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Derbyshire played some great tennis to come so close to promotion during County week.
On Day 1 Derbyshire came up against a very strong Kent side who had actually won group 1 two years ago. After losing 3 x 3 setters in the 1st round the team eventually went down 8 – 1.
On Tuesday the rain didn't relent until mid afternoon which resulted in Derbyshire only being able to play one round against Cheshire on synthetic grass that day. The team finished the day 2-1 down with Tom Rushby and Simon Thornewill winning the only rubber. That meant that on Wednesday Derbyshire had to finish this match and then also play the match originally scheduled for the day against East of Scotland.
Wednesday turned out to be a great day for the team as they came from behind to beat Cheshire 5-4 and then went on to beat East of Scotland 6-3. For this match they welcomed back Ben Newcombe who has not been available for 8 years as he has been living in the USA. Ben went on to win 1 rubber with Dan Cottier. Dennis Archer , Derbyshire’s team captain , made special mention of Chris Archer and James Rushby who won all 5 rubbers on the day ....a great effort!
On day 4 Derbyshire beat Hampshire comfortably by 7 rubbers to 2 , which meant that on the final day even if they lost 4-5 to Surrey they would still be promoted to Group 1. However Surrey then brought Chris Eaton in to their side. Chris won a round at Wimbledon last year and his inclusion in the team proved decisive. After the 1st round Derbyshire trailed 0-3, all 3 matches going to 3 sets. The crucial match came in the 2nd round when Tom Rushby and Simon Thornewill had 3 match points against Chris Eaton and partner before losing 7-6,5-7,6-7. Derbyshire then went on to lose the tie 3-6 overall which meant that they missed out on promotion by 1 rubber.
Despite the disappointment Dennis Archer commented “I cannot praise the teams effort and level of skill highly enough. This team are a credit to the county."
Derbyshire Squad: Chris Archer, Dan Cottier, Julian Harrison, Ben Newcombe, James Rushby, Tom Rushby, Dave Horton, Simon Thornewill