The County 14 and under boys team of Harry Wendelken, Yujiro Onuma, Ethan Lee, James Murphy, Zach Cox and Darius Fatemi-Ghomi had a tough baptism at the Aegon County Cup Finals when they were drawn in a group with Lancashire, Oxfordshire and Kent. The event played in Nottingham brought together the eight Counties who had qualified from their respective groups over the bank holiday weekend.
On the first day Cambridgeshire were without their star player Harry Wendelken who was at a training camp in La Manga and had to play Lancashire. This meant Yujiro Onuma (12 and under) had to play at number one and although he fought really hard against the more experienced Peter Alam he lost 2/6, 1/6. Ethan Lee at number two had a very good match against Ben Davis narrowly losing 6/3, 3/6, 0/6. This meant the numbers three and four had to win to keep the match alive. James Murphy played very well and beat Josh Banks 6/4, 6/1 and then Zach Cox at number four beat Robert Cowley 6/3, 7/5. Conditions were extremely windy and Zach in particular used the wind exceptionally well. With the match tied at 2 all it was all down to the doubles.
Ethan Lee and Zach Cox lsot to Ben Davis and Robert Cowley 3/6, 3/6 but Yujiro Onuma and James Murphy played extremely well to beat Peter Alam and Alex Moore 6/4, 0/6, 12-10.
With the match ties at 3 all it then went into a doubles tiebreak shoot out. Ethan and Yujiro played Peter Alam and Ben Davis but were unable to re produce some of their earlier form and lost 3-10 to give Lancashire the overall win.
Next up was Kent singles – we were still without Harry who joined the team on Saturday. Yujiro at number one had a tough match against Oliver Richards and lost 0/6, 4/6. Ethan Lee at number two played a terrific match which he won 7/5, 4/6, 6/4 against Oscar Brown.
In the third singles James lost to Alex Sultande Sousa 5/7, 4/6 in a very close match but Zach lost easily to Keeane De Villers 1/6, 0/6. This meant when Harry arrived on the Saturday morning and the doubles were played then the team had to win both doubles. Harry teamed up with Yujiro and they beat Brown and Sultande Sousa 6/4, 6/3 but Zach and Ethan lost 4/6, 2/6 to De Villiers and Brown. The overall result was a 4-2 win to Kent.
In the final match in the group against Oxfordshire Harry showed his class and got the team off to a good start with a 6/2, 6/1 win over Connor Ferguson. Yujiro lost a marathon match against George Slater 6/3, 2/6, 2/6. Ethan Lee continued his fine form and beat Gabriel Curreli 6/4, 6/2. Zach then lost a great match against Oliver Broadhurst 3/6, 6/4, 1/6. The match was poised at 2 matches each.
The doubles did not quite go the way of Cambridgeshire Ethan and Yujiro lost 7/6, 2/6 6-10 to Ferguson and Curreli and then Harry and Darius lost 6/4, 4/6, 8-10 to Slater and Broadhurst to give Oxfordshire a 4-2 win. This match could easily have gone either way.
In the final match of the tournament Cambridgeshire played Hampshire and Isle of Wight – again it was a very close match. Harry played superbly to beat Ryan Goldsworthy 6-0, 6-0. Yujiro had a terrific match with Henry Bowden just losing 6/3, 6/7, 7-10. Ethan was exhausted and lost easily to Cameron Clarke 1/6, 2/6 but Zach had a good win over Alex Ellison 6/4, 6/2.
Again the match was down to the doubles Harry and Ethan lost a tight match to Bowden and Goldsworthy 6/4, 3/6, 8-10 and Zach and Yujiro lost to Clarke and Ellison 2/6, 4/6.
Although the team came 8th it was a terrific experience and every match was very close and had we had a full team each day l am sure Cambridgeshire would have been in with a shout for a medal. Great effort and superb team atmosphere – well done boys.
Written by Sue Rich (Team Captain)