The U-14 boy’s county team were off to Sheffield for the regional qualifying. In what looked a strong group with Yorkshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire. First up was Cheshire and after Aaron Jinks of Market Bosworth winning at 3 singles, Alex Solonenko made sure Leicestershire went into the doubles level at 2 all beating the Cheshire no1 in 3 tough sets. These two teamed up to win the doubles at 1, a 3 all draw taking the match to what would turn out the be the 1st of many shoot out tiebreaks over the next two weeks. We lost the shoot out and lost the tie 4-3, Alex and Owen Wilson going down to a good Cheshire pair. It was to be the 1st of many penalty shootouts which are quite common in this format of competition.
After a late finish the boys were up against Derbyshire on day 2. Taking 3 of the singles. Again, Alex and Aaron battled hard to win, and Owen Wilson winning at no4 singles meaning we only needed one doubles to secure the win. The group was looking very close at this stage as Derby won on day one and Cheshire ended up losing to Yorkshire 4-2 so all were on one win. Our unbeaten Team of Alex and Aaron took Leicestershire across the line winning the 3rd set championship tiebreak 10-8 while Andrew Laurel made his U-14 county cup debut losing at 2nd pair with Owen Wilson.
On Day 3 we were up against Yorkshire. Just to reiterate how close the teams were matched, any team could still win the group and go to the national finals. We knew we needed rubbers. Owen Wilson won comfortably at no4. Alex Solonenko beat the no 4 in the county in straight sets in the windiest of conditions at one. The key match, however, was Aaron Jinks who won 10-8 in the match tiebreak after being well behind. Match tiebreaks had been brought in on the last day due to the forecast and this match was key as it meant winning the group was in our hands. If we beat Yorkshire 5-1 we could not be caught by Cheshire. Even if they won 6-0 which they did so the 3rd singles was vital.
We were a set up in both doubles in what looked like a 5-1 win over Yorkshire, Owen Wilson and Louis Marsden at 2nd pair and Alex and Aaron at 1st pair. Cheshire were 4-0 up and a set up in both doubles before the rain came. We were Champions by virtue of more rubbers won. Special mention to Alex Solonenko and Aaron Jinks going unbeaten on 6 out of 6 wins, although it was a real team effort to qualify.
Jack Simpson U-14 Boys County Captain