Ladies 35s Inter County Championships

In an incredibly tight group, The ladies team of Jackie Nesbitt (captain), Jo Louis, Pippa Britton, Sue Wiltshire and Debbie Lou Carey were unable to retain their place in Division 1 in the 35s Inter County Championships.

The ladies got off to a great start by beating Sussex 4-1 on the opening day but then lost by the same score to Middlesex on day two. At the start of the last day Leicestershire were on 2 wins, Devon and Middlessex on 1 win each. Middlessex beat Sussex so it all came down to the last match of the weekend between Devon and reigning champions Leicestershire.  Leicestershire needed to win to retain the title, a loss would mean relegation and Devon needed the win to be runners-up and a loss would mean relegation.   

The match started well, Pippa beat the Leicestershire number two.  Jo Louis, up against the Leicestershire number 1, Anne Meredith, nearly managed a great upset but eventually was defeated in a match of the highest quality. Sue and Jackie then beat their doubles pair 18-16 in the 3rd set tie-break to put Devon at 2-1. The ladies nearly beat Leicestershire’s two singles players in the 4th rubber, but lost it narrowly in a 3rd set tie-break.  Finally, in what both teams assumed was a foregone conclusion (in Devon’s favour!), Jo & Pippa came up against a pair who clearly assumed they had nothing to lose so hit with ridiculous free abandon and held the Devon ladies off in yet another 3rd set tie-break, finally taking the game and the Championship 10-8.

Captain Jackie Nesbitt said, “ It’s pretty disappointing to lose our position in the top division, but it's the only group where two out of four teams go down and I am confident we will bounce back next year