{"id":3724,"date":"2021-12-14T18:25:47","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T18:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/?p=3724"},"modified":"2021-12-16T00:42:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T00:42:39","slug":"zihao-stars-for-team-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/zihao-stars-for-team-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Zihao stars for Team II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Monday evening saw an entertaining and enjoyable postponed ELTTL match between team II and Penicuik I. Zihao came in to join Keith and Charlie for team II. Penicuik I were represented by David Melrose, Colin Green &amp; Iain Johnson. Iain sporting a very impressive lockdown beard! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The match took place at the Gyle, which allowed the match to be played on two tables. This resulted in-at least by team II standards- an early finish. On the downside, the courts were slightly on the small side and the floor was a bit slippery (well, that was Charlie&#8217;s excuse for not moving!). It was nice to see the Gyle being well used with a kids&#8217; session (led by Emma) taking place prior to the match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the opening set of matches, Charlie and Colin looked set for a 5-setter, before, at 9-9 in the 4th, Charlie managed to smack back one of Colin&#8217;s loops and then profited from a particularly nasty net dribbler on match point. Meanwhile Zihao began his evening well, beating Iain 3-1 and Keith beat David by the same score. In the 4th match Iain overpowered Charlie and took a deserved 2-1 lead with some superb rocket forehands. Some astute tactical advice and calming words from Zihao help Charlie turn the tide in the 4th and 5th sets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/penuicuik-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3727\" srcset=\"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/penuicuik-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/penuicuik-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/penuicuik-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/penuicuik-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/penuicuik.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>David vs Zihao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The highlight of the night was a tight and sweaty 5-setter between Colin and Keith. After Colin started very strongly, Keith wrestled back the lead with some good tactical play and the odd moment of fortune (&#8220;I&#8217;ve never met a luckier player&#8221;) helped him establish a 2-1 lead. At 7-4 up in the fourth set, Keith seem to be on the course before an unwise smash (&#8220;I&#8217;ll have nightmares about that one&#8221;) slightly derailed him. Colin took advantage as he determinedly battled back, eventually edging the 5th set 11-9. Some good service variation helping Colin at key moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Colin missed out in the final match of the night to a patient and consistent Zihao, who kept his nerve in a long and close fourth set, which he eventually won 13-11 and with it the match 3-1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The usual ELTTL clich\u00e9 applies to this match, with the match tighter than the final score line. Team II&#8217;s next match (also a postponed fixture) takes place this Wednesday-a trip away to play a strong Fife I side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"689\" height=\"1024\" data-src=\"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/scorecard.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3726 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/scorecard.jpg 689w, https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/scorecard-202x300.jpg 202w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 689px) 100vw, 689px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 689px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 689\/1024;\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"689\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/scorecard.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/scorecard.jpg 689w, https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/scorecard-202x300.jpg 202w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 689px) 100vw, 689px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>by Charlie Ellis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday evening saw an entertaining and enjoyable postponed ELTTL match between team II and Penicuik I. Zihao came in to join Keith and Charlie for team II. Penicuik I were represented by David Melrose, Colin Green &amp; Iain Johnson. Iain sporting a very impressive lockdown beard!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,19,17,21],"class_list":["post-3724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-elttl","tag-gyle","tag-penicuik","tag-zihao-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/penuicuik.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3724"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3731,"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3724\/revisions\/3731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murrayfieldtt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}