Kent drove in to town late on the Thursday night, slightly thin on the ground, but with spirits high ready for the battle ahead to regain division 1 status. We were in a strong group 2 with Yorkshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire who were all virtually at full strength.
Day 1 vs Norfolk
We lined up with two debuts at 6 and 5 in Ethan O’Reilly and Alex Juniper. These two strong juniors were pitted against a couple of experienced former ATP ranked players for Norfolk. Alex at 5 looked confused as his 40 year old opponent had no interest in rallying and approached the net at every chance, Alex fought hard and had his chances, but experience won and we were one down. Ethan started nervously and lost an easy first set. Captain Burgoyne goes on to court on the set break and reminds Ethan that he is fitter and stronger than his veteran opponent and that longer rallies were the key. Ethan quickly took this on board and ran his opponent again and again until he felt like he was being tortured by the white horse of Kent. Great win in three sets and we were level, 1-1. The familiar face of Jim May arrived on court at number 4 and played a first game that suggested his warm up was not sufficient! But form is temporary and class is permanent as his opponent learnt quickly with May playing points that belonged in a Wimbledon final from the late 1980’s hitting flat and following in to the net, awesome win and we were 2-1 up. Tom Wright was at 3 and Issac Stoute at 2, both with tough matches. Issac started badly and his experienced opponent never let him get in to a rhythm, mixing up his game to perfection and before we knew it, it was 2-2. Meanwhile Wright was also struggling and the momentum was slipping away from the mighty Kent and at lunchtime things were starting to look shaky as Wright had lost and Kent’s number 1 for the weekend Matt Short was on Court with Captain Burgs already a set down to a classy Norfolk number 1. Short assured his Captain that he would be okay, but he was wrong, he was way more than okay and in the match of the weekend Matt saved 5 match points to win and incredible match and tie things up at 3-3. Luckily Kent a known for being so strong in the doubles, surely we were favourites. Favourites we may have been, or maybe not, but at the close of play Matthew’s heroics in the singles were wasted as May and Burgoyne, Stoute and Juniper, Short and Wright all lost tight matches.
The mood in the camp was not great, and at these times this is when you expect the Captain to rally the troops, but on this occasion it was the rookie Ethan O’Reilly who invented a new sport later known as ‘O’Reilly Ball’. A combination of water volleyball and touch tennis galvanised the team and as we finished dinner we may have lost the battle, but the war was still up for grabs as the door to the hotel swung open and Rob Searle and Paddy May entered to bolster the team roster. Watch out Yorkshire, we are ready!
Day 2 vs Yorkshire
With Yorkshire having beaten Lincs comfortably, the men of Kent could still gain promotion if we could win our remaining two ties comfortably and with a strong line up it was all to play for. At 6 Paddy May came in and got us off to a good start with some controlled aggression and power. At 5 Jim May was back on court and after a tough first day, would he start better today? Boom, not better, way better, and his opponent had no answers for Jim’s silky smooth timing and it looked all the way a Kent win, but the Yorkshire number 5 had his own ideas and lifted his game to edge out May in three sets, 1-1. Meanwhile Tom Wright had entered the building determined to improve on yesterday’s singles and with a personal score to settle against an opponent who had beaten him last time out. Tom was up for it today and it was a great battle to watch, but after a couple of hours Tom was match point down and wrong footed in the corner. His opponent was outstretching his hand to shake when Wright dived like a goal keeper and somehow got the ball back over the net! The Yorkshireman put his hand back on the racket but missed an open court with the volley. This turned the match as Wright turned up the volume for a massive come from behind win, 2-1 Kent. Robbie Searle in at 3 had been told by the physio that his shoulder would be fine and that he was okay to compete. Even the iron will of Rob could not fight through this one and sadly lost easily to a strong player in straight sets. It was sad to see, but Rob would play no further role in the weekend on the court as he was un able to serve properly and Kent were 2-2. In steps Stoute, removed his headphones and put on an exhibition of incredible movement, huge forehands and crazy dropshots. Ethan O’Reilly who considered himself the dropshot king was taking notes on the side and looked astounded as Issac played a 360 spin side spin drop shot. Ethan nodded with approval as Issac shook hands and gave Kent the lead again 3-2. Matt Short meanwhile was a set down in another high quality match, but time told and Shorty was too strong mentally leaving Kent on the brink at 4-2 up.
So to the doubles, Wright and Burgoyne at 3 took the first set and looked strong, but somehow ended up losing 10-8 in the championship tie break. Paddy May and Issac Stoute at 2 were outplayed at 2 and all of a sudden it was all on Jim May and Matt Short. The atmosphere was electric and the match very tight and high quality all round when something happened, something that no Yorkshireman wanted to see, Jim ‘Gandalf’ May lifted his staff and cast a spell on the ball and it would only do what he wanted! Incredible lift in level from Jim and relentless play from Shorty and Kent had the win, 5-4
Day 3 vs Lincolnshire
The referee had told us that if Yorkshire beat Norfolk 5-4 and we beat Lincs 7-2 then we were up to group 1. Looking at the order this was a possibility as Lincs were struggling in doubles, so if we could do well in the singles maybe, just maybe momentum could take us all the way. We lined up with Jim May, Alex Juniper and Paddy May all on at once in the lower order. Jim at 4 was looking a little jaded and perhaps out of spells and went down in three sets, 1-0 Lincs. Juniper, not looking good and not playing well was down. Paddy May was looking hot but was also a set down. Juniper who was poor in the ‘O’Reilly Ball’ world cup the previous evening didn’t look happy, but equally didn’t look ready to lose. He fought and fought and somehow got to a set all. Meanwhile Paddy was also a set all, surely we couldn’t go 3-0 down? Then we were reminded that the Men of Kent are strong, whether young or old, they don’t give up, they do not bend and the white horse of Kent trampled through the third sets and we were 2-1 up, division 1 was a long way away, but maybe just in sight. Wright, Stoute and Short on court, a strong threesome. Wright fast out of the blocks today and too strong for his opponent and we were 3-1 up. Stoute looked like he was winning every rally, but somehow was a set down and Shorty also followed his daily pattern of being a set down. Then we were dealt a hammer blow as the Referee was made aware that his maths was not correct and Kent needed to win 8-1 and we had already lost 1! The players didn’t know, but as Short won again and Issac lost the weekend had tragically come to a close with us being painfully close to promotion.
Summary
So close but yet so far, the players gave everything, but being a few players short for the whole weekend, but in particular the Friday had cost us dear. It’s always tough when a team that you beat get up ahead of you, but credit to Yorkshire who did beat Norfolk 5-4 to gain promotion. So with the knowledge that we were potentially only a match short over the weekend we lick our wounds and prepare for another battle on another day. May all who were injured heal, and all who were unavailable be ready to fight for the Garden on the lawns of Eastbourne come summer.