Portsmouth & District Tennis League: Carlton Green pair Chris Weatherill and Gary Colmer's epic efforts have no winning reward

Having suffered with a host of weather postponements earlier in the season, the Carlton Green duo had to play three matches in just four days in a bid to make up for lost time.

The pair managed to get through 30 sets between them over the course of three days, sadly, they were on the losing side in each of those, writes Alan Best.

First, the duo teamed up with Ros Kamaryc and Cheryl Goater in a weekend league match with Alverstoke.

Things were looking good for Carlton Green after winning the first two rubbers on match tie-breaks.

Weatherill and Colmer must have been thinking they were going to make the dream start to what was going to be a busy few days of action.

However, Alverstoke battled back superbly with wins through Sue Western and Chris Titterington then Laura Pritchard and Gordon Guttridge levelling up the match at two rubbers apiece.

It ensured Alverstoke claimed the winning draw points having collected six sets to Carlton Green's five.

Weatherill and Colmer took to the court again on Tuesday, this time for a meeting with Avenue mixed 2nds.

Once again it was a winning start for Carlton Green, as Goater and Colmer claimed victory over Mark Fullstone and Dawn Wears on a match tie-break.

Graham Cotterill and Caron Howe soon levelled the match, though, courtesy of a straight sets triumph over Weatherill and Gwen Isaacs.

The second round of rubbers saw the men's and women's pairs team up to take on their counterparts.

After Goater and Isaacs had handed Carlton Green a chance of victory, a fatigued Weatherill and Colmer suffered defeat to Fullstone and Cotterill as the match finished level at 2-2.

The teams were unable to be split on sets either - both claiming four - so Avenue were handed the winning draw points having taking the more games - 42 to 29.

Marathon men Weatherill and Colmer were back on court again the following day for the third time in four days.

They had two different female partners as they looked to finish a hectic fixture schedule with victory over Fishbourne.

Things did not go to plan for the weary Carlton Green pairing as Fishbourne took the first two rubbers before their ladies pairing made sure of overall victory with a straight sets win.

But great credit to Weatherill and Colmer, who won sets 29 and 30 over an epic four-day effort to at least salvage a rubber for Carlton Green as they eventually went down 3-1 to Fishbourne.

Elsewhere, the two remaining matches played proved to be one-sided affairs.

Lee's midweek ladies team romped to a first-ever whitewash 4-0 win easing past Avenue 2nds, while Wellow brought their midweek season to a conclusion with a 4-0 crushing of Warsash.

There was another 4-0 victory, this time for Lee 4ths weekend ladies team, although it was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggests with two rubbers decided on match tie-breaks.

In the final match of the week, Wickham secured their first win of the season at the final attempt after a 10-set marathon match against Warsash.

Both the opening rubbers went to match tie-breaks with Wickham holding their nerve to take them.

Laura Jones and Matt Crebo gave Warsash a glimmer of hope by beating Sue North and Adrian Keen in straight sets.

But Yvonne Richardson and Peter Eade snuffed out those hopes with a 6-0, 6-1 rubber win against Helen Rawlinson and Alex Hairsnape as Wickham at least ended the season with a victory.