30th/31st May, 10&U boys Aegon County Cup Qualifying.
Hosted by The Weald TC.
Kent, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire & Isle Of Wight, Dorset and Sussex.
Players: Darcy Pycroft, Finlay Edwards, Jonah Bryant and Charlie Holmes with William Taunton the non-travelling reserve.
Team Captain Ed Cotcher and Assistant Rob White
The format for Saturday was 2 groups of 3 teams in a round robin format, the top 2 from each group would go through to a Semi-Final and Final on Sunday, while the 3rd placed teams would play off against each other for 5th/6th place. Sussex had Hampshire & IOW and Surrey in our group.
First up against Hampshire & IOW. Darcy, Finlay & Jonah, The Hampshire team were very strong, hitting with patience, consistency and intensity. We were outplayed and despite each of the boys putting up some resistance, we were 3-0 down with the doubles up later. After a team talk, more intensity from our team as a whole was a must. I wanted to give the 3 who played the first match another chance. Finlay played with courage and determination staying very consistent from the baseline against a strong Surrey No.2. losing a close 1st set 5-3, before going down 4-1 in the 2nd. Jonah played extremely well in the 1st set against their No.3, chasing down every ball displaying some fantastic movement before losing in the tie break. He played with more belief, but after losing such a close 1st set, the match got away with too many errors in going down 4-1 in the 2nd. Darcy played Surrey'sNo.1 and put up a good fight going down 4-1 4-1. Doubles were played with Darcy & Jonah playing against Hampshire & IOW and lost in straight sets. Charlie came in for his first match of the day in tough circumstances. He and Finlay played a great doubles match together against Surrey. They too lost in straight sets. A very tough day for all involved, and we looked to a brighter day on Sunday to play the 5th/6th playoff.
Poor weather conditions meant the start time was 1.30pm. We were up against Buckinghamshire. I spoke to the players beforehand to outline that this was now a "Cup Final" and to play with "No regrets". Charlie came in for his first singles of the weekend and played a fantastic match against their No 3 player, winning 4-0 4-1. Jonah played a very consistent No 2, losing 5-3, 4-0. Darcy was involved in a battle on court 1. After losing 4-1 in the 1st set, he showed great resilience to come back in the 2nd set with some fantastic attacking tennis, taking the set on a tie-break 7-5. Unfortunately losing 3rd set in a tiebreak 10-8. Team Sussex were 2-1 down. A win in the doubles would take it to a shootout, so we were still very much in it. I went with Jonah & Charlie for the doubles. After winning the 1st set comfortably 4-1 with simple but effective doubles play, a resurgent Bucks team took the 2nd set 5-3. The boys battled through the 3rd set tie-break and ended up winning 10-7. So to a shootout to decide who finished 5th. After a quick talk with the players, we stuck with Jonah and Charlie to play a 10 point tie-break to decide the winner. We started fantastically & went 6-0 up and despite a mini-comeback from Bucks the boys ended up winning 10-5. Special mention goes to Jonah who was inspirational in his encouragement for Charlie throughout both doubles matches and to both for their fearless final set.
We ended up 5th overall and after having to endure a very tough introduction to County Cup on the Saturday, I'm very happy we got the win on the Sunday. I'm proud of the players Darcy, Finlay, Jonah & Charlie all played their part and it was a pleasure to captain them.
Ed Cotcher - Sussex Boys 10&U County Captain