Captain Jon Bradshaw reports on the successful 18U Boys County Cup team at Shrewsbury...
Team - David Hodgetts, Jack George-Burnell, Liam Hadfield, Jack White, Jamie Marks, Callum Reid, Adam Bowen, Harry Phipps, Ben Tolhurst.
On Friday 4th March we played Shropshire which turned out to be a tight and important match. In the singles we had good wins from Jamie Marks, Jack White and Jack George-Burnell. Callum Reid, Liam Hadfield and David Hodgetts all had close matches but just lost out. That sent us into the doubles at 3-3. Our third pair of Jamie Marks and Callum Reid had a gripping match just losing 10-8 in the match tie break before Jack White and Jack George-Burnell won their match in straight sets. It all came down to a tense deciding rubber which David Hodgetts and Liam Hadfield came through 11-9 in the match tie break to give us a 5-4 victory.
Saturday 5th March was not quite as close and exciting as the first day. Against a struggling North Wales team we won all the matches very comfortably, leaving us with a 9-0 win.
Sunday 6th March. Playing for promotion on the last day was something the U18 team hadn’t experienced in quite a few years. The whole team handled the situation really well. It began with Callum Reid having a tight and exciting match which went to a third set but his opponent just got the better of him. We then had wins for Jamie Marks, Adam Bowen, Jack White, Liam Hadfield and Jack George-Burnell leaving us with a 5-1 lead and promotion.
Thanks to the whole team for the effort they put in over the weekend. Also thanks to Tim Bradshaw who came along to assist the team during the event. His playing experience was a great help to the players.
Venue – Shrewsbury
Division - 6b