London Parks Triples competition - win for St Chads in 'David v Goliath' match

St Chads team: Ben Torr, Keith Hutton, John Torr (skip). We were drawn away to Wanstead Central in the London Parks Triples knockout competition. I knew that Wanstead Central are a big club with some very good players, winning most of the trophies and cups every year, so I was not confident about the outcome of the match, on this sunny and hot morning of Saturday June 5 2021. Had I known then that our three opponents had won 125 caps for Essex between them, I would have been a good deal less confident! We were warmly welcomed, and the hospitality we received was second to none, (so well-done Wanstead Central on that score), however, my apprehension lingered and increased alarmingly when our opponents started to play. Their Lead zoned in on the jack with unerring accuracy, and throughout the match I would say that 70% of his deliveries were no more than two feet from the jack. “This is ridiculous” I thought, followed by a silent prayer that we wouldn’t be too humiliated. They easily got a 3 on the first end, and I calculated that if this continued (a possibility) we would end up losing 51-0. We lost the second end by two, making it 5-0, and I calculated that if that particular sequence kept up ie 3,2,3,2… we would lose by only 45-0. What happened next will go down in St Chads history (no, I don’t think that either!) when a St Chads B team won the match 20-19 against three seasoned Essex County players. The reason for this particular feat of giant killing, I would put down to three things:

• We weren’t over-awed; we kept our heads down and kept on going. If we made a bad shot, we didn’t let it bother us and tried to do better next time.
• We did have a bit of luck on our side, it must be said
• It was one of the best team efforts I can remember playing in. If one or two of us had a bad end, the other team player would have a brilliant end. By design or accident, we each covered for each other.

It was great having Ben and John as team mates, and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Our host were magnanimous in defeat, so again, well done Wanstead Central for that. Keith.