The Over 55 Men kicked things off in style earlier in the month by becoming National Inter-County champions for the third year in succession.
Not to be outdone the Men’s and Ladies teams have triumphed this weekend by winning their groups in the Winter Inter-County Cup. The men, playing at Bath in Group One, won all three matches to top the group as National Champions. The ladies, playing in Group 3A at Sunderland, also won all three matches to top the group and win promotion.
Mens Winter County Cup Report
Team - Imran Aswat, Simon Roberts, Johnny Parkes, Chris Parkes, Robert Morgan, Mike Nott, Johnny Shacklady and captain Andrew Davies.
Winter County Cup is always tough in Division 1 just purely because 2 teams get relegated and the standard is of the highest level.
This year we went and the objective was to try our best as a team to stay up in the top flight.
We found ourselves in a group with South Wales, Hertfordshire and Norfolk, all very experienced teams that could potentially have won County Cup.
On the first day we played south wales and managed to just do enough to win 5-4.
Several matches went to deciding sets, but we got the upper hand in most.
Day 2 saw us play Hertfordshire, a team we have not beaten for over 6 years.
it was 3-3 after singles again and with some smart tactical changes for doubles we managed to win all 3 doubles in match tie- breaks and take the match 6-3.
The final day, all we had to do was get the win against Norfolk and nothing could prevent us from winning. We was all ready and eager. We went 6-0 up within 3 hours and the title was ours.
I would like to thank every member of the team for their efforts and to win it after 13 years is a great feeling to say the least and i would like to thank the support we get from the county. The keys things we have as a team is a great bond with each other, desire to win and our support for each other is the best out there.
Its not necessarily the best team on paper or the best players that win, its the ones who have good qualities and a desire to win. Junior County Teams please take note.
Good luck in the future to all our County teams and lets make the Red Rose a force to be reckoned with.
Andrew Davies.
Mens Captain
Please see links below for the Winter County Cup scores
Mens County Cup
http://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=ACFCCF6D-A96D-4771-9BF4-802DB1599BD6&draw=1
Ladies County Cup
http://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=ABCE947D-4E5D-414F-BCE2-976D75CB7E12&draw=1