Team
Chris Wood Cpt
Tess Moore
Tracey Burrus
Jo Marshall
DAY 1
The team faced old foes North Wales on the first day. Chris Wood had a slight injury niggle so the decision was taken to play Chris and Tracey in the doubles and Tess Moore and Jo Marshall in singles. In the opening match Jo Marshall played the second singles player, winning comfortably by playing with tremendous control and giving no unforced errors to win 6-1, 6-1. Tess Moore then faced Vicky Broadbent who is a quality player and took the first set with ease. In a much closer second set Tess found her range and played well but unfortunately losing 6-3. Chris and Tracey played the weaker doubles pair winning comfortably 6-2, 6-2 despite Chris injuring herself further in the third game of the match. Tracey ran all day as Chris hit one and moved in to the net; the Welsh pair seemingly unaware of Chris’s lack of mobility. It had not gone unnoticed by Vicky and Claire Bennett who exposed the weakness inflicting Chris and they took their first ever defeat 6-1 6-4.
The stage was set for the deciding doubles and things did not look good at 4-6, 5-4. But Jo and Tess dug deep and won the second set only to go 5-2 down in the CTB. So well did they play with Jo clawing everything back and Tess unleashing her natural power that victory seemed certain. Jo went up for a smash to take the score to 9-5 only for her to pull her calf muscle and emit a piercing scream, collapsing to the floor. After a few minutes delay the final point was played and Cumbria recorded the win. Cumbria 3, North Wales 2
DAY 2:
As is frequently the case with Group 6 there is an incomplete complement of teams and as 2 players were now injured Cumbria were glad of their rest day and pleased to have the opportunity to watch the East of Scotland v North Wales match. The East of Scotland winning 4-1 against the Welsh.
DAY 3
Having had two beautiful sunny days the weather chose to misbehave and with rain overnight and a sea mist sitting heavy above the courts play was not possible until 1:30pm. The referee made the decision to abandon the second round thus making the match 2 singles and 1 doubles. With Jo and Chris both dubious about their fitness to play, a decision to go for the two singles was taken. As the East of Scotland had flights to catch 2 courts were given to the group. Tess Moore played with tremendous control destroying the second singles player 6-3, 6-0 on the difficult practice court managing the windy conditions peerlessly. Meanwhile Tracey was struggling but she fought back from 4-1 down but eventually lost the first set 6-4. She did take the second set 6-2 only for the Scottish Captain to regain her composure and win the CTB 10-5. The stage was then set for a dramatic decider against former Scottish international and world number 400, Lyndsay Silverthorn, Davis Cup player Colin Fleming’s sister no less. The day off had clearly helped Chris, as the two injured players went on court as her movement was greatly improved but Jo seemed less confident in the early parts of the match. The Scottish pair raced to a 5-1 lead but Chris and Jo broke some of the momentum to win the next two games, losing the set 6-3. Jo and Chris built an early 3-1 lead only to go 4 -3 down. A long 8th game was the key as they drew level and Chris held her serve to go 5-4 up, and duly the set was won 6-4 and breaking Silverthorn’s serve to 30 to take the set. Poised at 5 all the CTB could have gone either way but with Chris slicing, Jo retrieving and also astute targeting of the weaker player at the net an 8-5 lead was built. In frustration Silverthorn drove a ball hard at a retreating Chris who blocked it back thinking it was going out. The wind changed and the ball dropped plumb on the baseline to give the team 4 match points. The match point saw an unforced error from the Scottish pair and victory and promotion secured. It was a tremendous team effort with all members doing their bit to secure both wins and Jo Marshall remained undefeated at her second ever weekend at Eastbourne.