Round 4 Results and Standings

Round 4

Wimbourne Wasps	680*	vs	Puddlemere United	220
Holyhead Harpies	360*	vs	Pride Of Portree	100
Caerphilly Catapults	440	vs	Tutshill Tornados	760*
Kenmare Kestrels	8790*	vs	Wigtown Wanderers	5110
Ballycastle Bats	80	vs	Falmouth Falcons	390*
Appleby Arrows	550*	vs	Chudley Cannons	10
BYE			Montrose Magpies

2012 League Cup Standings

Pos.	Team	P	W	L	T	B	+	-	%	Points
1	Wimbourne Wasps	4	4	0	0	0	2080	870	70.51	8
2	Montrose Magpies	3	3	0	0	1	1180	390	75.16	8
3	Tutshill Tornados	4	3	1	0	0	2210	1330	62.43	6
4	Holyhead Harpies	4	3	1	0	0	2460	1920	56.16	6
5	Puddlemere United	3	2	1	0	1	1350	1360	49.82	6
6	Appleby Arrows	4	2	2	0	0	2550	1760	59.16	4
7	Falmouth Falcons	4	2	2	0	0	2760	2860	49.11	4
8	Caerphilly Catapults	4	1	2	1	0	1440	1830	44.04	3
9	Ballycastle Bats	4	1	2	1	0	690	1050	39.66	3
10	Kenmare Kestrels	4	1	3	0	0	9250	6300	59.49	2
11	Pride Of Portree	4	1	3	0	0	2500	2220	52.97	2
12	Wigtown Wanderers	3	0	3	0	1	5230	9540	35.41	2
13	Chudley Cannons	3	0	3	0	1	890	3160	21.98	2

Round 5 Fixtures

Friday March 30

7:30pm: Tutshill Tornados vs Falmouth Falcons @ Ilkley Moor

Saturday March 31

2:30pm: Wigtown Wanderers vs Caerphilly Catapults @ Bodmin Moor

7:30pm: Pride Of Portree vs Ballycastle Bats @ Ellis Moor

Sunday April 1

2:30pm: Chudley Cannons vs Wimbourne Wasps @ Exmoor

7:30pm: Puddlemere United vs Holyhead Harpies @ Ellis Moor

Monday April 2

7:30pm: Montrose Magpies vs Kenmare Kestrels @ Bodmin Moor

Kenmare Kestrels - 8790 vs Wigtown Wanderers - 5110

	Kestrels	Wanderers
Keeper	O’Hare (C)	Rostell
Chasers	McNally	Drummond
	O’Flanagan	Melvina
	Watkins	MacKenzie
Beaters	Tuckett	A.Parkin (C)
	Crumb	Thruston
Seeker	O’Flaherty	B.Parkin

Every once in a while comes a cathartic Quidditch experience that, for better or worse, those who saw it will remember for eternity. The hundred hour vigil at Exmoor this week was one such occasion.

The Kenmare Kestrels, despite their disappointing performance against the Tornados last time out, stayed true, making on changes. On the other hand there were two alterations to the Wanderer starting line-up. But these petty stats are meaningless, for all twenty-eight warriors played endless hours of Quidditch.

To try summarizing the match in any play-by-play fashion would be an exercise in the absurd. Suffice it to say that for the first two hours, a surprisingly nimble Wigtown led, but from there it was all Kenmare. Chasers Deirdre McNally and Diarmiad O’Flanagan were the class of the field, too fast and experienced for the still hesitant and un-unified Wanderer Chaser Unit to match.

In the fifth hour, with the Kestrels already well in control, Coinneach Crumb brutally felled Wigtown Captain and dominant Beater Alaistair Parkin, who was unable to return for nineteen hours. This as good as ended the match as a contest, with the Kestrels quickly pulling out beyond a hundred goals clear.

Unfortunately for all concerned, the match still had an entire three days to go. Having lifted off the turf at 7:30pm Sunday, the match ended with a lazy and rather fortuitous snitch catch from the understandably red faced Hilaria O’Flaherty (who at one point played 27 consecutive hours) 104 hours later, at 3:30am Friday.

Records tumbled left right and centre, the most astonishing being the milestone on Thursday afternoon when the match became the longest in Britain this century. The last BIQL match to reach 100 hours came in 1995.

A multi-day Quidditch marathon is a remarkable thing to witness. Inevitably such ‘contests’, if they can be called such, involve a huge and snitch marginalizing margin. But it’s more than that. It is like giving two trolls a wand and making them duel. There is an evil part of human nature that revels in watching such intense human decay and suffering, as hour after hour of increasingly tepid Quidditch passes. In technical terms these should be the worst games of all time, but the historical fanfare associated with the achievement of playing out and surviving the days and weeks of pain are something special. Considering the youth of both sides, in particular the Kestrels, the feat was yet more impressive.

Nobody will remember the final score, as is appropriate considering the ease of the Kestrels’ victory. But everyone who was there, most of whom stayed firm and did not leave for the entire course of match such was its cathartic appeal, will never forget.

The true eventualities resulting from this clash are far from clear yet. These will make themselves known over the coming weeks, as chronic fatigue takes hold over all twenty-eight bodies. In the cruellest of ironies, the Wanderers must back up inside of two days for their Saturday match against the Catapults. The Kestrels at least have a weekend of rest, but will be hard pressed against the undefeated Magpies.

Kenmare Kestrels - 8790: McNally 315, Mason 206, O'Flanagan 166, O'Shaughnessy 94, Watkins 55, Rosebottom 19, O'Hare 9, O'Flaherty Capture

Wigtown Wanderers - 5110: Drummond 265, Shimpling 101, Anstice 60, MacKenzie 42, Melvina 41, Beardsley 2

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: DEIRDRE McNALLY (KESTRELS)

Arrows comfortably roll Cannons

Appleby Arrows - 550* vs Chudley Cannons - 10

	Arrows	Cannons
Keeper	Delaney	Trimble (C)
Chasers	Fladbury (C)	Munch
	Comstock	Bell
	Applebee	Oglethorpe
Beaters	Mirfield	Redfern
	Gagwilde	Ramkin
Seeker	Sapworthy	Prang

It speaks volumes about the lovable quirkiness of Quidditch and less lovable eccentricity of mathematics that the Arrows and Cannons entered Round 4 so close on the table, in 9^th and 11^th respectively.

Appleby are clearly far more competitive this year than in 2011, but strength of opposition and weakness of Seeker had seen them go down in two of three clashes so far. Millie Sapworthy returned to where she started, displacing Ava Mustaq after two semi-successful tilts at Seeking. Controversially, Beaters Ragmar Flitley and Gifford Belcher were both inexplicably missing. All manner of convoluted reasons for this were given but to the consternated Cannons it was clear. Flitley and Belcher are arguably the greatest combination in the League, but both getting on in age. To any intelligent observer it was obvious that they had been rested from this match, in order to stay fresh for tougher pastures.

It was a move that smacked of arrogance for a team who lost last fortnight to Puddlemere, who at times were genuinely threatened by the Cannons a week before.

One presumes Chudley are rather flattered by 11^th. But you never know. It was a whopping twenty-two days since their last game and with the confusing differences between the two they had played added into their equation, it was impossible to know just what level of mediocrity they were aiming for this year.

The answer was fast in coming.

A twenty-second brace for Violetta Fladbury opened the ‘contest’ and it only got worse from there. Chudley to their credit avoided the depths of their Portree fiasco. But they were hardly given a chance to possess any ball and subsequently lose it. They just weren’t good enough in any facet to stop the rampaging Appleby.

One Cannon aspect that was disappointingly familiar was their seemingly random musical-chairs selection policy, with Gavin Redfern and Robin Ramkin brought in. It was a double Beater switch, despite the admittedly mistake-prone but overall spirited pairing of Flora Wigglesworth and Hesper Buttermere having not disgraced themselves, at least to usual Cannon levels. Redfern was mediocre while Ramkin was downright embarrassing, doing well not to injure herself of her team-mates beyond reasonable expectations.

The Arrows scoring rate was immense, topping a goal every two minutes. In little more than an hour forty goals had already gone past the gallant but powerless Chudley Captain Charlie Trimble.

There was a moment of Chudley glory however, when a spectacular cross-field dive at the snitch from Mille Sapworthy distracted all present enough for Alannis Bell to sneak a goal past Perecles Delaney. But as Bell celebrated, Appleby triumphed, as Sapworthy pulled up near the Cannon left post with the snitch in her grasp.

Appleby Arrows - 550: Applebee 15, Fladbury 13, Comstock 12, Sapworthy Capture

Chudley Cannons - 10: Bell 1

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: VIOLETTA FLADBURY (ARROWS)