The Cornwall Men’s team travelled to Taunton to compete in group 5b against Somerset, Devon and Northamptonshire.
The travelling team consisted of John Richards, Tim Webster, Adrian Williams, Ryan Fern, James Preston, Ben Ward, Alastair Tiddy and Conor Polyblank.
On Day 1, Cornwall played Somerset. Adrian Williams got Cornwall off to a good start with a convincing win at number 6. Debutant Conor Polyblank found things a little harder in his first match for the senior side and was unable to turn around an understandably nervous start to lose out to his opponent. Ben Ward at number 4 seemed to be carrying on his good form from the previous year, pushing his more experienced opponent all the way. After serving for the match in the second set, he finally lost out in a tough third set. At number 3, James Preston made his return to the side after a few years absence due to living in America. He had to play a very competitive opponent and after being behind for the majority of the match he showed a real fight and determination to win the third set tiebreak that at one point he was 1 - 5 down in. Tim Webster played at number 2 and won the match in two straight sets. John Richards was leading the way at number 1 and although carrying a shoulder injury that prevented him from using his usual power to serve, managed to put up a strong performance but was unable to overcome his opponent. This left the tie at 3 – 3 after the singles. The doubles saw Ryan Fern come back into the side for the first time in some years and team up with Ben Ward. Unfortunately the blend of youth and experience was not enough to overcome their opponents. Adrian and James played at 2nd pair and won with an experienced performance. John and Tim went on knowing the score was now 4 – 4 and it was a simple case of the team that wins this match will win the tie. All four players were highly experienced County players and unfortunately for us the Somerset pair proved too strong on the day, which meant Cornwall lost 4 – 5.
Day 2 saw Cornwall play Northamptonshire, who had added two extra players from the day before. One of which was ranked in the region of 400 ITF and the other in the region of 350 ATP. Adrian started us off with a great win, which took the best part of three hours. Ben, feeling the effects of a tough match the day before struggled to reproduce the same form he showed and fell to his opponent in two sets. James Preston produced a fantastic show and comfortably beat his opponent in two straight sets. Ryan played the number 3 singles and gave a good performance but missed out to another strong player. Tim, playing one of their new players was able to use his experience to overcome his younger opponent and put Cornwall into a 3 – 2 lead. John had the toughest task of the weekend which was to play Alex Ward and its fair to say Alex showed his quality and quickly brought the score back to 3 – 3.
The doubles saw Ben and Ali team up at 3rd pair. This was always going to be a tough match for them and unfortunately proved to be the case. Tim and Ryan teamed up for the first time in many years and managed to roll the clock back to produce their winning ways from the past. This again meant that the last match of the day would decide which County would win that day. John and James paired up to take on the task of victory. Unfortunately Alex Ward showed that he is as able on the doubles court as he is on the singles and dominated the match. This meant that Cornwall suffered another 4 – 5 defeat.
Day 3 had Cornwall playing Devon with a simple situation of whichever team won would be safe and stay in group 5 and the other would be relegated. Cornwall didn’t get off to the best of starts, losing the first three matches of the day. Conor at 6, Ali at 5 and Ben at 4. It was looking like the nail was in the coffin when James, Tim and John were all also a set down in their singles matches. However all three players managed to secure vital three set wins to level the tie at 3 – 3.
The doubles saw Conor and Ben team up for the first time in Cornwall colours since the 18u’s, unfortunately they were unable to reproduce their winning ways from the past. Tim and Ali paired up and for the majority of the match were too strong for their opponents, however just when they though it was all wrapped up they soon found themselves in a third set tiebreak. They managed to turn around a losing situation to win this breaker and send the match to 4 – 4. John and James were again left with the responsibility of having the last match on court. Devon made an inspired substitution which seemed to make the difference with them coming through in front and Cornwall losing 4 – 5 for the third consecutive day and being relegated from what was possibly the most competitive group in the whole competition.