Beckenham rewarded after six seasons

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31935, 12 March 1969, Page 11

Beckenham rewarded after six seasons

J7ROM its entry to the sen--1 ior men’s tennis competition, Beckenham, which has always had a young team has taken six seasons to win the championship, and two of the players, J. W. Mitchell and A. Brooks have been members of the side almost throughout. Beckenham made its first attempt to gain senior status in 1962 when two combined entries, Beckenham-St Albans and BarringtonOpawa were submitted. They were declined by the competitions committee whereupon Beckenham and Barrington entered, Barrington winning an elimination match.

However, Barrington lasted only the one season because it lost the elimination match to Beckenham, strengthened by the acquisition of Brooks from United, the next season. For its first two seasons, Beckenham with the team mainly Brooks, then seventh-ranked New Zealand junior, Mitchell—he was only 16 in 1963-64 G. Freear and R. Blunt did well to finish third in the competition. But the next season it dropped to third in the bottom section when it lost Blunt and Freear, and in 1966-67 it was similarly placed again when Mitchell

played only three matches and Brooks had a season off. Last season Beckenham sank right to the bottom, even though Mitchell and Brooks lost only one singles each and its win this season is a remarkable reversal.

This season, J. Moseley and D. Haworth were the other two main members of the side and they won enough to support Mitchell and Brooks who again lost only one singles each. Beckenham lost only once to United on a day when Mitchell lost his singles, and of the 54 matches it played it won 36—25 singles and 11 doubles. The individual records in singles were: Mitchell, played 9, won 8, lost 1; Brooks, 8, 7 including one by default, 1; Moseley, 9, 4 one by default, 5; Haworth 8, 4 one by default 4; R. Tuck 2,2, 0. Mitchell and Brooks did not lose a doubles.

In the six seasons he has played for Beckenham, Mitchell has won 38 and lost only six of the 44 singles he has played, and he has lost only twice in the last four seasons. Brooks has played 35, won 25, lost 10 in five seasons, and he also won all six singles he played for United in two seasons before that. The competition was a fascinating one and close one, no fewer than eight of the 30 fixtures being won on sets

or games after matches were equal and another, between Beckenham and Woolston, actually being tied on everything. North Linwood, the holder of the championship, led at the end of the first round both in total points scored and in points to be carried forward to sectional play and United was also ahead of Beckenham in points to go forward. However, Beckenham gained comfortable wins in its section. Team records are:—

Section I.—Beckenham, played 9, won 7, lost 1, tied I, won 36 individual matches (25 singles, 11 doubles); North Linwood 9, 7,2, 31 (24, 7); United, 9, 5,4, 27 (16, 11); Woolston, 9,3, 5, 26 (15, 11). Section ll.—Edgeware, 8, 4,4, 27 (20, 7): Elmwood, 8,3, 5, 19 (11, 8); Linwood Avenue, 8,0, 8, 14 (9, 5). Individual records of players other than those in the Beckenham side included.— B. Crofts (Edgeware), played 8, won 7, lost 1; R. Payne (North Linwood), 8,7, 1; R. Prattley (Edgeware), 8,6, 2; R. Bruce (North Linwood), 8,5, 3; L. Vallance (Linwood Avenue), 8,5, 3; J. Martin (North Linwood), 9,5, 4; P. Angland (North Linwood), 9,5, 4; R. McCutcheon (United), 9,5, 4; B. Aldridge (Woolston), 9,5, 4; I. Behmes (Woolston), 5,4, 1; N. Dillon (Edgeware), 6,4, 2; L. Legge (Elmwood), 6,4, 2.