In 2015 the rain intervened on the final day to prevent Cheshire ladies having the opportunity to win promotion to Group 1 again. This year the team travelled to Havant to compete in Group 2 with what included a much stronger line-up of counties on paper. Staying in the group is always the first priority.
The squad comprised Pippa Carr, Hannah McColgan, Eden Richardson, Kim Schmider, Katie Sidell, Lisa Sutton, Bethan Taylor, Katie Taylor(Thornewill), Hanna Wilson and Kate Dewsnip as reserve who joined us on Wednesday.
Our first opponents were Yorkshire and Cheshire got off to a flying start going 3-0 up and 5-1 after two rounds. Unfortunately Lisa pulled a muscle and we had to use the substitution rule so Hanna played with Beth and they won their last match to give us a final result of 7-2 which was a great start to the week and very uplifting.
Lisa was rested and unfortunately Hannah McColgan had to leave part way through Tuesday to catch a flight from Heathrow but we managed to enable her to play 2 rounds with Eden, beating a strong 1st pair before she left! Pippa came in to partner Beth and they beat the 3rd pair with Hanna and Kim picking up two rubbers and Eden winning three, two with Hannah and one with Katie S. The final result was 6-3 against Berkshire.
By now it had become apparent that Yorkshire, Berkshire and East of Scotland were slightly weaker than Cheshire, Herts and Middlesex. On Tuesday evening Katie Taylor (Thornewill) arrived and replaced Hannah to partner Eden on Wednesday when our opponents were East of Scotland who did have a strong first pair. However, two of our pairs were successful in beating this pair and the final tally was 8-1, despite some very close 3 setters and tie breaks. Kim played with Katie S for two rounds and then Pippa, while Hanna partnered Beth. The team showed great determination and the third win meant that we were safe in Group 2 for another year.
Thursday and Friday were both opportunities to win promotion as we were top of the table, with more rubbers than both Herts and Middlesex, but we had lost Eden and Hannah at this point, who were two of our strongest players. Both Herts and Middlesex had superb first pairs who finished the week with 15 and 14 wins respectively, so our target was to try to get five from the other two pairs.
Against Herts we were 2-1 up after the first round, with the “Katies” winning a very tight third set tiebreak after losing the first set 1-6. It was a great come back! We were 3-3 after two rounds, so needing two rubbers from the last round. The “Katies” again turned up trumps by saving three match points in the second set at 4-5 down to win that set 7-5 and the final set 7-5. They showed tremendous focus and worked extremely well as a team. Although Pippa and Kim fought valiantly, sadly they lost 6-4 in the third. So near and yet so far!
The story of day 5 was similar but this time with Lisa back with Beth for one round and then Hanna, Kim with Pippa and keeping the “Katies” together. Lisa and Beth won their first match in three long sets with two tiebreaks, including in the final set. Katie and Katie won in two close sets including another tiebreak and went on to win their second round match too. Although Kim and Pippa were winning their final match Middlesex secured the 5th rubber so the match was finished.
The team spirit was fantastic and they played magnificently, enduring temperatures around 30 degC all week and winning many three set matches and tiebreaks, but unfortunately we were not quite strong enough at the end of the week. To maintain their position in group 2 is very creditable and there is still hope for next year!
The two youngest players won all their matches, Hannah (16) won all five and Eden (17) won all nine which is amazing. Also remarkable is that the oldest player, Katie S won 8 out of 12 matches played. Let’s hope we have them all for the whole week next year.
Thanks to CCLTA for all their financial support and to Esme Laing for her help and advice.
Liz Sweeting