Cambridgeshire boys’ team of Charlie Adams, Dougie McKee and Ted Hope took on the Counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire in the Aegon 10 and under County Cup at Woodford Wells in Essex over the weekend.
Each match consists of three singles matches and one doubles and if the rubbers are two each then a doubles tie break shoot out is played so an exciting format. The no ad scoring is used – i.e. when the score reaches deuce then the game is decided on the next point!
First up on Saturday for the boys was the county of Norfolk. All three boys played at the same time. The team were without their top player Felix Dean who pulled out at the last minute due to injury so Charlie Adams had to step up and play at number one and Ted Hope kindly came in at number three. Charlie got the team off to a flying start beating Gabriel Overton 4-0, 4-2. Number two Dougie McKee then had a really tough battle with Ethan Terry 4-1, 4-5 and then came out storming to clinch the match toe break 10-2. Ted Hope played well to beat Theo Cooper 4-2, 5-4. In the doubles Charlie and Dougie beat Georgie Cavanagh-Jillings and Theo Cooper 4-2, 4-0.
In the second match Cambridgeshire played Suffolk and this was a very tense affair. Again Charlie Adams using his extra pace and athletic ability beat Joshua Munford 4-0, 1-4 and then 10-7 in the tie break. Dougie McKee had a great first set against Seth Newman narrowly losing this 4-5 but then Seth ran away with the second set 4-0. With the match tied at 1 rubber each Ted Hope had a great battle with Seth Midwood winning the first set 4-2 but then dropping the second 2-4. Ted then played a good tie break and won this 10-3.
In the doubles Charlie and Ted played against Josh Munford and Seth Newman and despite a good first set which they lost 3-5 they were well beaten in the second 4-0.
This meant the match was tied at two rubbers each and a doubles tie break shoot out ensued! Charlie and Dougie played this against Josh Munford and Seth Newman and they played a blinder and won this 10-2 to give Cambridgeshire overall victory.
On the Sunday the weather was pretty awful but the boys played in the rain and all the matches were eventually completed.
Cambridgeshire played Bedfordshire first and won the first two matches convincingly. Charlie beat Jeevan Dalvi 4-0, 4-0 and was too powerful and too consistent. Dougie McKee then beat Nedeem Dalvi 4-0, 4-0.
In the number three match Ted Hope dropped the first set 2-4 to Luc Ferretti but then came back strongly to win 4-0 and then take the tie break 10-2. In the doubles Ted and Dougie beat Luca Ferretti and Jeevan Samra 4-1, 4-0 to give Cambridgeshire a 4-0 win.
The deciding match was then against Hertfordshire to see who went through to the finals.
Charlie Adams played a great match against the promising Fabio Nestola who trains at Hills Road but plays for Hertfordshire and won 4-1, 4-2. The match was very tense throughout but Charlie kept his control and played very well. Next up was Dougie against Sean Neveling. The first set was very competitive but once Sean won this 5-3 Dougie slightly lost heart and Sean easily won the second 4-0. Ted Hope lost his first set against Matthew Sands 2-4 but then played a good second set to level at 4-1 meaning this went into the match toe break again. Ted played well and went to 8-6 up but then his opponent raised his game and won 10-8.
At two matches to one down Cambridgeshire needed to win the doubles. Charlie and Dougie played this against Sean Nevling and Ivan Raath. Cambridgeshire were soon 0-3 down and looking dead and buried but the boys came back strongly and took the set 5-3. They lost the second 1-4 and again we were into a match tie break. This was really exciting with some good doubles from the boys but they eventually lost this 12-10 to give Herts victory.
Hertfordshire then lost to Norfolk on a doubles tie break shoot out to give both Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire three wins each but Hertfordshire went through to the finals in Bolton having 2 more rubbers than Cambridgeshire – so near – a couple of points in the match tie breaks and they would have been through.
Coach Sue Rich was very pleased with the team who stepped up to the mark without a key player and performed above themselves – well done team.