Left to right: Emily Rodbourne, Sarah-Kate O-Grady, Sarah Usher, Laura Cooper, Sarah Wright (Capt), Rebecca Wood. Not pictured: Emily Crowe and Charlotte Phillips
Captain's report
Nottinghamshire Ladies travelled down to Havant on a blisteringly hot July day – in total shock that the forecast was amazing for the whole week given that we had expected to be spending a lot of time having rain breaks following the awful weather of the previous few weeks (well months!!).
With a few last minute changes to the team following the loss of Emelia Box and Isabelle Tyrrell, Monday saw us up against North of Scotland. First pair Captain Sarah Wright and Emily Crowe had 3 great wins and a much improved Rebecca Wood who has been studying in the USA since January, teamed up with Charlotte Phillips also winning all their matches. Newcomer Emily Rodbourne and Sarah Usher completed the team.
Tuesday we played Avon and Sarah and Emily again had 3 great wins, Charlotte and Bec taking 2 and Sarah-Kate O-Grady and Laura Cooper winning against the Avon 3rd pair in a 3 set battle in the opening round.
With some persuasion the team managed to get Emily Crowe – who had other plans – to stay an extra day to play local rivals Derbyshire. This left the pairings the same as Tuesday and the opening round saw Rebecca and Charlotte get a great win 7-5 6-7 6-3 against Derbyshire first pair Ena Ankutse and Jenny Batty. Sarah-Kate and Laura also held match points against Derbyshire 3rds but lost out in 10-8 final set tie break. Going 2-1 up into round 2 in 30 degree heat the team had everything to play for. The first 2 pairs won with Sarah and Emily being pushed to 3 sets by the Derbyshire 1st Pair and again – Sarah-Kate and Laura held match points before going down 4-6, 6-2, 6-7.
In the final round the match stood at 5-3 to Notts before Sarah and Emily had to concede the match at 1 set all because of an imminent train appointment!!
Spurred on by 3 wins out of 3 Charlotte also decided to postpone her plans and stayed an extra day to help Notts get the win to top the group. With an injured Emily Rodbourne being substituted for Laura Cooper after the first round, Notts managed to battle to a 5-4 win.
Friday was always going to be tough after losing Emily Crowe and Charlotte but with the pressure off as we had won the group already the team battled on with only 6 players remaining and 4 of them with injuries. Sarah and Sarah-Kate won 2 but sadly we were beaten 7-2 by North Wales.
The whole week saw some excellent team work and camaraderie although – even though we shouldn’t moan – the heat was at times exhausting and the chemist made a fortune from selling sun cream and plasters !! Havant was a delight and one of the best venues that we have played and we were made welcome by everyone.
It was an absolute pleasure to captain such a great group of ladies who without doubt showed that by pulling together and helping each other through we are capable of anything. Thank you all for a truly wonderful week.
Next year we are looking forward to being back in Group 3 and in the Winter we head to Norwich.
Sarah Wright
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