In the 5 years I’ve been captaining the Leicestershire U-14 boy’s county team this was the 1st time we have made it to the national finals so the boys should be proud of themselves. Now up against Surrey, Hertfordshire and Hampshire before playing the team who finish in the same position as we finish from the other group on the final day.
What a first day it was. Beating Surrey (not often Leicestershire can say that) 4-3 in the match tie break shoot out. An inspired shoot out from Alex and Owen. Surrey went on to win the event and become national champions so it shows just how close we were. It’s fair to say we were in the tougher of the two groups as Surrey beat Lancashire 5-1 in the final, who topped group B.
The nature of the finals, two groups of 4, playing the team who finishes in the same position as us from the other group on the final day means you have to play 1.5 matches per day on the 1st two days, in order to fit all the matches in 3 days. I can’t help that think playing Surrey took a lot out of the boys mentally as we had a slow start against Hampshire and were 3-1 down after the singles overnight, with the doubles to finish the next day. Owen Wilson won at 4, Louis lost at no 2 and Alex and Aaron lost their 1st matches of the competition. We ended up losing 4-2 to arguably the weakest side in the group and Hertfordshire were up next the same day.
Yet again, this match went to the wire and we lost on a shootout tiebreak. 3 all after the singles and doubles but this time we didn’t quite have enough left in the tank. This meant we finished 3rd on one win but could have easily finished higher. The 3rd placed team in group B was Oxfordshire so we were back on Sunday to face them in the 5th/6th playoff.
The boys went on to beat Oxfordshire 4-2. 3-1 up after the singles and then both doubles going to a championship tiebreak 3rd set. The 2nd pair of Owen Wilson and Andrew Laurel having 3 match points before losing and the 1st pair saving a couple of match points before winning. Alex Solonenko won 13/14 matches over the 6 days which is just a huge effort playing at no1. I think the added incentive of not wanting to play another shoot out if we went 3 rubbers all was the deciding factor and Alex and Aaron sealed the tie and 5th place at the national finals.
Jack Simpson
U-14 Boys County Captain