The champagne was popping last weekend after Derbyshire Mens Team clinched promotion to group one after a fantastic performance in county week at Cromer. Despite being hit by injuries the line up still included Chris Archer, James Rushby, Tom Rushby, Simon Thornewill, Chris Simpson, Dan Cottier and Ashley Broomhead, and at the start of the week hopes were high that the team would put up a good performance.
The team got off to a flying start on the opening day with a hard fought 6 - 3 victory against Dorset. Day two saw the team come up against favourites Yorkshire and despite a valiant performance Derbyshire slipped to a 6 - 3 defeat. Yorkshire went onto to win the group.
On day three the team bounced back strongly with a convincing 8 - 1 win over Sussex, and then followed it up with a convincing victory over Norfolk on day four by the same score line to secure promotion. After a long week the team were narrowly edged out 5 - 4 by the East of Scotland on the final day.
Team captain Dennis Archer paid tribute to his team and said the side's standard of play got "better and better" throughout County Week. Non-playing captain Archer said: "At the beginning of the week, when we were down to six players because of injury, I would have taken just staying in the division.
"But the lads kept ploughing on throughout the event and, despite thrashing around every day, pulled off a fantastic effort to get promoted. The team spirit was second to none and players are always there for each other, so I'm incredibly proud of them."
Partners Chris Archer and James Rushby won the most matches of any pair in the tournament, taking 13 of their 15 fixtures. Archer said: "They played very well and so did Tom Rushby and Simon Thornewill.
"But, if you're going to be promoted, you need your third pairing to win at least one match every day and that's exactly what Chris Simpson and Dan Cottier did. "They had a tough match on the third day against the Sussex number one pair but came through in three sets and that's when we believed we could get promoted."
Derbyshire and Division Two champions Yorkshire will both play top-flight matches at Eastbourne next year.
Meanwhile the ladies team suffered contrasting fortunes in group two at Ilkley. The team of playing captain Jenny Batty, Sarah Batty, Ena Ankutse, Roisin Mullins, Naomi Fellows, Gemma Praditngam, Kathryn Cook and Danielle Pym.
The team got off to an excellent start on the opening day with a 7 - 2 win over Devon but this was followed by a 6 - 3 loss to local rivals Leicestershire on day two. The third day saw another defeat 7 - 2 against Lancashire and the team then suffered a 9 - 0 drubbing on day four against a very strong Warwickshire side that went on to win the division. The final day saw a 6 - 3 defeat against Dorset.
Team captain Jenny Batty said her players' respect for their opponents may have contributed to her team being relegated at this year's County Week. At the start of the week, Batty said the priority would be to stay in the division but losses to Leicestershire, Lancashire, Warwickshire and Dorset saw them finish second from bottom of the group.
Batty said the turning point of the competition came on the second day. She said: "The other teams were actually very similar to us and, on another week, I think we could have beaten them.
"But when you think that some of them were in Division One the previous year, you think they are a lot better than you and have almost too much respect for them. We lost all the close matches and that seemed to make the difference. We had a great start against Devon on the first day but then missed an important opportunity to beat Leicestershire on the second day and that changed things.
"But we will aim to get back up next year and, if we can, we will know we can compete at this level. I don't think anyone played as well as we did last year but the girls had a great experience. We're all a little disappointed we didn't manage to stay up but we were glad we were promoted last year and that's what we have to think about."
Batty said rain also played a massive part on the team's performance at the tournament – with only three of their matches played on grass as scheduled. The remaining fixtures were played indoors on hard courts.
Batty said: "We don't play as well on hard courts and, in hindsight, knowing we were coming to Ilkley, where it rains a lot, we should have practiced more on hard courts. We like to get into the net and the feel of the grass but, on hard, the young girls tend to whack the ball from the back of the court and there is a lot more baseline play. Next year, we will get in a lot of practice and just hope we play more on grass."