Squad
Jack Pinnington Jones
Oliver Richards
Oscar Brown
Alexander De Sousa
Omar Prince (in for injured Archie Turner)
Keean De Villiers
Saturday 30th April Kent v Berkshire
- Jack Pinnington Jones 1. Pinnington Jones and Prince
- Oliver Richards 2. Richards and De Villiers
- Oscar Brown
- Alex De Sousa
With such a solid squad this year my goal was to make sure all of the boys played as much as possible, whilst maintaining our best chance of qualifying. Oscar despite a fall and cut knee came past his opponent with relative ease winning 2&2. Alex played a good first set and a half, but gradually lost his form as his opponent improved going down 6-3 4-6 4-6. 1-1.
On paper our number 1 and 2 players should be too tough for our opponents and they proved to be just that winning both in straight sets. 3-1 Kent
The doubles were shared with Oliver and Keean clinching the tie for Kent. 4-2 Kent
Saturday 30th & Sunday 1st May Kent v Northamptonshire
- Jack Pinnington Jones 1. Brown and De Sousa
- Alex De Sousa 2. Richards and De Villiers
- Omar Prince
- Keean De Villiers
Due to the format of 6 counties it meant that we had to play the doubles of the next match on Saturday. Keean and Oliver continued their partnership with a very easy 0&1 win, whilst Oscar and Alex turned around a very lacklustre start with a 3-6 6-3 10-8 win. 2-0 Kent
Both Omar and Keean came in for singles matches, Keean winning easily 0&2 with Omar having a great County Cup experience in a tight 3 set battle, finally going down 6-3 3-6 5-7 after having a match point and a 5-2 lead. 3-1 Kent
Both Alex and Jack made short work of their opponents winning in quick time. 5-1 Kent
Monday 2nd May Kent v Sussex
- Jack Pinnington Jones 1. Pinnington Jones and De Sousa
- Oliver Richards 2. Richards and De Villiers
- Oscar Brown
- Alex De Sousa
We knew that it would be a very competitive match against Sussex, but we were confident that if the boys performed as they can we would be victorious.
We didn’t get off to the best of starts as both Alex and Oscar went down in straight sets as they weren’t able to rise to the challenge. 0-2 Sussex
Naturally we felt very confident at 1&2, but at 2-0 down there was a lot of pressure on these boys to get us back in the tie. Both boys responded very well and despite a slip up in the 2nd set from Oliver, the tie was levelled. 2-2
So the match went down to the doubles and possibly a tie break shoot out if the doubles were shared. The boys were about to get their County Cup experience as the next 1.5hrs would be tense all the way! First sets went 6-4 with one to either team, but Jack and Alex went 5-1 up in the 2nd, whilst Keean and Oliver were 3-2 down. I felt that the sooner Jack and Alex could get the point for us it could put a lot of pressure on the Sussex #2 pairing. They finished the match off just in time 6-4 6-4 as Oliver and Keean were 4-5 down. From there the energy that the crowd and the boys themselves created was incredible as they totally turned the match around and outworked their opponents winning 4-6 7-5 10-6! 4-2 Kent
A fantastic achievement for this group of boys to come through and qualify for the national finals again after the disappointment of last year. 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