Our chances this year of promotion with a team of young energetic players was a possibility. A tough ask but a definite possibility!
With all the team raring to go on Friday morning, the first challenge was to get through our local rivals Derbyshire. We started well with the singles taking a 4-2 lead with strong performances from Scott Whitbread, and debutant Aaron Banasik. A few nerves early on for the others but a great first round. We then clinched the tie with 2 from the 3 doubles matches. This gave us a 7-2 win and a strong start to the weekend.
Day 2 and Berkshire awaited. After a good hearty breakfast (Thanks to the Notts LTA) we were all pumped up to carry on the good form. We started well with 2 great wins from Josh Poullet and Rob Chambers. Dan Macshane and Josh Bexon had tough matches and went down fighting. We managed again to have a 4-2 lead after the singles and were in a strong position for another win. A superb fighting effort from Josh Poullet and Callum Chivers nearly took out the higher ranked pair from Berkshire with a narrow loss 8-10 in the 3rd set tie breaker. Scott Whitbread and James Middleton managed to clinch the match with their doubles victory, and we finished with a 5-4 victory. Ready to play for promotion in the morning.
With a Wedding and Christmas party at the hotel, and the thought of promotion, sleep on the last night was going to be a difficult ask. The team were a bit tired and sore after some really tough matches. But Warwickshire were the target and we were going to put it all on the line for promotion. It wasn’t the strongest of starts with Rob Chambers going down in a tough 3 setter and Josh Bexon having another tough match. It was going to be a tough ask from from this position with ex-Davis Cup player Dan Evans as No1 player for Warwickshire. Scott Whitbread toughed it out for a set against Evans but had to retire with a knee injury and further injuries to Dan Macshane ruled out our chances. We finished the singles 5-1 down with Aaron Banasik taking the only rubber. This ended our chances of promotion but still sent out a strong message that Nottinghamshire are a team for the future.
I would like to thanks all the guys for a committed effort and good team spirit. The catch phrase for the 3 days was “Up For It” and all the boys certainly showed that. I would also like to thank on behalf of the team the Nottinghamshire LTA for funding us to travel away and the opportunity to represent the county.
All the guys and myself look forward to the summer and doing the county proud.
Mike Wisner
Nottinghamshire Mens County Captain