Between the 16th-18th April, Dorset U14 Boys County Cup team took part in the event which was introducing it’s new format of having 6 counties at one venue instead of 4.
At the end of the tournament Dorset came 4th. On Saturday they came up against the hardest opposition of the tournament in the form of eventual champions, Hampshire, home to some of the best national players in this age. Without Ben Patten available due to just having flown back from holiday Mitchell Bentley was the 4th member of the team who joined Piers Farhang, Otto Gray and Elliott Dawson. After putting up a brave fight, especially in the doubles (number 1 pair losing 7-6 6-7 9-11), Hampshire were too strong and came out 6-0 winners. They only dropped one match the whole weekend in the final v Devon.
On Sunday, the Dorset team of Piers Farhang, Otto Gray, Ben Patten, Elliott Dawson, performed just as well and were victorious against Cornwall 5-1 to achieve 2nd place in their box of 3.
This meant they faced Hereford & Worcestershire on the last day to decide 3rd/4th place. After a tough round of singles, Dorset found themselves 3-1 down (Piers Farhang losing 7-5 in the 3rd set of the number 1 tie) and needing to win both doubles to force the match to a set count. Piers Farhang and Elliott Dawson who performed exceptionally together all weekend and will be a strong pair to look out for in later years convincingly beat the number 1 pair of H&W, but unfortunately the number 2 pairing of Ben Patten and Mitchell Bentley lost a well contested match having had 4 set points in the first set 6-7 3-6 to lose the tie overall 4-2.