Day 1 vs Bedfordshire
After a competitive ‘El Rondo’ warm up, Daniel Wright and Jack McLachlan started us off on the Friday morning. Dan was on debut and came through a tight three setter to add to a convincing win for Jack to put us 2-0 up. Costi Nita was in at 4 and accelerated through the second set to take a good win. Puneet Sunner, in at 3, battled hard and played some good tennis but went down in three sets. Joel Hemmings and Gabriel Johnson, playing at 2 and 1 respectively, had a few tight moments but proved to be the better players to get Notts to 5-1 after the singles. Notts won 2/3 doubles to win the day 7-2.
Day 2 vs Shropshire
Another day, another ‘El Rondo’. For those that aren’t clear what this is, it is a football themed warmup where one or two players are in the middle of a circle and try to intercept the ball! We maintained our singles line up from the previous day. Dan came through a tight first set and once he got that he became more comfortable to get the win. Jack, Costi and Puneet all followed suit with convincing straight set wins. Joel and Gabriel were always going to have tough matches today and it proved so. Joel blitzed through the first set but his opponent raised his level and edged him out. Gabriel played a good match and pushed his opponent all the way despite picking up a slight injury in the second set before losing the match. We needed one victory in the doubles to secure the win and thankfully Joel and Dan were able to bring home the win despite a VERY tight end to the match! Notts win 5-4 and celebrated with a standard Nando’s trip and half an hour in the arcades. Following this, as per county cup boys tradition we had a game of Articulate and Outburst which always prove to be great fun and competitive!
Day 3 vs East of Scotland
The start of the day was always going to be key with the strength that EoS have at the top of their order. There was one enforced change due to Jack having to leave the squad. Dan got us off to another great start to get his third singles win of the weekend. Tom Utton came into the team at number 5 and got off to a great start but couldn’t maintain his level and went down in three sets. Unfortunately, Costi and Puneet also went down leaving us with a really tough task. Joel played well but lost out and Gabriel was still feeling the effects of the injury he picked up the previous day and also came up against a very high-level opponent, leaving Notts 5-1 down after singles.
This meant that Notts finish 2nd in the group after a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. The energy and atmosphere around the squad was particularly pleasing which allowed for everyone to have a great weekend.
Team
Top: James Cale ©, Tom Utton, Daniel Wright, Gabriel Johnson, Isaac Morris, Callum Chivers ©
Bottom: Joel Hemmings, Puneet Sunner, Jack McLachlan, Costi Nita.