PERFECT conditions greeted players on Saturday for the Swan Hill Lawn Tennis Club’s pennant grand final, with Gray clinching a thrilling decider against McCrae.
The highly-fancied McCrae, led by Marcus McCaig, was taking on a Gray side which was minus its crafty left-hander Ron Fatt.
With a premiership up for grabs, McCrae’s Daniel Gardner and Marcus McCaig ripped through a disappointing Christian Devlin and John Wardle.
Nat Plant and Lucy Martin added to McCrae’s good start shortly after, when they walked off smiling with a handy 8-4 victory over Colleen Grant and Hayley Siddons.
Janet Barnard and Cheryl Miceli were next off court, disposing of highly fancied youngsters Millie Saville and Jamie Gorringe of Gray.
The results saw McCrae jump out to a nice 13 game lead.
But just as the day looked over for Gray, Darren Hender and Spencer McKenzie beat Rick Plant and Brayden Barry 8-5, while Trevor Holt and Bruce McDowall combined for an 8-3 victory over Graham Gardner and Paul Bethune.
Daniel Gardner and Richie Wardle steadied for McCrae as John Wardle continued to struggle with his usually reliable serve.
Brendan Blackmore was proving exciting at times.
McCrae’s women were well on top, but Millie Saville and Colleen Grant had a morale boosting 8-3 win over Nat Plant and Janet Barnard to keep Gray in it.
Over in the men’s sets, McCaig and Bethune defeated Devlin and Holt.
Daniel Gardner beat John Wardle 8-1, with the former having no sympathy for his vanquished opponent. McCrae seemed still to have all the answers.
Gray’s Bruce McDowall and Spencer McKenzie decided enough was enough and inflicted a heavy 8-1 victory over Brayden Barry and Graham Gardner.
Brendan Blackmore and Chook Hender were also starting to find their mojo, and were too good for Ritchie Wardle and Rick Plant, winning 8-4.
With one men’s set and the mixed to play McCrae led by five games, and time appeared to be running out for Gray.
But with wins to McDowall and Gorringe, and McKenzie and Saville, Gray shot to the lead for the first time.
The two pairs had gained nine games between them to see Gray four games up with three sets left in the decider.
With Darren Hender and Hayley Siddons out on court against Rick Plant and Nat Plant it was the battle of the couples.
Both pairs combined to make a great contest, but it was the Plants that got home 8-7.
On the court next door, Paul Bethune and Lucy Martin combined for an 8-2 victory over Trevor Holt and Colleen Grant. McCrae was suddenly back in front by three games and also ahead on sets, with one men’s set remaining.
With Marcus McCaig and Richie Wardle on court for McCrae, Gray needed a miracle.
Blackmore and Christian Devlin needed to win 8-4 or better for Gray to get home.
With scores quickly at 2-2 Gray decided to pray.
And it was Blackmore who answered the call, with the big left hander setting up a nail-biter in the last set of the decider.
With scores at 7-4 both sides needed one more game.
With umpire Brendan Angus sitting in the chair, Blackmore rose to be the hero and saw his side home in an amazing finish to the grand final.
Bruce McDowall was best on court for Gray, while Daniel Gardner was McRae’s best.
