Somerset opened their account in Group 5 this year with a strong performance against South of Scotland. The victory, winning 8 rubbers to 1, comes off solid practice sessions leading up to the match. Somerset completed an opening round 2-1 win where Pankhurst and Bernard racked up a good win against South of Scotland pair Ryan Maxfield and Mark Openshaw, who won 15 of 15 in group six last year. American university students Manlow and Felton lost a tight one 7-6 7-6 with no breaks against former Dorset Open champion Calum Gee and partner Robert Price. Trull and Brean duo Bettles and Phillips did well to win their match from a set down against the South of Scotland third pair.
The second round produced strong performances from all the Somerset pairs with Bettles and Phillips taking the notable scalps of Gee and Price in the 3rd set tiebreak. Felton/Manlow and Pankhurst and Bernard both produced solid performances to win their matches 6-4 6-4. Somerset completed the rout with a clean sweep of the final round of rubbers with Felton/Manlow and Pankhurst / Bernard winning their matches in quick time. Phillips and Bettles were again last on court, grinding out another third set tie-break win over Maxfield and Openshaw to crown a great opening day for Somerset.
Captain Matthew Bernard said “this was a great performance from the team today”. He also commented he was “pleased to get the opening day win” but cautiously noted that much “hard work is yet to come” in what is a “tough group”. West Hants performance coach Pankhurst was pleased with the days performance saying “it’s great to get back into the winning feeling”
Reserves Lister and Deem observed the performance from the sidelines, spending the day watching and compiling each player’s stats from the previous year’s county cups. Veteran Captain Bernard has compiled over 100 county week rubbers in a 19 year period, a truly impressive record. Somerset now play. Cambridgeshire on day 2, who lost 6-3 to Buckinghamshire on day 1.
Full day 1 results can be found at Here
The squad consists of Matthew Bernard (Taunton), James Pankhurst (Bournemouth), James Deem (Wellington), Chris Lister (Minehead), Matthew Bettles (Trull), Dan Manlow (Wellington), Alistair Felton (Barton st David), Craig Phillips (Brean) and Richard Gabb (Street).