Sam Ferguson, Bradley Raglan, Harry Simpson, and Roddy Freeman formed the Derbyshire 12&U squad playing in group 8 at South Ribble, Lancashire on the 28th and 29th June in the Area 8 group against some tough opposition from Cheshire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, and Isle Of Man.
The team faced Cheshire on Day 1 and got off to a fantastic start with Sam, Bradley and Harry all winning their singles matches.The doubles pair then completed the set to post a 4-0 victory. A comfortable win against Isle of Man secured Derbyshire a semi final place against home favourites Lancashire on Sunday.
Against Lancashire,Sam and Brad put up brave fights in the singles against very strong opposition but eventually lost, and Harry gave his all against the Lancs number 3 but just came up short after a highly competitive second set. A lost doubles rubber took the match score to 0-4 with Lancashire proving to be too strong.
This put the team through to a 3/4th place play off against Cheshire. Brad won through his singles in a nail biting champions tie-break and Sam responded with a good win to take a 2-0 lead. Roddy lost the 3rd singles, then the doubles became a live rubber for the 1st time over the weekend. Harry and Sam worked hard for the win to secure Derbyshire 3rd position within the group.
Team captain, Mat Lowe, commented "It was a good weekend with some fantastic tennis, all the players were a credit to Derbyshire, and next year we will aim to go 2 better!"