This weekend saw the first LTA County Cup event of the season with the 18 & Under Boys & Girls teams representing Lancashire. The event took place from 3rd-5th March with the boys competing in Division 2a at Exeter Tennis Centre and the Girls playing in Division 2b at Bromley Tennis Centre.
18 & Under Boys Team - Captain Andrew Davies, Assistant Chris Anders
Players - James Ashworth, Sam Chadwick, Alex Fook Knowles, Brennan Foster, Tomáš Grime, Will Jepson, Harry Lumb, James Rigby, Serban Salbaticu and Harry Senior
The team made the long trip down South on Thursday afternoon and started Friday strongly with 3 straight set singles wins from Serban, Tomáš and James Ashworth against Dorset. After the singles matches the fixture was tied at 3-3 after a unfortunate injury to Harry Lumb. The team then lost 1 doubles and won 1 doubles leaving it all upto Harry Senior & James Ashworth in the finals doubles rubber. A convincing 6-2, 6-3 win under pressure secured the tie 5-4. Saturday was more straight forward with 4 singles wins and 2 doubles wins to secure the tie against Berkshire 6-3. Sunday it was all to play for against Hertfordshire who hadn't yet lost a tie either but had won against Dorset and Berkshire more convincingly, our players knew it was going to be a tough battle. Lancashire were evenly matched after the singles with the score tied at 3-3, all down to the doubles again! After a valient effort from our players the Hertfordshire players were better than us in the doubles with 2 straight sets wins putting us down in the tie. James Ashworth and Harry Lumb managed to win their doubles but time had run out, the final results was 5-4 Hertfordshire.
A great effort from all the team and Captains. to finish 2nd.
18 & Under Girls Team - Captain Janelle Brooks, Assistant Imran Aswat
Players - Samira Butt, Ella Fernando, Hima Fernando, Hannah Glover, Lily Harper, Freya Peet and Yandy Shek.
Report from Janelle.
Counties: Lancashire, Sussex, South Wales and Kent
Lancashire v South Wales won 5-4
Lancashire v Sussex won 5-4
Lancashire v Kent lost 5-3
County cup this year was located in Bromley, Kent, the start of our county cup began with a long journey down South. We travelled on the Thursday prior to matches starting on the Friday. After the long drive we settled into our hotel, went for dinner and had an early night ready for the weekend ahead.
Day 1 we were up against South Wales, the first day is always difficult to measure how we may do beforehand as you don’t have any previous results to go from, we really didn’t know what to expect. We’d equally paired the doubles so that if it did come down to a decider, we had a good chance in winning all 3 doubles. This proved to be vital as after all singles were played we were level at 3-3. Taking 2 out of the 3 doubles gave us a 5-4 victory. Meanwhile the match between Sussex and Kent was very one-sided, Kent clinching it overall 8-1.
This result gave us a very good idea that Kent were very strong and the ones to beat. Our next opponents were Sussex, after losing the day before we thought they could have a loss of confidence or a little flat but that certainly wasn’t the case. There were some tough singles matches, again finding ourselves in the same position as the previous day 3-3. Once again confident that we had chances in all 3 doubles we came away with the much needed 2 out of the 3 doubles wins. Overcoming Sussex by 5-4.
The indication was now very clear that Kent had good depth within their team as they once again won very convincingly against South Wales 9-0. We only beat South Wales 5-4, this did not dampen our spirits and the girls went on court with a positive attitude and a fighting spirit. At one point we did take the lead 2-1, but it was short lived, we trailed 4-2 after all singles. Finding us in a position where we had to win all 3 doubles, unfortunately it wasn’t to be, after 2 doubles matches we had won one each, meaning victory for Kent 5-3. Kent will now gain promotion to group 1.
Well done to all the team, it’s been a great team effort with everyone playing their part in the overall result. The support on and of the court has been brilliant and the girls have done Lancashire proud. The girls even made up a little chant:
We’ve conquered some of Kent,
We’re never gonna stop
From Sussex down to Wales
We nearly won the lot
Imran and Janelle
The fields of South Ribble
We are loyal supporters
And we come from LANCASHIRE!
A great effort from both teams this weeeknd against strong opposition, well done everyone!