Winter tennis THE LEAGUE programme completed, last week saw the start of the handicapped knock-out competition, with a shortened programme of just four preliminary round matches.

Plenty to savour however. Could Markland Hill 'A', having lost recently to Eagley 'A', now give them a start and win? Would Harper Green's cut-throats conquer the more refined quartet of Eagley 'B'? How would Walkers 'C', runaway winners of Division Two fare against Bolton C.C., specialists in confounding the odds and bringers of joy to bookies.

In particular, given that the Cricketers' ladies would have an edge, how would those tennis alchemists, Howard Davies and Jimmy Topping -- not a power shot between them -- blunt the blast of the Millington brothers sufficient to overcome a 20 game handicap? And then, bringing up the rear of the programme, HRM 'B' versus Holcombe Brook 'B'.

Bring up the rear? They brought down the house in a stupendously compelling, tooth and claw struggle, raw-nerved and dripping passion, in which all eight combatants put limb and self-belief nakedly on the line in an attempt to gain the ascendancy. Dave Thompson's nervously urgent marshalling of his HRM troops was matched by David Boardman's more self-contained, introspective play (but still finding time to psych-up his partner), each adopting a chess-board approach in an attempt to outwit the other.

In contrast, Holcombe's Ian Berry had clearly decided on a 'go for it' approach, hitting out with unrestrained aggression and stringing together alternate runs of winners and losers which largely contributed to the see-saw nature of the match. Opposing this was HRM's Howard Ryding, whose overhead power always threatened to bury the Brook.

The ladies were also well-matched. HRM's Nicky Rowan (nee Hamer) made effective use of that pre-nuptial weapon known, perhaps, as (with a nod to Mr Cooper) 'Amer's 'Ammer -- a forehand thwack of shuddering threat. Add to this Karen Hunt's forehand of similarly coruscating effect and they are a potentially formidable combination. If they can blow hot and cold, they are a pair who don't mess about; the opposition are engaged quickly and fiercely and they always do damage somewhere.

On this occasion, however, their steely determination was no more than that of the Holcombe's Sheila Tasker and Julie Bannister, fresh-featured, benignly-behaved but resilient plus. Mrs Tasker's competitive spirit has been well-documented in the past; Julie Bannister is a bantam weight with the kick of a heavyweight, endlessly energetic in court coverage, refreshingly uncomplicated in her St. Trinians net play and possessed of a double-handed backhand of occasionally eviscerating penetration. Fittingly, the ladies set score was 4-4.

On several occasions Holcombe looked ready to pull away and wipe out their five game handicap. Boardman and Miss Banister for instance lead Thompson 4-1 only for he and Mrs Hunt to claw the score back. So it was throughout: HRM rebuffing every attack to hang on to a fingernail victory.

The Cricketers tried all they knew -- not a little -- but in the end the handicap was too much in favour of a Walkers side which has really been too good for Division Two.

Their opponents started well. Davies' choreography of slow ball, soft ball, wrong-footing ball paid dividends and whenever Davies faltered, Sandra Birchall took charge of rallies to see their side home in a set which displayed plenty of tension.

As did noises from the far court -- specifically a barrage of anguished comments from a Jeff Millington 'in full cry' suggested that things were not going Walkers' way against Jimmy Topping's box of tricks and Sally Crudden's admirably unflappable play.

Nor were they but the handicap was not being eroded fast enough. For this Walkers had to thank their ladies, whose unobtrusive play was holding things together. The men fire the cannon and scorch the earth but much of Walkers' success has been down to Barbara Millington and Sue Prendergast. Neither evokes the stylish game of Miss Navratilova but each has her own strengths.

Mrs Prendergast is all angled wrists and elbows but crucially, whether from baseline or at net she puts the ball where opponents don't want it. Similarly, Mrs Millington may lack the finest niceties of textbook shots but she defends stoically, thinks shrewdly and is rapidly improving as an 'off the cuff' volleyer. Between them, although beaten, they did enough in the ladies' set to keep the side on course.

Even without Paul Lever's sunning himself abroad and Becky Dennard's pulling out at the last minute, Markland Hill may have struggled against a full-strength Eagley side who were always in control of the match. Similarly, Harper Green were afforded an unexpectedly easy passage when Eagley 'B' were victims of eleventh hour unavailability, resulting in Simon Roberts rolling up.

Roberts ineligibility was quickly conceded but such unannounced appearances on court contribute little to the mental calm of the organisers. The last such mismatch occurred when one M Robinson turned out for something like Lostock 'F', news of which was conveyed to your correspondent in his hospital bed and threatened a spectacular relapse. As then, the underdogs, a psyched up Harper Green squad had the unscripted, masochistic pleasure of crossing swords with a local star. Local star won.

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