This year the travelling team consisted of Jake Horton, Ben Ward, Tom Brady, James Wood, Jack Puckey, Conor Polyblank, Finn Leverton, Elliot Moses and Chris Peters. Kieron Butter had been selected to travel but had to pull out at the last minute with an injury. The travelling coaches were Tim Webster and Guy Leverton. The competition for the Cornwall side was held in Barnstaple. Tom Brady was the appointed captain for the weekend by the coaches
Day 1 Cornwall v Isle of Man
Because of bad weather the Channel Islands had been delayed which meant that they would not play on the 1st day and Cornwall would play their match against IOM with all six singles matches starting at the same time. Cornwall proved to be too strong at numbers 4 (James Wood), 5 (Jack Puckey) and 6 (Conor Polyblank) with all 3 players picking up convincing wins. Cornwall was then pegged back at numbers 3 (Tom Brady), 2 (Ben Ward) and 1 (Jake Horton). This made the match all square at 3-3 going into the doubles.
At 1st pair, Cornwall sent out Jake Horton and Jack Puckey to play against the IOM’s top pair and were unable to convert what was always going to be a really tough match to win. Ben Ward and Conor Polyblank stepped up to the plate and delivered a good win in the 2nd pair doubles to leave the match at 4-4 and down to the last doubles. This was the perfect setting for Cornwall to introduce their doubles specialist in Chris Peters to partner Tom Brady at 3rd pair. The boys didn’t disappoint and quickly dispatched of their opponents to give Cornwall a 5-4 win over the IOM.
Day 2 Cornwall v Channel Islands
Again because of the slightly revised format all six singles players took to the court at the same time again. There were convincing wins for Jake Horton (1), Ben Ward (2) and Jack Puckey (5) and good wins in tough 3 sets for James Wood (4) and Conor Polyblank (6). Tom Brady (3) just missed out in 3 sets to his opponent. This left Cornwall with an already match winning result of 5-1 up.
The doubles saw the same pairs as the previous day and again a good win for Ben Ward and Conor Polyblank and also for Jake Horton and Jack Puckey. Chris Peters and Tom Brady just missed out in what was a good standard match 10-7 in the third set match tie-break. Overall it was a great day with Cornwall winning the tie 7-2 and now knowing that a win on the last day would see the team gain promotion.
Day 3 Cornwall v Wiltshire
It’s always hard to leave players on the bench for the whole weekend but the decision was made to not change what had so far been a winning team. On paper all the singles matches were going to be very competitive and close. Cornwall suffered early set backs with Conor Polyblank (6) and Jack Puckey (5) both losing out in 3 sets. Jack’s match was over 3 hours long. James Wood (4) found his opponent too strong on the day, succumbing to a straight sets loss. Tom Brady (4) managed to start Cornwall on the road to recovery turning his match around from a set down to win in 3 sets. Ben Ward (2) and Jake Horton (1) completed the job with good performances and convincing wins. The tie was now at 3-3 with both teams fighting for promotion. The double once again saw Conor Polyblank and Ben Ward play at 2nd pair and quickly gain Cornwall’s 4th rubber of the day. Things were looking good on the next court as Tom Brady and Chris Peters had speed to an early advantage and won the 1st set. Their opponents however had other ideas and managed to turn the match around wining it on a match tie-break 10-5. This meant that now the number 1 doubles pairs for both counties knew that their match would decide who would get promotion. Jake Horton and Jack Puckey started off in great style and went a set up and 4-2 up in the 2nd set. Once again their opponents had other ideas and managed to regain the lead in the 2nd set to lead 6-3 in the tie-break. Saving 3 set points, the Cornwall 1st pair managed to then go on to win the tie-break 8-6 and with that the match, the tie (5-4) and promotion.
The whole weekend was a great success and a true team effort with all players contributing everyday.
This was the final time that Tom Brady, Jack Puckey and Chris Peters will be able to play for the Junior Cornwall teams as they will be to old for next years competition. We wish them luck for the future and thank them for all their hard work and contributions to Cornwall Junior Tennis over the past years.