The Buckinghamshire Ladies team playing in the Aegon Summer County Cup Group 1 in Eastbourne last week was made up of members of Halton Tennis Centre, both present and past.
A total of 44 British counties and regions compete during the same week in late July, playing in 7 groups at various venues throughout the country (all on grass courts) with the top groups of both men's and women's – Group 1 – competing at Devonshire Park Eastbourne where the winners are crowned Aegon Summer County Cup Champions.
The importance of the occasion for British tennis was emphasised when North of Scotland brought in Andy and Jamie Murray to their team which caused much excitement from the spectators and players. Bucks Ladies came 2nd last year (their first year in Group1) and were keen to consolidate their place this year.
The team is made up of 3 pairs who play a different county each day (3 best of 3 set matches per day over 5 days). On Monday Bucks made a good start when they beat Leicestershire 6-3. However on Tuesday they came up against a strong Essex team (who were eventual runners-up) and lost 3-6. So on Wednesday Bucks needed to beat Hertfordshire to keep them in with a chance of staying in Group 1. The match stood at 3-3 when rain stopped play and had to be finished off Thursday morning. Bucks 1st pair Jemima Hayward and Julia Bone won in 2 sets, 2nd pair Claire Hamilton and Lereesa Easterbrook were unlucky to lose in a deciding 3rd set tiebreak 9-11 which meant that Celia Bristow and Helen Lawson needed to win – they won the first set but were down 2-5 in the second set however they fought back and won the second set 7-5 – resulting in a 5-4 win for Bucks.
On Thursday Bucks lost to Surrey (the eventual winners) 4-5. The final day Bucks needed to win 4 matches to stay in Group 1 – torrential rain delayed play but Bucks made a great start against Warwickshire and raced to a 3 match lead which they consolidated and won 6-3. This meant that Bucks had come 3rd overall and look forward to going back to Eastbourne next year.
There was a superb performance by Jemima Hayward & Julia Bone who were undefeated all week – winning 15 out of 15 matches. However it was a great team effort and well done to all the players – Jemima Hayward, Julia Bone, Claire Hamilton, Helen Lawson, Lereesa Easterbrook, Celia Bristow, Emily Quin, Helen Adams, Sarah Spanswick.