courtesy of Nick Howard

Deja vu as Kings take down Monarchs.
 

This match fielded 5 of the 6 players who played in week 1 - The difference being Dan Appanna filling in for the missing Tomak.

The remaining players of Howard, Sparrow and Wood for Kings, faced off against Iain and Ian of Monarchs.
 

The Monarchs have learnt from previous matches, and informed Dan the match would start at 4pm - With that in mind, he just about made it on time, arriving at 7:50pm - A new personal best start time for the ex Percy Hyde winner.
 

Howard and “hard bat” Ian as he’s known, squared off in match 1. Usually these games go the distance, with Ian taking a 2-0 lead in their first match of the year, before Howard raced back to win 3-2.

There were no heroics needed this time, as Howard continued his hot streak over the Scott, and raced through the 3 sets with little trouble.
 

Needing to play all 3 in a row due an impending baby arrival at the Howard household, Nick faced Iain number 2 next - Another match that was close in round 1, was quite the opposite this time, with Howard again, racing through the 3 sets to claim victory.
 

Lastly, the mercurial Appanna was up for the Kings captain. Howard squandered a big lead in the first set to go down 11-8, before losing a titanic second 19-17 - Another one he should have won, although full credit to Dan for sticking in there.

The next 2 saw Howard drop just 8 points, before a nip and tuck final set had them level at 6-6….. only for Howard to dump the 2 worst serves of his career into the lap of Appanna, who duly obliged.
 

Despite what Bruce Forsyth would have us believe, points do not make prizes, and despite winning 55 points to Dan’s 49, Appanna was the victor in 5 sets.

This is where the first hand review of the match ends - For anyone wondering…. No baby yet!
 

The rest of the match was dominated by the Kings.