Durham and Cleveland ladies team play great tennis to earn promotion.
3 victories in 3 days, saw the ladies team win in Bowdon, Cheshire and earn a place in Division 5 next year. This followed a heart breaking relegation last year but true determination to go straight back up shone through and the team emphatically won 23 out of 24 rubbers! The travelling team consisted of Libby Fletcher (Captain), Lydia Perkins (Vice Captain), Jo Cunliffe (Vice Captain), Heather Robinson, Charlotte Derbyshire, Yasmin Tanfield and Caitlin Hindmarsh.
The success followed great preparation throughout the winter months, which saw regular practices set up to help build team spirit and enable an opportunity for the 'golden oldies' to dust down those rackets and get training, as well as for the younger players to show us how it’s done! The team even stepped it up a gear and booked 2 training sessions on the grass at Durham Archery this year to fully prepare for the annual Aegon County Cup competition. This allowed Jo particularly to get used to the diving and sliding, along with the big servers to blast their aces down!
The team travelled down on the Saturday evening; following a pit stop and incorrect postcode, which took the team to the local bowls club, they found the hotel and enjoyed a pre event meal. Jetsetter Lydia had flown in from Italy the same day and after a long haul drive up to Cheshire from the Big City she arrived just in time for the banter and food!
Day 1 - Sunday 21st July saw the team arrive at 9.30am ready for Captains meeting and warm up on the grass prior to the matches commencing. All the teams said how good the courts were, which put everyone in a positive mood and was a real testament to the hard work of the Bowdon Club and their grounds man. This mood continued throughout the day because D&C took all 9 rubbers against Cumbria, which saw them win 18 out of the 20 sets that were played. Charlotte Derbyshire and Yasmin Tanfield finished off the day with a great comeback after losing the first set against Cumbria’s number 1 pair! Of course a day at County wouldn’t be complete without Vice Captain Jo taking a tumble and this was no exception – day 1, fall 1, grazed knee 1! We were also very appreciative of a number of home supporters who came to cheer us on throughout the day (thank you girls!). It was particularly nice to see the fantastic D&C team spirit continuing with Farah Abdel-Aziz coming to support on the first day, having finished at a tournament, even though she was unable to play. Following the matches all of the teams were invited to a reception at the Club, where the Committee members welcomed everyone, offered food and drinks and gave an interesting history about the Club. They also showed us a trophy that was over 100 years old! This also enabled all the teams to socialise together for a while which everyone enjoyed.
Day 2 - Monday 22nd. Following on from the day before it was as though the momentum was very much with D&C ladies. Playing Isle of Man the team were simply too strong and they took all rubbers with 18 out of 18 sets played. Yet again Vice Captain Jo couldn’t help herself with her dedication and not once, but twice fell ending up face down on the grass – day 2, falls 2 and a second grazed knee!! What was particularly great was the way Yasmin Tanfield came on for the final round of matches taking Libby's place - with clear focus and true 'Yasmanianess' her and Caitlin won in about 40 mins and only dropped 1 game. Following the win Team D&C watched their final day opponents Hereford & Worcester. It was a great battle between themselves and Cumbria, with matches swaying from set to set. It was nerve racking tennis and could have gone either way, but after hours of end to end hitting it was Hereford & Worcester who took the tie 5-4!
Day 3 - Tuesday 23rd. With the team taking all positives from days 1 and 2 the feeling was good in the camp! However there was going to be a change of surface as the heavens opened through the night accompanied by thunder and lightening! Andy Berne, the referee must have been having a mild panic because the only option was outdoors or indoor table tennis! Luckily the Club had 5 artificial grass courts, which dried up after a short delay to the start and play commenced. Lydia and Jo stormed through their first match and left the courts to support Libby & Caitlin and Charlotte & Heather. It wasn't looking too good at one point as Charl and Heather lost their first set and then Libby and Caitlin were going ball to ball in the second. Libby and Caitlin's 2nd set went to a tiebreak and after being 5-1 up their opponents found a way to creep back to 6-4. But with absolutely conviction they took the final point, which took the team to 2-0. Heather and Charlotte started to play a lot more positively in the 2nd set, with volley interceptions, big serves and composed back court play. They took the 2nd set 6-1 and then battled it out in the 3rd and final set, which they claimed 6-2. With a 3-0 lead Team D&C needed just 2 more wins to gain promotion. Once again Lydia and Jo raced through their match with consistency, power and enjoyment - believe it or not on the final day there were no falls from Vice Captain Jo (a little disappointing) but over the weekend it was still 3 days, 3 falls, 2 very grazed, cut and bruised legs!! So it was up to the other 2 pairs to see who would win the decisive rubber! Within the next 20mins it was the teams number 1's Libby and Caitlin who finally sealed D&C's promotion and a well deserved victory.
The results of the 3 days can be found at this link.
So, a fantastic 3 days, with a really terrific team spirit that we hope will continue and build over the coming years. Thank you for all the support we had, not just from those who were able to come and watch, but from all those who also send us messages by text or through our Facebook page over the course of the event. Next stop Winter County Cup, where the ladies are on home turf at Sunderland Tennis Centre from November 22-24th 2013. We would welcome everyone to come and support us!