Missing the services of Ian Flanigan, Adam Maskill, Dan MacShane, Rob Chambers, and Andy Wakefield presented opportunities for some younger players to stake their claim.
Playing on the excellent grass courts at Fenner’s, home of the Cambridge University first team, the team of Jamie Drummond / Ben Dunbar, Dave Barton / Scott Whitbread, and Marc Powell / Will Rollo saw Hereford & Worcester as first day opponents. With Scott Whitbread making his senior county debut, and Marc Powell embarking on his 18th consecutive county week the team had a mix of youth and experience. 2/1 down after the first round of matches, the middle round proved crucial to the ultimate result with Notts top pair of Drummond / Dunbar narrowly missing out on an excellent win against the world ranked Tim Bradshaw and partner. This left Notts required to win all three matches in the final round. Despite a good win for Barton/Whitbread, and a comfortable win for Drummond/Dunbar the team fell just short losing 5/4 overall.
On day 2 the team woke up to heavy and persistent rain. At one point it looked like there may be no play at all, however, by mid afternoon the rain relented and together with the availability of some artificial grass the team took to the court in soggy conditions. With the team having endured a 5/4 defeat on day 1, on the back of 3 5/4 losses in group 3 in 2008, it was a very gutsy performance to beat a Berkshire team which included former Wimbledon Doubles quarter-finalist Paul Hand, 5/4. The top pair of Drummond/Dunbar won 3, Barton/Whitbread won 1 (and had 3 match points against the opposition top pair), and Collins/Powell also won 1.
Back on the grass on day 3 saw the team follow up their win over Berkshire, with a very solid 6/3 win over Somerset. The Somerset team included James Pankhurst, whose brother playing in group 1 on the same day was partnering a certain Jamie Murray at Eastbourne. Drummond/Dunbar led from the front winning all three matches without the loss of a set, whilst Barton/Whitbread were involved in three 3 set matches, winning 2 very important matches. Kyle Collins/Marc Powell completed the victory with a comprehensive straight sets win against the Somerset 2nd pair.
The departure of stalwart Jamie Drummond, for work reasons, meant a re-shuffling of the pack for day 4’s opponents and group leaders West of Scotland. Will Rollo came back into the team, with Scott Whitbread moving up to the first pair to partner Ben Dunbar, Dave Barton partnering Marc Powell, and Kyle Collins/Will Rollo renewing their partnership from junior days. Despite two wins for the first pair the team went down 7/2 to the eventual group winners.
Other results from day 4 meant Notts couldn’t be promoted or relegated going into the final day. With Calum Chivers (making his senior county debut), and James Middleton both coming into the team against Devon, the rain returned to abandon play for the day, with Notts leading 2/1.
With the team finishing a creditable third special mention should be made of the Drummond/Dunbar partnership winning 8 out of 9, an extremely impressive senior county debut from 17 year old Scott Whitbread, and Marc Powell making his 18th consecutive appearance (making his own senior county debut the year before Scott was even born!)
This year’s ‘Players Player’ award deservedly went to Ben Dunbar, who had returned from his first year in America studying and playing in New Mexico.
Richard Joyner
Notts Men’s Captain