Picture (L-R) Zac Carradine, Dominic Robinson, Tom Loxley, Will Abbatt
The Shropshire 12U boys team travelled to Bolton this weekend to compete against the best teams in Britain after qualifying for the National Finals earlier in the month. They were placed in a group with Yorkshire, Middlesex and Lancashire.
The match against Yorkshire was held on the first day, and they fielded Britain's No 4, 6 and 11 in the age group as their team line up, and with that stength, we lost 4-0.
Day two, and we started with Middlesex, who fielded Britain's No. 11, 22 and 41 in their team line up. Again it was a tough match, but with one notable victory for Shropshire. Tom Loxley (GB's No. 56) caused a massive upset by beating his opponent, ranked 34 places above him. This win also kept Shropshire in the tie for the doubles match, which we lost and therefore lost 3-1 in the tie.
In the second match on day two we played Lancashire who again had a stronger team than us, fielding Britain's No 11, 28 and 95. Again the boy's fought hard, and Will Abbatt, playing at No. 3, keeping us in the match with a win in three sets. This meant we had to win the doubles to take it into a shoot out. After losing the first set 5-3, Dom and Tom fought back and won 4-1 in the second, only to lose the third set tie break 10-3.
This meant we were 4th in the box and would play Somerset from the second group on the third day to see if we came 7th or 8th in the event.
Day three, and Dominic Robinson lost the first set 4-0, then won the second 4-1 to take it into a third set tie break. He was unfortunate to miss out 10-7. Tom Loxley, playing at No. 2, also lost the first set in a tie break and lost the second 4-1. This meant the team was down 2-0 and one more loss would mean Somerset had won.
But Will Abbatt, played at no. 3, recorded another victory 4-1, 4-0 to keep us in the tie. Tom and Dom then won the doubles match 4-2, 4-1 playing against the two players who beat them in the singles. This meant we were having our first shoot out, which is a championship doubles tie break (first to 10 points). We were soon 7-5 down in the tie break, and after convincingly beating them in the doubles match, things looked like they were about to change. But the boys keep the game plan of using the power and stormed to a 10-8 victory, giving Shropshire 7th place in the event.
Junior Team Coach, and Team Captain Pete Brown said: 'The whole weekend was a fantastic event with many of the top names in Britain in this age group involved with their counties. The boy's had done well to get to the finals, and it was always going to be a tough weekend of competitive tennis. Yorkshire ended up County Champions, and with a team all in the top 11 in GB, I'm not surprised. Middlesex came 3rd too, so our initial group seems to have been the tougher of the two. But what an experience for our players to compete against these counties and top ranked players, and at the end of the weekend 'crowned' 7th best team in the country. It's an amazing achievement for Shropshire, and with the 10U boy's coming 4th in Britain last month, Shropshire tennis is now competing at the highest level.'