'On Saturday 3rd May, Oxfordshire's finest U14 boys players came together to play on home turf at Oxford Sports, in the yearly county cup. We came in with young team, motivated to show the older boys from other counties what we had to offer.
Day 1 saw us up against Avon, a county on paper we were weaker but knew looking at them pre match we had a very good chance. First matches saw Connor Ferguson and Ed Green playing and 4 and 3 singles respectively play first. Ed's match went by with a breeze, out powering his opponent in all areas saw him grab a crucial first win, followed by Connor's steely hard fought win at 4 saw us 2 - 0 up into the next singles. Ned Batstone and Sam Christie came, Ned had a gritty 3 set loss, and Sam unfortunately playing at 1 against a big 14 year old striking the ball beautifully didn't quite get his rhythm. Two all after the singles, and all to play for in the doubles, putting Sam and Ed in at doubles 1, seemed to be slightly nervous first set but came back strong in the second, losing on a tie break. With the score at 3 - 2 down, it was left with Guy Mobey and Louis Manson to see what they could do, with some lovely shot play from both and great communication saw set points in the first set be their undoing as they duly lost in a tie break. Into the second and the boys were determined not to let it slip this time, and romped it 6 - 2. Into the match tie break, can swing anyone's way, and we knew if we won it, we'd go into a shootout. Avon just played too well at the crucial moments and nicked it 10 - 5 meaning our first day ended in a 4 - 2 loss, we weren't down as knew the good start put us in a great position, but taking our chances was going to be key over the next two days.
Day 2 we came nice and early and saw we were playing Kent. The previous day they had been very successful against Gloucestershire, so knew this would be a big ask for our young team. Connor back in at 4 saw him up someone who made barely any unforced errors, and no double faults in the entire match so came unstuck in two straight sets in the end. Louis jumped in at 3 against Michael Owen who had been very successful in U12's, played a very good match and if he had taken his chances would have pushed and worried him a little more but again he lost in straight sets. After round one we were 2 - 0 down with Ed promoted to 2 and Ned to 1 we needed some very big performances. Ed couldn't quite find the form that saw him win the previous day, and Ned up against someone in the top 10 in the country put up a commendable battle. Into the doubles, 4 - 0 down but we wanted to salvage some pride and knew we were stronger in the doubles so felt we had a good chance. Ned and Louis combined at 1, and lost in a very tight match which hinged on the first set and then a turn of the ankle by Louis in the second didn't help our cause of trying to overturn the deficit. Sam and Guy came in at 2, and fought extremely hard, fresh from being rested from the singles, they worked together brilliantly and again the match tie break was to be our enemy. A 6 - 0 loss, and currently after two days we were 0 - 5 for tie breaks, so knew that they were our crucial areas going into the final day. We finished with a serving game to lighten the mood again, we for some reason had the wrong effect as actually nobody could hit the target! However fun was had by all, so ended on a good note.
Day 3 battling for 3rd place, we all arrived at the club having heard the sad news of Elena Baltacha's death in the morning, we had a minutes silence with all the other counties and then gave a team talk to the boys to motivate them. Sending in the same singles line up again for the last day, Connor at 4 battled through a leg injury to win, and Louis edging a tight first set at 3 proved vital to win. After two singles we were 2 - 0 up, and looking to win another two. Ed went in at two ready to improve on Day 2's performance, and duly did what Ed does and believed in his ball striking and got us a win. All down to Ned at 1 to finish the clean sweep, and despite a battling first set and a mammoth first game of the second set went Ned's opponent way, and with it some of the momentum to lose in two sets. Into the doubles and at 3 - 1 up we felt doubles was our strongest asset, and sent in our dream team doubles pair of Guy and Ed, showing glimpse of some mature doubles play that even the Bryan brothers would be proud of! They came away with the win and with it the tie, which left Ned and Louis to round off the performance in style. We ended Day 3 with a win, and 3rd place.
We were pleased and elated to win finally, and reward for good performance. Our weekend ended with Day 2's continuation of the serving competiotn, which after some tight serves came down to who could hit a chair and with it the massive prize of £15, won by Connor.
My thanks go to all the parents, their support was immense for all the boys, and also Alison Jackson our referee for the weekend, Oxford Sports for hosting and David Tuck for assisting me.
Andy Aitken (Team Captain)