The National Premier League Doubles is a prestigious Men’s doubles event that has previously featured Wimbledon champions such as Pat Cash, Johnny Marray and Wayne Black. Although no Wimbledon Champions this year the event did consist of three players who have previously competed at Wimbledon, two of which having also competed for GB in the Davis Cup: David Sherwood, Richard Bloomfield and Davis Cup winner Dan Evans.

To gain a place in the finals we had the challenge of qualifying against several strong teams in the South West region with only the winner guaranteed of reaching the finals (DL Westbury, VA Gloucester, Torquay, VA Devonshire, DL Exeter and Exeter TC).

This year was our 3rd year competing in the NPLafter only managing 5th in the South West league on our debut. In our second year changes were made and one the coaches Matt James switched allegiance from Cardiff Met to Millfield and I became captain while we also introduced a doubles session within our schedule. In our second year we managed to make the National Finals thanks to a play-off win and then lost to eventual champions Cardiff Met 3-1 in the last 8 after wins against Stoke Draycott and Northumberland.

This year a squad consisting of Jack Burkill, Nick Brookes, Matt James, Joe Dewhurst and Angus Bradshaw travelled up to Leeds to compete in the National Premier League Finals after securing the South West title by the closest of margins. We were lucky enough to be seeded 4th at the finals which came with some complaints from teams who thought our boys wouldn’t be able to compete and just had very good ratings.

In our first match we faced a home team Leeds Becket University and were one point away from securing a 3-1 before Matt and I lost to their first top pair. This was our first loss over the two year period and meant a shoot-out had to decide the fixture. With Matt and Nick Brookes being elected to play they managed to turn around a 7-3 deficit into a 10-7 win in front of approximately 100 people who had paid to come and view the event.

In the semi-final we found ourselves up against the second seeds Gosling who have won the event in the past. After the first 2 rubbers we were in another tight situation of 1-1 and knowing that a big performance would be needed to get the win. The rest of this match was to be played the following day so we all went to bed knowing the next day would be challenging. We all woke up with sore bodies and slightly tired mentally, however this did not stop us as we took both doubles matches resulting in a 3-1 win.

In the final we faced a familiar foe in Cardiff Met University who were the defending champions and had beaten us in all our meetings so far. We went into the match as the firm underdogs and knowing that Cardiff had brought a stronger team than the year before. Never the less as true competitors we fought hard but lost the first 2 rubbers in close encounters. Spirits were still high going into second half of the match; this was shown with Matt James and Angus Bradshaw taking down a very strong pairing of Marcus Willis and Josh Milton in a tight 3 setter. Unfortunately Nick Brookes and Joe Dewhurst just lost out in a close 3 setter to Chris Lewis and Craig Evans which meant Cardiff retained their title.

Despite not walking away with the trophy we all walked away with our heads held high as we massively exceeded our expectations and our goal of reaching the National Finals. It was a pleasure to captain the team and I would like to say a huge thank you to Mike Dixon and all of the sponsors involved for helping run of the event.