Article dated: 3 November 2011   Audience: Public

Cockle Bay ventured away from home for the first time this season as we headed to Parnell for round three of the Caro Bowl season.

We had a tough ask fronting up against the defending champions and the boys stepped up and played some fantastic tennis in front of a good turnout of Cockle Bay supporters.

We lost both doubles after taking a punt and mixing up our order from previous weeks. Matthew Meredith and James Spence played the top doubles going down 6-3 and 6-4 to Anton Bettink and Nick Turner. Bottom doubles proved a real challenge with Luke Donovan and Henry Gers losing 6-3 6-2 against Mark Nielson and Steven Downs.

At the top singles we had Matt take on New Zealand 18 and under National Champ, Anton Bettink. The youngster held his nerve to take a close encounter 6-4 7-5.

Number 2 singles saw James with the tough task of taking on former NZ number 1, Mark Neilson. James played a great match but went down 6-3 6-3.

Henry took on Steven Downs and came out firing going up 6-4 in the first set and started the second well getting up 4-2 before Steven showed his experience and came back to take the 2nd set 6-4 and the match 6-3 in the 3rd.

Turner came out strong against Luke in the bottom singles and took the first set 6-4 before Luke found his range and breezed through the rest of the match 6-0 6-2.

Cockle Bay went down 5-1 which is not a true reflection on the closely fought games. The table standing is now with Remuera (21 points) in first place, Blockhouse Bay & Parnell (15 points) in tie second and Cockle Bay & Pompallier (13 points) in tie third.

A massive thank you to the Cockle Bay crowd that made the trip out to Parnell - I think we may have had just as much support there as Parnell.

This week we take on Royal Oak away at Royal Oak. This could prove to be a vital match as we fight to get a semi final position. The boys and I hope to see you at The Oak on Friday.

Jono Frankle
Manager: Honda Cockle Bay Caro Bowl

Thank you to our sponsors
Honda
Duggan & Murphy, Barristers & Solicitors
Orix NZ Ltd
Cherie Bird, LJ Hooker Howick