Hertfordshire men and ladies went down to Eastbourne, Group 1 County Week, with trophies in mind. The ladies rallied around a new Captain for the week, Kate Elliott, whilst maintaining continual communication with Sarah Donovan who sadly had to stay in California. The news was good most of the week with 2 close wins against Warwickshire and Leicestershire and then 2 close losses against Essex and Bucks. Surrey, the winners, proved too much on the last day of the event, but Herts ladies were safe for another year in Group 1 at Eastbourne.
The men were another story. Hitting the national press on Thursday, the world number 3’s appearance singlehandedly helped the cause of County Week tennis. Herts men were the unofficial favourites of the week with their wealth of talent, strong bond and lasting captaincy of Jeff Wayne. Despite the fact that the majority of the team had not played together since their triumphant 2008 Winter County Championships, the 8 men pulled off a fantastic result. Having comprehensively beaten Warwickshire and Dorset; whilst warming up to play the North of Scotland on Wednesday morning, in walked Jamie Murray to bolster his team. The rumblings began around Devonshire Park and intensified moments later as Andy wandered in carrying his grass court shoes!! Herts were to play N of Scotland who, for one day only, had the No 3 in the world playing for them! Undaunted, and with huge excitement, the boys got themselves ready. If they were to regain the title they had to beat N of Scotland with or without the Murrays! Lancs our rivals, with an upcoming meeting Friday, were playing away and smiling smugly!
The day unfolded and the tennis was awesome. Andy and Jamie were split in order to create two strong pairs and give their team a chance to win. Not so.....Andy played with coach Owen Hadden and not surprisingly won all 3 matches, but Ricey and Bammie pushed them to a match tie-break 3rd set in the 2nd round and Lester and Roscoe made Andy scurry about with creative shot-play. The match was won by 2 of our pairs beating Jamie who played with Jonny Pankhurst and all 3 beating the 3rd pair. The result, however, hung on to the slippery death (it was drizzling), as the Corries finished the match by clinching a 3rd set match tie-break 10-8 having trailed 7-8. A fantastic 5-4 win for Herts! Andy was cheering as good as the rest, the match was played in great spirit and it was model of sportsmanship for all to see.
Two more days to go: Yorks didn’t present their usual opposition as Herts ran away with a 7-2 victory. With just Lancs standing between the team and the title, the rain came and the 1st round was played on a water-based astroturf hockey pitch. Also, Dan Smethurst returned to help Lancs. All very challenging but not too much for our team.....3-0 up going back to the grass. There was a clinical performance from the dominant Bamford and Rice partnership, a confident display from the newly-formed Roscoe and Coupland pairing and also a thrilling victory for the Corrie brothers 15-13 in the 3rd set match tie-break! All set, but we’d been 3-0 up to Lancs last year and lost 5-4! Not a second time, 6-0 and the Trophy was back in Herts hands!
The crowds were treated to some terrific tennis and the excitement kept us going all week.
Well done to the Men holders of the Winter and Summer Titles.
Don’t miss it next year...........Eastbourne July 2010 the place to be!