Day1 v Nottinghamshire (5-4 Win)
Senior summer county week debuts for Chloe Lant and Hannah Brett, adding strength, depth and youth to the squad.
Heather Bates (Captain) and Claire Powell, renewing a regular county week pairing from a few years ago, won all 3 of their matches, including a notable win against the Nottinghamshire 1st pair 6-4 6-3.
Lindsay Cunningham and Hannah Brett, playing together for the 1st time, secured 2 excellent wins.
Day2 v Avon (8-1 Win)
Due to the rain we were forced to change surface from grass to indoor acrylic.
Cunningham/Brett and Bates/Powell continued their good form to win all their matches.
The 3rd pair of Selena Coburn and Vic Watson took 2 from 3, including a hard fought victory against the 1st pair.
Flying high at the end of Day 2.
Day3 v Yorkshire (3-6 Loss)
Berkshire battled well against a strong Yorkshire side to gain 3 vital rubbers.
An injury to Claire Powell forced a retirement in round 2 to end the unbeaten run of her and Bates so Selena Coburn came in for the 3rd match.
Lauren Webb started her county week campaign at third pair with Watson.
Cunningham and Brett showed their class by winning 2 out of 3 against the eventual Group Champions.
We said thank you and waved goodbye to Lindsay at the end of Day 3, as she had to go back to work, but were lucky to have Hannah Parker arrive to take her place.
Claire and Chloe both needed treatment for injuries - Claire was declared fit for Day 4, Chloe needed to wait another day before returning to action.
Day4 v Leicestershire (6-3 Win)
A pivotal day as we were playing for promotion but also still to avoid relegation, so there were plenty of nerves on show.
All 3 pairs managed to win 2 matches each.
This was an extremely good effort from the 2 new pairings of Brett/Coburn and Watson/ Parker.
We had avoided relegation and a win on the last day would mean promotion!
Day5 v Sussex (5-1 Win)
We knew a good start today was important as 2 rubbers would ensure that Sussex couldn't be promoted, so we picked a team to try to win 2 out of 3 in the first round.
Bates/ Powell continued their week long partnership but changes were again made with Chloe Lant returning to the team to play with Watson and Parker teaming up with Brett.
The team choice paid dividends as we went 2-1 up after round 1then went on to win all 3 in round 2 to get the win and promotion with Brett and Parker capping an excellent new partnership with the vital 5th rubber.
A huge thank you to all 9 players in the team, who made the long journey to Ilkley to represent the County. The team spirit was amazing and we look forward to Group 2 next year!
Thanks also to the few supporters who made the journey.
The Berkshire Ladies Team will be competing next in the Winter County Cup Event at the Wirral on 22- 24 November.
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