Boys 12 & U County Cup, Boston
The Notts LTA County Teams are sponsored by Brenntag
On the weekend of the 25th and 26th June 2016, the Nottinghamshire 12 & U Boys travelled to Boston to compete against Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire in the 2016 County Cup junior event.
On Saturday they were up against Staffordshire and Leicestershire with the team of, Issac Morris (at number 1), Daniel Wright (number 2) and Haydon Oakes (number 3). The format of the day was three singles to be played against the two counties first, followed by one doubles against each county at the end of the day. Each rubber was 2 short sets with a Championship tie-break to 10 at one set all.
Against Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire had two very good singles wins from Daniel Wright and Haydn Oakes. Putting Nottinghamshire 2-1 up. Against Leicestershire, Daniel Wright had a great performance beating Dylan Sanghera, however Haydn Oaks was unfortunate to lose against Matthew McKinnon after having match points in the final set tie-break. Issac Morris had a difficult day up against two very strong number one players, Solomon Sahar and Louis Fletcher from each county respectively. Going into the doubles, Nottinghamshire were 2-1 up against Staffordshire, and 2-1 down against Leicestershire.
The pairing of Haydn Oakes and Daniel Wright were up against Staffordshire first for the doubles. After being a set up and cruising, unfortunately Daniel Wright landed badly after a serve and pulled a muscle which put him out of the the event for the remainder of the weekend. The matches standing at two all, meant there had to be a deciding championship tie break shoot out (first to 10 points), which was won by Staffordshire. The final score was 3-2 to Staffordshire.
Issac Morris and Haydn Oakes were defeated in the doubles against Leicestershire, therefore Nottinghamshire lost 3-1 overall.
On Sunday, Nottinghamshire's opponents were Lincolnshire first , and the strong unbeaten team in the group, Warwickshire second. Doubles was again played at the end of the day. The team for the day was Izaak Morris (at number 1), Rhys Biro-Moore (number 2), and Haydn Oakes (number 3).
Isaac Morris came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders having a great result beating Lincolnshire's number one, William Cheer, 5-3 , 4-1. Haydn Oaks equally was very impressive beating Lincolnshire's Max Jones 4-0, 4-2. Rhys had a tough day losing to Hugo Hunt (Former Nottinghamshire player Terry Hunt's son) 5-4, 4-2.
The boys lost all three singles matches against Warwickshire but they all put up a very good fight, especially Isaak Morris, who took Warwickshire's number one Charlie Watson all the way in a very close match, losing 4-1, 5-3.
Going into the doubles, Nottinghamshire were 2-1 up against Lincolnshire and 3-0 down against Warwickshire. The pairing of Isaac Morris and Haydn Oakes were first up against Lincolnshire's William Cheer and Ryan Scaman. After losing the first set 4-0, the boys did really well, changing their tactics to win the second set 4-0, but eventually losing the final set tie break 10-7. Going up against the same pairing in a deciding Championship shoot out the boys showed great fighting spirit and determination to win 10-8 giving Nottinghamshire the much deserved result, beating Lincolnshire 3-2 overall.
Already out of our hands, the last doubles, with the same pairing lost to Warwickshire's Luca Pow and Daniel Agranovisky 4-1, 4-1.
Warwickshire were the overall winners of the group, qualifying for the national finals, and Nottinghamshire ended up 4th, joint on points with Lincolnshire and Staffordshire.
All the boys showed great team spirit and worked hard for each other throughout the weekend. With two of the four boys eligible to play next year also, the future is looking bright for Notts boys tennis.
Team Captain
Jamie Drummond
Nottinghamshire team. Left to right, Rhys Biro-Moore, Hadyn Oakes, Isaac Morris. (Daniel Wright not in photo)