14 & Under County Cup 2016-Finals Report

Squad

Oliver Richards

Oscar Brown

Alexander De Sousa

Omar Prince

Archie Turner

Keean De Villiers

Friday 13^th May                                                 Kent v Oxfordshire

1. Oliver Richards                          1. De Sousa and De Villiers
2. Oscar Brown                              2. Prince and Turner
3. Alex De Sousa
4. Keean De Villiers

The boys were in ruthless mood from the start in this match as they won all four of the singles matches, with Oliver showing true heart coming back from 2-6 1-5 0-40 to win 2-6 7-5 6-3! 4-0 Kent

Unfortunately the doubles didn’t go our way, but it was more important to give everyone a chance to play given the unassailable lead. 4-2 Kent

Friday  13th & Saturday 14th May             Kent v Cambridgeshire

1. Oliver Richards                          1. Brown and De Sousa
2. Oscar Brown                               2. Richards and De Villiers
3. Alex De Sousa
4. Keean De Villiers

Keean carried on his domination in the 4^th singles slot with a 6-0 6-1 win. Oscar found himself in a real battle and showed great heart, but came up short in almost 3hrs going down 7-5 4-6 6-4. 1-1

Oliver managed to wrap up a straight sets victory to give Kent the lead in the tie, whilst Alex had a big match with a very emotional opponent, finally getting the 7-5 6-4 win coming off court at 9pm!! 3-1 Kent

Keean and Oliver maintained their 100% county cup record getting the win for Kent. 4-2 Kent

Saturday 14^th May                                           Kent v Lancashire

1. Oliver Richards                          1. Richards and Brown
2. Oscar Brown                               2. De Sousa and De Villiers
3. Alex De Sousa
4. Keean De Villiers

Keean got Kent off to the perfect start once more winning in quick fire fashion. Alex found himself a set down, whilst Oscar and Oliver unfortunately came across to strong opponents slipping to straight sets defeats. 1-2 Lancashire

As we have come to expect from Alex he doesn’t shy away from a scrap, managing to force his match into a decider and keep Kent in touch. It turned out to be an epic final set with Alex coming through 7-1 in the tie break winning 3-6 6-2 7-6! 2-2

We went for a tactical change up in our doubles pairings which eventually paid off, despite losing the doubles at 2^nd pair Oscar and Oliver putting in a memorable performance to win the number 1 doubles in 3 sets. Shoot out time for a place in the final!!! 3-3

We had a team debate about who should play and eventually the boys came up with Alex and Oliver, but they struggled to make an impact on their stronger opponents and lost. A great effort from the boys to get so close to the national final!!!

Sunday 15^th May                                              Kent v Hertfordshire

1. Oliver Richards                          1. Richards and De Villiers
2. Oscar Brown                               2. De Sousa and Prince
3. Alex De Sousa
4. Keean De Villiers

In the 3^rd and 4^th play off match, Keean finished the weekend 4/4 in singles a great achievement in any position, but particularly in getting your team off to a good start every day. Alex and Oliver lost in straight sets, so we needed Oscar to try and pull out the win, which he came so close to doing, but eventually went down 4-6 7-5 6-4. 1-3

Keean and Oliver finished off their county cup campaign undefeated as a pair, but Alex and Omar lost in the number 2 doubles position. 2-4

A fantastic achievement for this group of boys to come through and qualify for the national finals and get so close to actually reaching the final. They each battled hard and pulled together as a team. A very good group of lads and one of the most professional, respectful and well behaved squads I have captained. Well done!

Craig and Mark