The Hampshire & IOW Men were in Division 2 of the Aegon Summer County Cup held at Havant from 22nd - 26th July 2013.
Representing Hampshire were: Daniel Cochrane, Karim Aouichaoui, James Chaudry, Burnham Arlidge, Alex Gasson, Josh Goodall, Adam Drysdale, Rob Mitchell, Nick Sayer and Paul Scullard. Captain: Julian Godfrey
With Josh Goodall playing all week we had an opportunity to go up to Division 1.
Day 1 vs. Lancashire
The team was:
- Goodall and Gasson
- Cochrane and Sayer
- Chaudry and Mitchell
Lancs were one of the strongest teams so we needed to get off to a good start. We went 3-1 down and a set down in the other two matches and somehow we became a team of 3 doubles pairs and won not only those matches that we were down on to get back to 3-3, but won the whole match 5-4.
A very big win.
Day 2 vs. Leicestershire
The team was:
- Goodall and Gasson
- Cochrane and Sayer
- Chaudry and Mitchell
Leicestershire was one of the weaker teams and we won 7-2 fairly convincingly.
Day 3 vs. Derbyshire
The team was:
- Goodall and Gasson
- Cochrane and Sayer
- Chaudry and Arlidge
Derbyshire are a regular division 1 side, and we needed to win this match to have any hope of going up to Division 1. An excellent performance and the whole team grew up and won 7-2.
Day 4 vs. Cheshire
The team was:
- Goodall and Gasson
- Cochrane and Sayer
- Chaudry and Arlidge
We won 9-0, scarily good, ready for the last day match up against Suffolk; if we win we go up to Division 1.
Day 5 vs. Suffolk
The team was:
- Goodall and Gasson
- Cochrane and Sayer
- Chaudry and Arlidge
We won 6-0 after the second round and that was enough for us to be Champions and gain promotion to Division 1.
We did what we thought we would do if Josh were to play all week. But to win all 5 matches was a show of the quality of the team.
From last year this young team has grown up and been able to give a solid base for Josh to work from. Even the third pair was in double figures for rubbers.
Josh and Alex was a class pair, Dan and Nick followed last year’s sterling performance with another solid quality week. And James and Rob and then Burnham would have been a second or even first pair in other teams.
I did say last year this is the youngest team for many years; let’s hope that they can emulate the great Hampshire teams of the past.
Alex won 14 out of 15,
Josh won 12 out of 13
Dan and Nick won 13 out of 15
James won 10 out of 15
Rob won 4 out of 6
Burnham won 6 out of 7
And super sub Karim was the 100%er with 3 out of 3!
Report by: Julian Godfrey, Men’s Captain