The National Inter-County Championships is a divisional competition which starts in April and culminates with the winners of the top 2 divisions contesting the finals in November. The Cheshire men’s team of Bob Martin (Capt), John Hilton, Rod Boswell and Peter Clover had qualified for the National Finals by virtue of winning Division 1B. Their opponents were Surrey the winners of Division 1A. Both teams had deservedly reached the finals by going throughout the season unbeaten in all 5 of their matches. Cheshire had some outstanding wins especially against strong teams from Essex, Middlesex, Dorset and Nottinghamshire.
Surrey started as firm favourites with two of their players being GB internationals. The format involved 2 singles and 3 doubles matches.
John Hilton and Rod Boswell played the singles matches with John defeating the Surrey No. 1 convincingly 6 – 1, 6 – 2. Rod played very well against a tough opponent and lost a very close first set 6 – 4, and then the second set 6 – 2. With the match score poised at 1 rubber each, the doubles pair of Bob Martin & Peter Clover unfortunately lost the first set 6 – 4 in this vital match, but they then bounced back to win the second set 6 - 3, and went onto play an outstanding tie break winning it convincingly 10 – 5. So Cheshire where 2 – 1 up with two further doubles matches to play.
The singles players paired up to take on each teams doubles specialists, and Cheshire men rose to the challenge in both rubbers. Bob Martin & Peter Clover started really well against the two experienced GB players, winning the first set 6 – 3. They then suffered a setback losing the 2nd set 6 – 1. The tie break could not have been any closer, and despite being behind for most of it, Bob & Peter played some great points and held their nerve to take the closest of tie breaks by 10 – 8 in a memorable win. Meanwhile, John Hilton and Rod Boswell were also involved in another hard fought doubles match in which they managed to win the key points in many very close games. The final score of 6 – 2, 6 – 2 did not reflect just how close the match had been, however, it was without doubt another well deserved win for Cheshire.
The final score was Cheshire 4 Surrey 1. Overall this was a great performance from all four Cheshire players who played really well throughout the day, especially when put under pressure by a very strong Surrey team.
Many congratulations to the team on becoming National Champions.