The boys U12 Dorset county team travelled to Bisham Abbey on Friday 25th June to compete in the U12’s county cup. The team was as follows; Ben Patten, Mark Laishley, Shuei Belcher and Ben Battey.
After an early night the Team were on the practice court at 8.15am preparing for our days opponents Surrey and Hampshire.
Our first opponents were a very strong Surrey Team. We played some great tennis with Mark standing out showing a great attitude and losing one of the best matches of the weekend 4-2, 4-2. We were unable to win any rubbers in this match but showed some real quality.
Next up was Hampshire, we kept the team the same as the one that faced Surrey and once again showed great character with Shuei losing 10-7 in a third set tie break. With nothing to lose the two Ben’s took to the court to play the doubles and played Hampshire off the court winning the match 4-2, 4-2. Although we lost the match 3-1 it was a good way to finish a tough day off!
We left on the first day happy with our team performance and arrived on the Sunday to play Berkshire feeling positive. We started the day well with Shuei now playing at number 2 winning 4-1, 4-1 giving the team a real lift! Mark once again showing real character and giving a great performance unfortunately losing at number 1. Ben Battey stepped up to play our last singles rubber winning the first set 4-2, but after the longest match of the weekend losing 10 -5 in the third set tie break. This left the two Ben’s to finish the day off with the doubles. We lost a close first set after another tie break to a strong Berkshire pair who then took the second set with some great doubles play.
It was a fantastic weekend and the boy’s did Dorset proud. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the players and their parents for their efforts over the weekend, it was a pleasure being their captain.
Ben Lewis