Tennis inferno goes Magdalen Park's way

Tennis' bad boys - Magdalen Park Vth team - gouged out a workmanlike 3-1 victory against Worcester Park in sweltering heat. "The balls were melting," observed Matthew Wakefield, Magdalen's canny lawyer-cum-big-server.

Magdalen's victory is all the more creditable since the surface was grass, the green stuff upon which people have picnics. The game was no picnic, however. "We really sweated our souls out," claimed Marcus Clay skipper on the day, "and everything seemed to happen so quickly."

Matthew Wakefield and Graeme "everso" Good won both their rubbers, creaming one pair (6-0, 6-3) and coming from behind to take Worcester Park's young dynamos in three (3-6, 6-3, 6-2). Marcus Clay and Derek Cook eased ahead to take their first rubber (7-5, 6-2), but lost out to the young-uns in three sets (6-4, 3-6, 3-6).

Much to general Vth team disgust, Cook - a disease expert - suggested the rubber was already dead: "it's hardly a life-and-death matter". Cook - spelled without an "e" - was seen pouring water over his head during changeovers.

The result just about keeps Magdalen in the race for promotion, meaning it needs to take 7 rubbers in its final game on Sept 12th.