No – not an April Fool, but there was more good news for the Thames Valley A team. We finally, at the third attempt, managed to play a match against our Kingston neighbours, where we were flattered by the 6-2 scoreline in our favour. There were wins for Gavin, Mike, Raghu and Eamon, while Julien, Chris, Masoud and I were all content to draw.

The following Thursday we faced a Wimbledon team who were slightly short of full strength, and were off to a good start when Raghu’s opponent failed to turn up. Excellent wins for Mike, Julien, Seb and John Burke added up to a 5-3 victory, leaving us back on top of the table with two matches to play.

Meanwhile, the E team were up against a strong Surbiton C team. Given the grading differences it was no disgrace that, on this occasion, they failed to trouble the scorer.