Team
Josh Taylor
George Hutchings
Peter Allam
Mark Rushton woods
Tom Dillon
Ben Davies
Joe Brennan
Nemiah Fletchman
Another year, another good squad of players but hopefully this year we would get out of Div 3.
We all met at the base VA Lancashire on Thursday 23 Feb at 9:30 am, I wanted an early get away so we could get a good practice in Taunton. After been blown around by storm Doris we eventually made it and had a great practice.
Day 1
We had 2 (Ben and Peter) new players making their debuts in the team so it was a tough challenge for them.
We faced Hampshire and Isle of White who are a very strong team all round and knew this would be a tough match.
All the team fought hard, Tom and Mark won comfortably and gave the team the boost we needed.
Ben and Peter both lost but gave a good account of themselves and learning that nobody gives you anything at County Cup.
George and Josh both had huge battles and came out winners both winning 6-4 in the third set which put us 4-2 up going into Doubles.
The third pair Josh and Joe won comfortably, second pair Peter and Tom played great to win and the first pair Mark and George just lost in a final set tie break.
The job had been done and we took the win 6-3.
Day 2
We faced Nottinghamshire who on the previous day lost 9-0, so our job was to win 9-0 also so no one got the upper hand on us.
We changed the team slightly. Joe came in for Peter and Nemiah came in for a doubles instead of Joe.
The plan against this team was to be as professional as possible and get the job done as fast as possible to conserve energy for the last day.
We stuck to the task and all the players got the job done winning comfortably in both singles and doubles.
Day 3
We faced South Wales who had not yet lost. Everything to play for.
I sensed a bit of tension in the team so good support was required here.
Both our 6 and 5 had to really battle away and after around 2.5 hours both came away with the win.
Tom went on next and won very comfortably at 4 and showed he is playing at a great level.
Mark and George went next and had great points and both matches were great to watch but both guys lost which meant we were now at 3-2. Tight!!!!
Josh stepped up at 1 and showed great concentration to win comfortably and settled the team again.
We were at 4-2 going into doubles and couldn’t lose focus here. The goal was to take all 3 doubles not just 1.
We put Joe and Josh at 3 and the won but by no means was it easy.
George and Ben went at 2 and just lost a well fought match.
Mark and Peter played 1 and played the best doubles i have ever seen at County Cup.
The match and the Promotion was ours.
Summary
The guys got on great and its good to know that the practice session have paid off, they give huge versatility when it comes to doubles and i think this played a big factor in the promotion.
From a happy captain
Andy Davies