The Corby squad of 1996 born players had a small re-union last week at Corby Tennis Centre, with Shakeel Manji, Kyle Rae and Jack Haworth getting in some practice ahead of Mens County Week for Northants at Cambridge. All three young men are on holiday from USA Universities, with Shakeel at Memphis, Kyle looking to relocate from Fresno, California to Hope International, LA. While Jack is looking forward to his third year at Brown in Rhode Island. These players worked together from the age of about 8, up until they went to University, and have been representing Northants pretty much ever since. They did years of squad training with coaches Richard Surtees, Mark Taylor and Craig Haworth.
Northants Men were competing on the Cambridge University courts from 18-22 July, and were captained by Corby Coach, Mark Taylor, and joined in the team by another Corby Mens 1st Team player Joe Tyler. The rest of the squad was made up of Charlie Swallow, Peter White and Ben Foster. This year the men were in Division 5, having gained promotion the past two years. The men had a fantastic week starting with a 6-3 win on Day 1 against Sussex - Charlie & Shakeel won all 3 , with Jack & Joe winning 2/3 and Kyle & Peter 1/3. On Day 2 they were up against Durham & Cleveland and pulled off an excellent win 7-2. Another 3/3 by the Northants 1st pair, 2/3 for Jack & Joe, and 2/3 for Kyle & Peter. Next up were West of Scotland and another 7-2 win was in the bag. Our 1st pair were still undefeated at the end of play with 3/3, while 2nd pair also got the full set 3/3, with the 3rd pair doing their job and getting 1/3. On Day 4, Jack was missing from action while he came home to see Paige (receptionist at the Centre) at her graduation from Northampton Uni. Ben Foster took his place with Joe. The Northants 1st pair of Shakeel and Charlie were on a great roll, and took another maximum 3/3, with Joe & Ben winning 1/3 and Kyle & Peter winning the full 3/3, on what was probably their best day. This set up a great final day of play, as Buckinghamshire were also on the maximum of 4 wins out of 4. Although both teams gained promotion from Div 6 last year, the Bucks line up was very different this time around. It was a thrilling days tennis, with spectators from both Counties there to cheer their teams on. There was also the added spice of one of the Bucks players being on 12/12 before play began, along with our own Shakeel and Charlie looking to win the maximum 15/15. As the draw would have it, they were all due to play each other in the last round of the day. At the end of round 1, Northants were 2/1 up, with Kyle & Peter going down to the No2s from Bucks. Then in the 2nd round, Jack & Joe were playing the Bucks undefeated player, Barny Smith who was now on 13/13. The Northants boys played a great match and despite losing the first set 5-7, they came back to win the decisive set in a match tie-break 10-3. The other 2 Northants pairs also won , so at the end of round 2, Northants had won the match, and the division – this left Joe Tyler in a difficult position, as he had delayed meeting up with his family who had already departed to Portugal for a holiday, and had a plane to catch. The last round of matches still had to be played, as Shakeel & Charlie were playing for the coveted 15/15, and now their opponents had just lost their perfect record. Despite having lost the match, the Bucks players did their spectators proud, and fought galliantly. All three matches went to 3 sets, but the Northants team all came through as victors to secure the 8-1 win. The champagne (and some tears of joy) flowed, as the team, along with Captain Mark Taylor collected their trophies ( and Jack took Joe to the airport!). Three years in succession sees Northants up to Division 4 next year, along with Bucks, so it promises to be another great week of tennis for the young Northants team. Huge congratulations to all those players that have been involved for so many years at Corby Tennis Centre, and to all the team for such a great effort, and especially to Shakeel Manji and Charlie Swallow, whose 15/15 will now be recorded at the National Training Centre for ever!
Craig Haworth