30th April - 2nd May 2016
Venue – Birchwood Tennis Centre
LANCASHIRE TEAM
Peter Alam
Ben Davies
Josh Banks
Robert Cowley
Alex Moore
Saturday 30th April 2016
The Lancashire boys met me at Birchwood in the morning for a practice before battled commenced. We knew that the conditions would be a key factor as heavy rain and wind was scheduled for the weekend, but I knew the boys were up for it as practice went well and all players were ready to go.
Durham & Cleveland were our first opponents and a good start was required, this was done successfully by our number 1 & 2 Peter winning 6-2 6-0 and Ben winning 6-1 6-1 setting the tone for our number 3 & 4 players Josh Banks and Rob Cowley. Both started well and dealt with the conditions early on, Josh winning 6-4 6-2 and Rob Cowley putting in the best singles performance of the day winning 6-1 6-0.
Always a good feeling when all singles are won so moving into the doubles is easier with an air of confidence.
Peter and Ben were our 1st pair and Robert and Alex our 2nd pair, conditions were not good but all the boys dealt with it well and pushed through, Peter and Ben won 6-2 6-3 and Robert and Alex won 6-4 6-4. Alex showed a mature and consistent performance in doubles.
Lancashire boys winning 6-0 was well deserved and credit to all that played.
The day was not over as we were scheduled to play both our doubles against East of Scotland, the boys re grouped and were ready to go again.
I changed the pairings slightly keeping Peter and Ben as 1st pair and Robert and Josh as the 2nd pair, Peter and Ben were solid again winning the match 6-3 6-0. Our 2nd pair struggled against a stubborn Scottish side losing out unfortunately 4-6 2-6.
Our day had finished and we knew that after a good win against Durham & Cleveland we had a tough battle ahead against East of Scotland in the singles and all to play for………
Sunday 1st May 2016
Early start for the team as practice at 8.30am with start time 9am, but again the boys are on time and up for the day ahead.
Conditions were not great again and the whole day was set for heavy rain. The singles order were the same as the first day so Peter and Ben took to the court first both Lancashire boys were pushed in different ways but came through in the end, Peter winning 6-2 7-5 and Ben winning 6-4 6-2 leaving us 3-1 up overall and one more win to take the victory.
Josh and Rob were next up and going into the singles with confidence after the first day, but knowing that East of Scotland are different level of players, both Lancashire boys starting really well playing tactically smart tennis using the conditions to the best of their ability. The Scottish boys were up for a fight and not going to lie down quietly taking both singles to a final set match tie break, unfortunately Josh losing out 10-8 and Robert losing out 10-7, but I was proud of the boys performances and effort.
So with match tied at 3-3 it went down to a tie break shootout. Ben and Robert stepped up to take on the challenge ahead. I knew if the boys could be solid and play smart doubles as we had discussed all weekend we should be ok. In fact it was better than that with Ben playing his best tennis making Roberts’s life easy on court. Took a great lead of 6-0 and looked comfortable which in the end it was, closing the well fought tie 10-2 claiming victory on east of Scotland.
Great performance from the Lancashire boys after a long day with rain delay and tough single matches.
We knew that our next match was for 1st and 2nd playoff position of the group and making it to the finals was our goal…..
Roll on Monday and bring on Essex…..