Boys Under 14 County Cup
Graves Tennis Centre Sheffield
Saturday 4th - 6th May
Derbyshire Team
1. Christian Mills
2. Zak Wright
3. George Finney
4. Reuben Shahadullah
5. Bradley Buckland
6. Harry Finney
Saturday 4th May- Day 1
We started our Under 14 County Cup weekend with a tough match against the pre-tournament favourites Yorkshire. In our box Derbyshire had Yorkshire and Cumbria.
First up on court was our number 3 and 4 players Bradley Buckland and Harry Finney. Both opponents they were up against were older and higher rated so a tough challenge for both.
Harry started really well and played some excellent and exciting tennis but his opponent matched him all the way and unfortunately stole the first set.
Meanwhile Bradley on the court next to Harry was fighting hard but again the experience of the older Yorkshire players just shone through and Bradley was edged out in his first set too. This trend continued in both the second sets and we found ourselves 0-2 after round one of the singles. A brave effort from both our lads and I couldn't of asked much more of them.
Zak Wright and George Finney were up next as our number 1 player Christian Mills had an elbow injury which unfortunately would rule him out for the majority of the weekend. This was a big blow to our chances. Yorkshire at numbers 1 and 2 were very strong and the ratings did not lie. They comfortably won both singles and therefore had a 0-4 lead going into the doubles. Doubles pairings were Harry Finney/Zak Wright and Reuben Shahadullah. We were much more competitive on the doubles court with the team showing some good skills around the net and excellent team spirit. However the Yorkshire team being simply bigger and stronger over powered us and we went down 0-6 on day one.
I felt the team worked very hard and I couldn't have asked much more of them. With 2 of our players being 2 years young and another 2 players being a year young it was a good experience for them to see the level.
Sunday 5th May – Day 2
Cumbria were the opponents on day 2 and the team felt they had a real chance to grab a win. First up was Harry Finney and Bradley Buckland and both set about their business, quickly getting into their strides. Bradley hitting some big inside out forehands to take the first set very comfortably and he continued to do the same in the second set dominating his opponent to run out easy winner. This put Derbyshire 1-0 up and Harry Finney soon made it 2-0 with a confident victory over a weaker player this time 6-0 6-0!
We made one change to the team as Reuben Shahadullah came in for Zak Wright.
Cumbria were very strong at number 1 and 2 position and it showed as a battling the second set but couldn’t quite manage it. Reuben struggled to come to terms with his opponents power and was beaten 6-2 6-2 which left the match poised at 2-2.
Doubles pairings were Harry Finney/Zak Wright and George Finney/Christian Mills, Harry and Zak stormed away to a very comfortable victory to give Derbyshire a 3-2 lead so it all came down to the final doubles. Up against Cumbria's 2 strongest players Christian and George made a great start and ran away with the first set 6-2 playing some quality stuff and really taking the game to their opponents. Unfortunately this was where it all went wrong, the boys went on to lose the next set and also the match tie break which followed 10-7. With the match being all square at 3-3 I had to choose my 2 strongest players to play a match tie break to decide the match. Up stepped Christian Mills and Harry Finney. The boys tried very hard but from 6-5 up went down 10-6 so Cumbria somehow came out on top 4-3.
Again I felt the team had worked very hard and were incredibly unlucky to lose.
Monday 6th May- Day 3
On day 3 we were playing for 5th or 6th place. The team was determined to get a win on the board having felt hard done to the previous day. We came up against North Wales who like us had lost their previous 2 matches. Once again Harry Finney and Bradley Buckland got Derbyshire off to a flyer Harry again winning 6-0 6-0 and Bradley 6-1 6-2. Just the start I asked of both of them and they delivered. Zak Wright came back into the team instead of Reuben but came up against probably the strongest player out of the counties and went down in 2 comfortable sets.
George Finney was our number 2 player and played a fantastic match! Up against a very competitive player he battled and worked to come out with a tidy victory which left Derbyshire 3-1up in the tie.
Down to the doubles again and this time Derbyshire finished their opponents off. Losing the first doubles 6-4 6-3 it came down to George Finney and Reuben Shahadullah. The pair went a set down but came firing back and took the second set 6-2 so once again it came down to a match tie break. This time the pair made no mistakes and won it 10-8 to give Derbyshire a well-deserved win 4-2.
Overall a very positive weekend for our young team and if this same team can play next year I think they have a good chance of doing really well.
Team Captain Tom Rushby