Playing Essex first, which was always going to decide who wins the division and Cambridgeshire needed to start well with Charlie James winning a tough opener against Cameron Isbel. Charlie coming through 5-3 1-4 (2).
Alex Wardley lost to Toby Dunlea 0-4 3-5 to make it one match apiece. Jan Ortonowski lost to Ed Pudney after taking the 1st set 4-0 0-4 (7) to make it 2-1 Essex with the doubles to play. Essex were too strong in the doubles and Wardley and James lost in straight sets which meant Cambs needed a favour from another county.
Next up was Suffolk and again Charlie James got Cambs off to a good start with a convincing 4-1 4-1 win before Alex Wardley came from a set down to win 1-4 4-2 (4) before Jan Ortonowski retired in his singles match ill which put Cambs 2-1. It all got very tight and tense with Wardley and James losing the doubles 2-4 3-5 before going on to win the Match Tiebreak 10-6 to make it a Cambs win.
It was played in very tough conditions, the wind was a major factor and it was no different on the Sunday. Up first were Norfolk and due to Ortonowski being ill, Sam Clark came in and won 5-4 4-2 before Charlie James won 5-3 1-4 (5) and Alex Wardley won 4-1 4-0 to make it a whitewash in the singles. The doubles carried on in that way with a straight sets win to mean a 4-0 win.
Bedfordshire were last and hadn’t won a rubber, let alone a match yet and against Cambs it was no different. Cambs only dropped 5 games in 4 matches with comfortable wins for Clark, James and Wardley before Clark and James teamed up for the doubles.This all meant Cambs finished runners up to Essex who qualified for the finals.
Captain Chris Johnson said “it was very very tough for all the kids as the wind was very strong. It was about who could cope best in these conditions and unfortunately it went against us in the first match against Essex. Jan was looking good in the 1st set and if he had won that match, it may have been different. All credit to Essex, they had a good young team and certainly will be difficult to stop next year. “