The Mens County team headed to Wrexham for Winter County Cup in Division 3A with a very young team hoping to retain their status in group 3.
Friday, Day 1 saw the young team play North Wales, probably the one winnable match of the weekend. Jack Simpson and Chris Egan-Morris went down in hard fought defeats before Sam Preston won 6-1 in the 3rd to leave it 2-1 to North Wales after the first round. Barnaby Thorold (15) produced a fine first set before running out of steam against a strong opponent 6-1 in the final set. Matt Richmond, Leicestershire No.2 performed admirably in difficult circumstances to take the win but leaving Leicestershire 3-2 down. Captain Tom Kisiel produced a solid display at No.1 before losing 6-2 in the final set.
With the score 4-2 down, all three doubles were needed for Leicestershire to take the win. First pair of Thorold and Richmond came from a set down to win the final set breaker 12-10 reducing North Wales’ lead to 4-3. Simpson/Egan Morris battled back from 5-1 down in the second set to triumph 6-2, 7-5, levelling the score to 4-4, with everything to play for.
So it all came down to Kisiel/Preston at second pair, one set down and 6-6 in the second set with all the other matches already finished. Leicestershire took the second set breaker 10-8, despite Wales having had 2 match points. An accomplished performance in the third set breaker saw a remarkable Leicestershire victory 10-5 on the 3rd set tie break. 5-4 to Leicestershire...
Saturday, a tough match in store against a young North of Scotland team. Tough losses for Simpson and Egan-Morris left it at 2-1 after another fighting display saw Preston win at No.5. A very tough second round saw Leicestershire lose all 3 rubbers in straight sets against some very strong opposition. 5-1 down and only three rubbers to play for – North of Scotland ended up victors 7-2 after Preston/Kisiel picked up the win at 2nd pair.
And so to the last day: a monumental task to beat top of the group Kent. Unfortunately this was not to be, and with some tiring bodies, Leicestershire went down 7-0. Worthy performances came from Daniel Moore making his County Cup debut, and Kisiel performing well going down 6-3 in the final set at No.1.
All that was left was to hope that North of Scotland beat Wales to guarantee our survival. A Scottish victory 5-2 meant that this was assured. To retain our place was a fantastic result from the young side. Captain Tom Kisiel said, "I couldn't be more proud to be captain of this side. To stay up in a Division where on paper we are undeniably the weakest team shows just how much team spirit plays a part. The team and I will never forget Friday’s dramatic victory over North Wales, one of the best days of County Cup I have ever been involved in".
Team: Tom Kisiel (captain), Matthew Richmond, Barnaby Thorold, Chris Egan-Morris, Sam Preston, Jack Simpson, Daniel Moore and James Ison.