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Photos: Julia Piotrowicz
The York men’s badminton team strolled to an effortless 7-2 win over their Lancastrian counterparts on a day which saw the club extend their unbeaten streak in the tournament.
Victory was assured after only six games as Andrew Henderson and Tom Dainty won their second game of the day to cap an unassailable 5-1 advantage.
Star player Baillie Watterson played his last competitive encounter for the club, and he will be delighted that the club secured second-straight badminton whitewash, remaining unbeaten in any Roses match since 2011.
A cacophonous atmosphere greeted the players as they made their way onto court, with the Lancaster supporters hopeful of an upset. However, York began like a steam train and never gave their rivals any breathing space.
Henderson and Dainty began proceedings with a well-crafted 21-7, 21-19 win in testing circumstances against Derek Cheng and Alex Butt, who impressed in yesterday’s mixed matches.
Soon, York’s lead was doubled as Watterson and James Davies beat Sim Wang and Andrew Chilo 21-11, 21-11 without ever breaking sweat. It was clear that Watterson’s athleticism, combined with Davies’ towering height, was a match for any opposition.
Dan Hirst and Jinglun Tang were edged over two sets by Sida Du and James Davis, 21-15, 21-14, but the result could not halt York’s momentum.
Watterson and Davies produced a scintillating display of badminton to dispatch Cheng and Butt by exactly the same score to regain the two-point gap.
3-1 became 4-1 shortly after as Hirst and Tang claimed a sweet 21-17, 22-20 victory against the much fancied Lancaster pair of Wang and Chilo.
It was left to Dainty and Henderson to claim the vital fifth game, which they did over three close sets, 21-16, 20-22, 21-11.
The rest of the match was immaterial, but York still extended their advantage to complete an excellent day at the office.
Although Hirst and Tang lost out 21-15, 22-20 to Cheng and Butt, Dainty and Henderson claimed a hat-trick of victories, this time over Wang and Chilo, while Watterson and Davies overcame Du and Dennis without any trouble to bring up the final score as 7-2 to York.
Captain Dan Hirst commented after the match: “I’m really happy, everyone played well and it means we’ve claimed 14 points overall for badminton.”
On the whitewash, he said: “It’s another great record. There’s a lot of pressure being badminton captain because you think: ‘We’d better not lose, because no one ever loses!’ So it was good to get the win today.”