
No such impediment for real tennis club night. We play a mixed ability format, the criterion for which is quite straightforward – all are welcome regardless of ability.
Just as well that criterion is simple, because real tennis is a complex game which we amateurs play on handicap. For “all are welcome” sessions such as club night, where several of the players tend to be of unknown or unsettled handicaps, I favour the use of sliding handicaps, to ensure that each set will tend towards a tight finish. Works almost every time.
Again, no footage from club night itself (heaven forbid) but I do have some footage of several of us regular “Club-night-istas” at play in early February, just before I parted company with Pinky’s organic predecessor.
Of the four of us depicted, only me and Mike Lay were at Club Night this June. Mike was my nemesis on that February “quarter-final-like” occasion, and proved to be so again at Club Night, even though my ability to move has already come on leaps and bounds since February and the op.
It is wonderful, though, to be back on court playing with my friends again, without pain and at something starting to approach the level to which I aspire.
Back To Lord’s The Next Morning For Some Endorsing, While The MCC & MCC Foundation Launched The Knight-Stokes Cup
Young people…at Lord’s…enjoying themselves? Whatever next?
After a physiotherapy session first thing (planned, I hasten to add, not a reaction to the tennis the night before, which my body seemed to absorb most satisfactorily), I returned at 9:15 to Lord’s for a full morning of candidate endorsing.
When I agreed to endorse on the morning of 26 June, I didn’t realise that we’d end up doing the interviews in The President’s Suite of the Grandstand, while the MCC and the MCC Foundation launched the wonderful Knight-Stokes Cup for independent schools:
In some ways, there was something incongruous about conducting candidate endorsement interviews on such an auspicious occasion. Hardly any, if any of the candidates we interviewed that day had been to a state school. Still, the MCC can only do its best to try and widen its demographic; the Knight-Stokes Cup is one of the better ideas behind which the club is throwing its weight.
My interviewing partner for the session was Steven Bishop, another real tennis enthusiast who, coincidentally, had been one of my nemeses in the 2024 real tennis club weekend – on that occasion in a nail-biting semi-final:
But I digress.
We mostly interviewed young folk in this session and tried our best to present a very 21st century demeanour. Steven, in particular, spoke with them in detail about the MCC Foundation and the wonderful work it does, both nationally and internationally.
Steven did, however, on one occasion, while waxing lyrical about all the wonderful work the Foundation does overseas, mention Zaire, which slightly took me aback, partly because I had no idea that the MCC Foundation was active in DR Congo (I’m not 100% sure it is), and secondly because that country hasn’t been called Zaire since the previous millennium (1997 to be precise). I held my tongue. At least that small error is steeped in the late 20th century and not the 19th century, where the typical and unfair caricature of an MCC member, blissfully unaware that Queen Victoria is no longer with us, is perceived mentally to reside.
After six interviews I parted company with Steven and progressed, after a very short break for some lunch, to…
Steep Myself In The MCC’s 19th Century History – Research In The Library On Spencer Ponsonby-Fane & Other Related Topics
As part of my research for my forthcoming talk & small treatise on the emergence of the laws of tennis (lawn variety) around 1875, a central character in that story is Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby-Fane, who chaired the MCC Tennis committee at the time those laws emerged and who also founded what is now MCC Heritage and Collections, including the Library and Museum.
Alan Rees in the library, as usual, was enormously helpful and had found some fascinating stuff for me to examine – some of which is highly pertinent to my talk and some of which is the sort of wonderful rabbit hole down which I like to dive when doing this sort of research.
When Alan told me about it, I thought the Ricardo in question was John Lewis Ricardo, perhaps the most famous of the nephews of the great political economist David Ricardo. But no, the cricket-loving Ricardo who was one of the first members of I Zingari and thus hanging out with Spencer Ponsonby and the like, was one of John Lewis Ricardo’s younger brothers, Albert Ricardo, whose wife, Charlotte Ricardo, aka Daisy, compiled the album.
It’s a shame that John Lewis Ricardo was not the cricketer, as I wanted to say that he was “never knowingly under bowled”. I’ve said it anyway.
Soon after 4:00, I decided that it would only be polite for me to return home and start preparing the birthday meal that I had promised my own Daisy, so I headed off around 4:15, almost exactly 24 hours after I arrived for the first of my four activities, having spent more time at Lord’s during that 24 hour period than away from the place.
Far be it from me to pretend to be a Jester. But this was a match at The Queen’s Club, so I am in the habit of representing various different teams there, regardless of whether I am actually a member of that club (e.g. MCC, The Dedanists’ Society) or not (e.g. The Queens Club itself, or, for this match, The Jesters Club).
In this instance, I wasn’t supposed to be playing at all. I had promised myself, and my surgeon, that Pinky, my brand-new hip, would be spared competitive matches and tournaments until the autumn. But when the call comes from Tony Friend, it’s difficult to say no…especially when he says, “feel free to say no”, in his “please help” tone of voice.
Also, the call to play the kick-off rubber of this match, as a substitute Jester, could be construed as more like the friendly hours of doubles that I am now playing, than a fierce competitive bout. I said “yes”.
“Would you also be willing to write the match report please? …fully understand if not,” said Tony.
The gentle art of watching on: Anton, Patrick & Josh (above) – Peter, Jon, Tabby & Jez (below)
Had anyone present been paying attention to the scores, they would have seen a match that built to a tremendous climax. First the Jesters took the lead, then the Dedanists’ clawed it back and took the lead, then the Jesters levelled the match again. After six rubbers, there had been two wins for each side and a couple of drawn rubbers. Naturally the final rubber went to a nail-biting one-set-all, five-games-all decider that was determined in favour of the Dedanists’ by a whisker.
James, Stuart, James & Paul. Did any of them know their rubber was determining the match?
But in truth, no-one was paying attention to the scores, other than a vague interest in the rubber that was in front of those indulging in the gentle art of watching tennis. Such is the way of matches such as this, between two peripatetic sides, with many players eligible for both teams and some, like me, representing the team for which they are not eligible.
The well-worn but suitable phrase on such occasions is that tennis was the winner. Several hundred pounds raised for the Dedanist’s Society, after a convivial afternoon and evening at Queen’s, playing & watching tennis, then dining and chatting with friends. Bliss.
Scrubbed up for the Friday evening bash – photo by Jonathan Ellis-Miller
This year’s Ogblog report on this wonderful MCC event is authored by a special correspondent, “Two Loos” Le Trek, who chooses to write up my experience in the first person. My noms de plume are getting out of hand.
Build Up & Day One: Friday 31 January 2025
I received a somewhat excited WhatsApp from Giles Stogdon just over two weeks before the event. He’d learned that we’d been drawn to partner each other. We agreed that we were both pleased with that idea and found an opportunity to partner for an hour of doubles before the weekend, as we have recently spent more time opposing one another than partnering.
…this year I had no trouble banishing the negative thoughts, other than my slight concern that my mobility issues resulting from my cartilage-free hip might hamper me in battle with the high-achievers that populate Group B.
Anyway, I threw myself into practice and match play in the run up to the 2025 tournament:
On arrival – quite late in the morning Friday as our two matches spanned lunchtime – I plonked myself in the pavilion home dressing room, as the tennis dressing room was heaving by then.
The Captain’s place remained available for me…again!
My Ged Ladd persona has written about this phenomenon elsewhere:
Unlike regular matches and tournaments, the club weekend comprises vignette matches, played on the clock for 25 minutes including changeover and warm-up. When the alarm goes, only completed games count.
On Day One, Giles & I got off to a slow yet solid start. We drew our first round robin match, against Iain Harvey & Roger Davis, but managed to prevail in our second match against Nick Davidson & Paul Wickman.
I have scraped my matches (along with some highlights of the whole tournament for the “official” match report) onto YouTube.
If you are sufficiently potty, you might choose to watch some or all of the play in these YouTube films.
A Sufficiently Potty Subplot: A Tale Of Two Shitties
Peter Luck-Hille, a doyen of real tennis if ever there was one, has, in the last year, been through the hip replacement process. He has provided me with lots of helpful advice over the past few months.
Peter kindly offered to lend me his raised toilet seats, which are an absolute must, at least for the first few days or weeks at home, until the recovering leg is comfortably mobile enough for a normal-height toilet seat.
“No point you buying them – you’ll not need them for long”, said Peter.
Peter was due to play in the tournament, so we planned to shift the bulky goods from car boot to car boot on the Friday of the tournament.
But plans sometimes go awry. Unbeknown to me, Peter was poorly in the run up to the tournament and withdrew. Despite his indisposition, he kindly transported the seats to Lord’s earlier in the week, where they adorned the pros office in the run up to the tournament.
Chris Bray accosted me as soon as he saw me and asked, as politely as only he is able, to get those hideous things out of the pros office as soon as possible. He said they were lowering the tone of the place.
“Don’t you mean raising the tone?”, I said, “they are certainly in the business of raising something”.
We agreed that I would shift the items into my car after I had played my Friday afternoon matches.
I didn’t particularly want to be seen struggling through reception and into Car Park No 6 with those items, so I picked what I thought was a tactically smart time to do the deed – towards the end of the rubber after mine, when most of the players who were still around would be watching.
Yet somehow, despite my seemingly cunning timing, I was of course destined to bump into friends while I did the deed. Piers Vacher, for example, and Rob Stain, the latter bringing some nominative determinism to this comedy of embarrassment.
“If only I had my camera with me”…
…said, Rob, kindly.
I changed and stopped over at the flat Friday night into Saturday morning. The loo seats remained in the back of my car, covered with tarpaulin, until I returned to the house on Saturday evening. For some inexplicable reason, I chose not to schlep two loo seats up into the flat on Friday afternoon and then back down again on Saturday.
On arrival at the house, where Janie sanitised them. If she could have fitted them in her autoclave, she’d have autoclaved them.Not their final resting place, obviously, but where Pu & Pi (as they are now named) await action.
The Friday Evening Bash – Concluding With A Differently Potty Tale
Me with Clive Picton, photo by Jonathan Ellis-Miller
On Friday evening, dinner in the Committee Dining Room was great. I sat next to Clive Picton on one side and Tony Joyce on the other – both people I have played with and chatted with over the years but had not caught up with for a while.
The food was very good, as usual. A smoked salmon fillet thing with interesting garnish as a starter, a chicken supreme with mushroom sauce and trimmings as the main and a crumble of some description for afters…
…can you tell that I forgot to grab one of the menus as I left?
The after dinner speech was by realist Lindsay MacDuff, aka The Culture Colonel, then cheese, port, coffee, chocolates and all that. I was quite abstemious by the standards of most, but not THAT abstemious given the special occasion.
I was among the last few to leave, yet knew nothing that night about the curious…some might say potty…incident that occurred at the end of the evening. I learnt about it the next day from Jonathan Ellis-Miller.
The Mouse Cricket Caper is a lovely book, authored by MCC member and realist Mark Trenowden, set in the Lord’s pavilion. The climax of the story depends on an unfortunate incident on the night after the traditional MCC v Melbourne match in July 2013, in which a comedic MCC member named McCrackers gets locked in a pavilion toilet and then, after breaking out of the loo and into the pavilion proper, witnesses the pivotal match between the Lord’s pavilion mice and a team of chancer rats.
In truth, I found it hard to suspend belief at the bit where McCrackers gets locked in the toilet, as I have always imagined the stewarding to be especially sharp about making certain that the pavilion has been vacated.
Yet, somehow, at our event, Nigel Smith and Piers Vacher conspired inadvertently to get themselves locked outside on the Committee Dining Room balcony at the end of the evening. Apparently they were enjoying one last crafty cigarette and admiring the beauty of the ground while doing so.
This picture by Janie from two floors further down, February 2023
Fortunately the story has a happy, albeit comedic ending, as Nigel & Piers were able to alert staff who were still clearing up inside and escape relatively unfrozen. It would have been a long cold night stuck out there, that’s for sure.
I haven’t asked either Nigel or Piers if they saw any rats or mice during their lock-in adventure. In any case, they might not be reliable witnesses to their own perception of murine match play (or lack thereof) at that late stage of the evening’s libations.
Day Two: Sweet Success, But With Cats Set Amongst Pigeons, Will It Be Enough?
Never mind fictional rats and mice, metaphorical cats started to scurry around metaphorical pigeons very early in Day Two – long before Group B combatants started to do battle that day.
In elite Group A, two pairs Rufus Parkes & George Dickson, plus Tony Joyce & Foreman Wickes had shown very strongly on Day One, with Ben Martin & Kate Evers also showing well. On the Friday evening, I suggested that the matches between those three pairs, plus the match in which Ben Martin’s pair would do battle with his dad’s pair, Simon Martin & Ronald Paterson, were to be “the popcorn matches” of the round robin stage.
Unfortunately, as I settled down with my metaphorical popcorn at the flat to watch the stream on Saturday morning…it was more like cornflakes than popcorn in truth…Foreman Wickes sustained a horrible-looking forearm injury during warm up. Foreman bravely laboured through the bout and Paul Cattermull kindly stepped in to take his place in the subsequent matches, but that incident really opened up Group A.
Group D was relatively cat and pigeon free, with two pairs, Adrian Fox & Anton Eisdell, plus Sebastian Maurin & Brian Woodbridge, showing strongly on Day One and continuing to shine on Day Two. There were plenty of close matches though, not least a third pairing, Douglas Brewster and David Shannon, who stayed close to the top two throughout the tournament and pulled off more draws than…[insert your own, potentially politically incorrect, metaphor here].
It was the first Group B match of Day Two that sent my group into a “cats among pigeons” maelstrom, when Davidson & Wickman defeated Lay and Wise in an exciting and well fought round robin match, opening up the group to all manner of possibilities, not least that those two teams might now be the ones to progress.
Similarly, in Group C, two pairs – Piers Vacher & Peter Brunner plus Ben Havey & Sam Walker had shown strongly on Day One, with fancied pair Matt Glyn & Andrew Hinds narrowly defeated by the latter of those pairs late on Friday. But the first Group C game on Saturday, between reigning champions Brunner & Vacher v Glyn & Hinds, was another thriller which ended in defeat for reigning pair.
Is it possible that the near miss on the Committee Dining Room balcony affected Messrs Vacher and Smith the next day? Neither of them recorded a win with their respective partners on the Saturday.
In truth, Nigel Smith might look to his partner, Jonathan Ellis-Miller and wonder what might have been against me and Giles Stogdon that afternoon, had Jonathan tried a less forceful style. Giles and I had agreed that, if we lost the toss, Giles would take Nigel’s serve (which often requires twisting to the backhand side) and I would take Jonathan’s, not least because Jonathan was bound to try and hit my serve to kingdom come. After the event, word is, Jonathan had promised Nigel that he intended to do just that. What could possibly go wrong?
It was actually a very close match, but the percentages were, I’d suggest, in our favour, given the predictable attacking approach. Ellis-Miller hit three grilles in the above short match. I managed one grille but also achieved a chase off when chasing better than half-a-yard. I think it is only the second time I have ever landed on better than half-a-yard to win or neutralise a chase. The other occasion, which won the chase, got me a bottle of champagne in my first ever Lowenthal Trophy appearance in 2019. #justsayin.
Returning to Lord’s in February 2025, Giles Stogdon and I knew that our match against Giles Pemberton & George Richards, towards the end of Day Two, would be a “more or less must win” rubber.
It was a nail-biter of a match which we did, narrowly, win:
Thus, we went home at the end of Day Two with three wins and a draw, but still we knew that we would probably need one or two points off Lay and Wise the next day to qualify.
Day Three: Dénouements Aplenty
I must have been in a state of great excitement first thing that morning. I wanted to watch the stream for a while, not least the first match of the day. Had Pemberton & Richards overcome Davidson & Wickman, it would have resulted in my pair being guaranteed a semi-final place. But it wasn’t to be. We would need a draw or a win.
Janie left for her Samaritans shift while that first match was in progress, suggesting that she might get more sense out of her callers than she was getting out of me that morning. Fair point.
I continued pottering at home and watching the stream, even catching the excellent “father against son” popcorn match…more like a fistful of kikones in my case to be honest… that was S Martin & Paterson v Evers and B Martin…
…which was a very good match. There were strange clattering noises off, coming from the side gallery, as the players left the court (see the end of the above film). Both Simon & Ben Martin deny that it was argy-bargy between them. They have clearly paid off the witnesses, as Andrew Hinds claims, unconvincingly, that the noise arose when he sent a few water bottles flying while trying to do that “pass people in the side gallery” thing. Hard to imagine, that.
As I had done on both the other days, I went to Lord’s via BodyWorksWest, my health club, to do some stretching and warm up ahead of battle. By so doing, I was spared the sight of the second “father against son” match of the morning, S Glyn & Boys-Stones v M Glyn & Hinds, which very unfortunately resulted in the latter pair needing to withdraw, despite having qualified for the semis, when Matt incurred a nasty injury on court. Hopefully Matt’s young body will heal fast. Alex Gibson & Rob Stain qualified in their place and did well to reach the C/D final.
Our last round robin match was, to all intents and purposes, a quarter-final for an A/B semi-final place, from which a draw would have been good enough for us, whereas it was a must win game for Lay and Wise.
It was a really good game. We stayed close, getting to 3-3 and at one stage were a couple of points away from pulling off a win, but it was not to be for me and Giles Stogdon. Still, an honourable third in Group B and getting to within two points of topping our group and a semi-final place, is a pretty decent result.
After a break for some lunch, shower and change, we were ready to watch for the rest of the afternoon. We caught both of the A/B semi-finals, the C/D final and the A/B final.
Did you say you want to see those matches? OK then. All are good, but I would say that the first of the four films below – Lay & Wise v Parkes & Dickson, is the most watchable of the tournament, followed closely by the Evers & Martin v Davidson & Wickman semi-final:
Neither of the finals were quite so tight, but the spirit in the dedans gallery was terrific, with lots of people sticking around to watch, cheer and clap.
So that’s it, for now, for me. No more matches and tournaments until I am all better with my hip – hopefully just a few months.
It was a wonderful weekend – such good fun tennis, plus social time with the wonderful friends I have made through this extraordinary game.
No doubt I shall dream of all that while I sit on one or other of my elevated on-loan-thrones over the next few weeks.
And perhaps, before all the anaesthetics and sedatives have fully worn off, I might envisage teams of rats and mice playing rodent-realers against each other.
