Essex Boys Under 14 County Cup Team have been promoted back into Division 1 after a nail biting last day finish at the National Tennis Centre Roehampton.
The team made up of Oliver Bickley, Ryan Murphy, Ryan Peniston, Sam Roy-Chowdhury, Thomas Styles and Lewis Thompson began their campaign against Kent. The day was marred by an unfortunate injury to Sam Roy-Chowdhury who badly sprained his ankle at the back of the court and was unable to continue or take any further part in the competition. Although the boys worked hard to tie the match at 3-3 on rubbers, Essex were eventually defeated 8-7 on sets.
Day two saw us matched against a buoyant South Wales team who had defeated Dorset on day one and whose team included the British Number 1 Evan Hoyt. I can only say that the boys responded superbly to the challenge and Thomas Styles and Oliver Bickley quickly put us 2-0 up with convincing singles wins. South Wales levelled the match by winning the 1 and 2 singles despite hard fighting efforts from Lewis Thompson and Ryan Peniston who pushed Hoyt into a tie break in the second set.
Everything now depended on the doubles with our top pairing of Peniston and Styles facing Hoyt and Pritchard. Styles dominated the first set and was simply outstanding at the net as Essex raced to a 6-0 lead. The Welsh boys dug in hard to win the second set 7-5 and take the rubber to a deciding championship tie break which Essex won 10-7 helped by some shrewd shot selection from Peniston. Ryan Murphy and Lewis Thompson wrapped up the win with a convincing straight sets victory in the second string doubles to leave us with everything to play for on day three.
The final day saw us playing Dorset. Bickley and Styles once again put us into an early lead with comfortable singles wins. Ryan Peniston and Lewis Thompson were both defeated despite their hard fighting efforts. By this time it was apparent that the whole competition was on a knife edge with South Wales leading 3-1 against Kent everything was going to depend on the doubles. We fielded the same pairings as on day two and the boys responded superbly under considerable pressure. Murphy and Thompson dominated to win 6-0, 6-1, and Essex were soon 6-1 up in the first string doubles. A very hard fought and vitally important second set followed and Peniston and Styles are to be applauded for keeping their nerve to run out 7-5 winners. Final result Essex 4 Dorset 2.
Confusion now followed as three teams (Essex, Kent, and South Wales) were all tied on 2 wins, and Essex and South Wales were tied on 11 rubbers each. Under the rules the final order was decided on the best percentage of sets won to sets played and Essex emerged as winners by the narrow margin of being 1.5% better then South Wales.
I would like to thank all of the boys, on behalf of the County for what was a quite superb team effort by everyone with 100% being given in both victory and defeat. The only black spot was the injury to Sam and we wish him a speedy recovery and return to the courts. Many thanks to my assistant, Luke Spooner, for his help leading up to and during the competition.
Will Calvert
Team Manager