Men’s Winter County Cup – Shrewsbury
The shape of the team had changed a lot of the last few days leading up to the event. Dominic West was due to join us off the back of his trip to Israel but unfortunately came back with an injury. Josh Ward-Hibbert and Luke Smith also had to withdraw, meaning a mixture of experience and rookies had to fill the void.
Day 1 – Sussex
So it meant that debutant Patrick Foley, Pierre Luiggi and myself were to kick us off for the weekend in the opening round of singles. Patrick had a little bit of a slow start, but turned it around dramatically to get the opening win for the team and himself in his county career. Pierre survived a second set wobble, made a better plan for the third set and saw it out in three sets. I gave it my best shot, (considering there was never a plan for me to play any singles whatsoever this weekend!) but ultimately didn’t have enough to trouble the opponent. At the top of the order we were always going to be strong. Scott, Jamie and Marcus showing enough class to get the job done guaranteed us the win following the singles. Some really good displays in the doubles meant that we got the win 8-1.
Day 2 – North of Scotland
An unchanged line up in the singles, but with Dave Barton coming into the doubles line up. Pierre was back to his normal aggressive self today and didn’t give the other guy a chance for an easy straight sets win. I had a tough one against their captain, and although I played well for just under two hours it was a tight straight sets loss for me. Patrick was clearly enjoying his county cup experience, as he wanted to play as many sets as possible, ultimately coming through in three tough sets in just over two hours. Again, the boys at the top coming through strong. Jamie looked in really good form and dominated from the start. Marcus played the way Marcus normally plays, free and easy and similar to Jamie, gave the other player no chance at all. Scott despite not feeling 100% did well to win in straight sets again. Even though Scott has been away from county tennis for a few years, you really couldn’t tell. With tomorrow’s big match in mind, I subbed in for Scott for the doubles and all three pairs played a high level and won in straight sets. Another 8-1 win!
Day 3 – Hampshire & IOW
Having had two easy days like us, this was always going to be a tight affair. Unchanged for the third day in a row, we knew where the day was going to be won and lost. I had a tough match, and although the first set was tight the second set was not so and lost in straight sets. Pierre played his best tennis of the weekend against a good opponent and was able to get us back level. Patrick played against someone who you really wouldn’t expect to be playing at number six. A similar story to mine with a closely fought first set, but it got away from him a little in the second which meant for the first time this weekend we were down after the first round. Enter the big guns! Scott never looked in trouble, the rest yesterday or the doubles seemed to have worked a treat and won in straight sets. Jamie had a few mental lapses, but was able to squeeze through the opening set in a tiebreak. After that it was one-way traffic to get an important win. Just to mix things up, Marcus was playing some outstanding tennis looking relaxed and was able to get us to a 4-2 lead after singles. Needing just one win from three doubles matches, we had three very capable pairs to get the job done. To be fair to the opposition, they came out firing and our teams of Pierre/Patrick and Dave/Scott were outplayed. No such drama where Jamie and Marcus were concerned though. With excellent energy and commitment to getting us that vital win, they got it done with a 6-3 6-3 win, meaning promotion was secured in the Winter competition for the second year in a row.
A fantastic weekend, with everyone working together and fighting for each other. We have developed a close-knit group of players now. Even when new players like Patrick joins the team, they quickly settle in and understand what its all about.
An absolute pleasure to captain this team. I look forward to us pushing on again next year, with the goal to reach division one!
Captain, Callum Chivers.
Top Row – Scott Whitbread, Marcus Walters, Patrick Foley, David Barton.
Bottom Row – Jamie Praditgnam, Callum Chivers, Pierre Luiggi
