The first ever 9 & Under County Cup was held on the 18th and 19th July. It involved nine counties from the South West. Competing for the title were Avon, Channel Island, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, South Wales and Wiltshire. Two boys and two girls represented each county; representing Dorset was Harry Butler, Ben Samuel, Natalie Carter and Mirsha Hobbs. The team was captained by Roger Dibblin from The West Hants Club.
Each tie consisted of four singles matches and two doubles matches. The event trialled a slightly different format called timed tennis. Each match was fifteen minutes long and every point won by a player went toward the overall teams’ score at the end of the day. After the completion of all the matches, the team with the most points would go through to the top group on day two to battle for first, second or third place.
On day one, each of the counties was placed in boxes of three to compete against the other two counties. Dorset was drawn with Avon and Devon. Harry Butler kicked things off along side team mate Natalie Carter. When the fifteen minutes were up, Harry and Natalie got off to a winning start, both winning by a three point margin. It was then the turn of Mirsha Hobbs and Ben Samuel. Ben picked up a convincing win against Devon’s Bradley Philips, 22-7 and Mirsha completed the unbeaten start winning against Chanelle Green, 17-11. Onto the doubles and Dorset already had a convincing lead of sixty points to forty. Natalie and Mirsha teamed up to win 20-8 but the boys doubles wasn’t quite so straight forward. As the fifteen minute whistle signalled the end of the match, the boys were tied at 17 points each. A final point had to be played and Dorset maintained their unbeaten record, clinching a nail biting final point. The tie ended up with Dorset beating Devon, 105 points to 65.
Avon also beat Devon by scoring 101 points, which meant that when Dorset took on Avon, Dorset only had a slim lead of four points. Once again the boys got off to a great start, Harry and Ben beating tough competition from Avon, 24-10 and 16-10 respectvely. The girls weren’t quite so fortunate coming up against potentially two of the strongest U9 girls in the country. Natalie Carter lost 18-8 to Claudia Hallsworth and Mirsha Hobbs fought hard, but Maria Budin just started to pull away as the final minutes drew closer, eventually winning 14-10. The same story remained for the doubles, the boys ending up on top and the girls struggling to find a way to break down the Avon pair. So as the tie came to an end, at three matches all, the players and parents waited nervously for the final standings. Dorset clinched first spot by beating Avon 87-82. The final points standing were:
1st place – Dorset with 192 points.
2nd place – Avon with 183 points.
3rd place – Devon with 161 points.
On the final day Dorset would meet the other day one winners, Hampshire and South Wales. The Dorset team continued their fine form from the day before when they took on South Wales, all four players coming out victorious in their singles. Harry Butler winning 20-17, Ben Samuel 15-8, Natalie Carter edging the final point to win 10-9 and Mirsha Hobbs reaching top form winning 26-2. They continued their winning way into the doubles, the boys clinching the final point against the tough welsh team, 16-15 and girls with a more comfortable victory 15-9. Both Dorset and Hampshire beat the South Wales team which meant South Wales finished in 3rd place and it was left to Dorset and Hampshire to battle if out for the top spot.
Harry was the only player to win their singles match, winning 18-15 against Wilson Neaves of Southampton David Lloyd. Ben Samuel narrowly lost to Ryan Hutchinson, again of Southampton David Lloyd by a two point margin. The girl’s matches were a little more convincing, Natalie losing by a margin of eleven points and Mirsha by five points. In the doubles the girls made up for their singles event loses, getting their own back winning 16-11. The boys weren’t so fortunate, and in a fantastic final match of the event, eventually went down 18-7. Hampshire ended up narrowly clinching top spot winning 90 points to 69.
Well done to the Dorset team for earning a well deserved second place.