Shufflebothams claim Hamilton doubles title

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Edwin Shufflebotham fought off jetlag to win the Hamilton Veterans mixed double championship with his wife Margaret.

The pair defeated Nicky Herbert and Graham Hall 6-3, 6-2 to win the title.

The Veteran Mixed finalists.

The Veteran Mixed finalists.

Herbert and Hall did some good retrieving but were generally forced to defend as the Shufflebothams took the first set 6-3.

Hall attempted to put pressure on the opponents with some early interceptions at the net.

But Edwin Shufflebotham was very alert to this tactic and quite often hit the ball into the space Hall had just left.

Herbert put in some good cross court forehands out of Margaret Shufflebotham’s reach but she countered this with some well-placed lobs of her own which had the opponents scurrying into the backhand corner, and the Shufflebothams closed out the set to win the championship.

The ladies doubles final was between Margaret Heggs with Polly Dolby and Carolyn Siddall with Eileen Merrison.

Heggs and Dolby were just too consistent.

They were always in control of the contest and won 6-2, 6-1.

On the league scene, most matches were postponed due to the weather.

And the men’s third team of Craig Tracey with Fraser Rabbit-Dalby and Edwin Shufflebotham with Mark Ashman might have wished their match followed suit.

They faced Houghton II in very windy conditions and lost the match 7-1.

Tracey and Rabbit-Dalby won the consolation set for Hamilton.