Cambs III Secure Revenge Against Beds II

Cambridgeshire IIIrds hosted Bedfordshire IInds at the weekend (27th November) for their third ICC Division 5C match, and gained revenge for the 11-4 loss earlier in the season, with a 9-6 win. Geoff Green and Josh Males opened proceedings in the first and second men's singles respectively and got the team off to a perfect start, both winning comfortably in straight sets. The ladies weren’t quite so dominant and didn't have things all their own way. Laurel Bennett at first singles fought bravely but went down to a strong junior in the third set. Jess James (J) had a topsy-turvy match, winning the first set to 10 and losing the second 21-23, before getting her game face back on to win the third to 12. 3-1 to Cambs.

First pair Will Hodgkinson and Owen Mugeridge got the mens doubles off to a bad start, losing in straight sets to a strong pair. It proved to be a bad day at the office for the pair as they also went down in straight sets to the Beds second pair. Luckily scratch second pair Graham Barr and Josh M were able to turn the tables with two fantastic performances beating both the Beds pairs in straight sets. A combination to keep an eye on. 5-3 Cambs.

The ladies started in a similar way to the men as Emma Best and Laurel B at first pair lost a close fought three-ender to the Beds first pair, before second pair Sharon Chandler and Jess J squared things up, beating the Beds second pair in straight sets. Sharon managed to tweak a calf muscle during the game but fought bravely on, sporting even more colourful strapping than usual. This must have inspired her and Jess as they turned over the Beds first pair in three sets. Laurel and Emma followed suit, beating the Beds second pair in straight sets to take the match score to 8-4 and clinch the victory for Cambs.

Needing two out of three mixed for the bonus point, Sharon and Graham opened the mixed against the Beds first pair. Despite Sharon's injury they fought back well after losing a quick first set to take the second 21-17. The third set see-sawed back and forth, until the Beds pair managed to inch away in the last few points to win 21-16. 8-5 Cambs.

The bonus point was still on as Geoff and Laurel took to the court at second pair and despite losing the first set to 15, things looked good as they fought back to 19-15 up in the second. The Beds pair then staged a remarkable recovery and came back to 20-20, before edging away to finally win 25-23. 8-6 Cambs.

With the bonus point gone, Will and Emma wrapped up the match in a comfortable straight sets win over the Beds third pair. 9-6 Cambs.

Despite missing out the bonus point, Cambs III must come away with confidence after this win over the top team in the division. They now lie only a point behind Beds II after 3 matches and a win over Lincs II in a couple of weeks would make for a nice early Christmas present.

More information about results of the Cambs III team is available on the Team Page.

Cambs III in Winning Ways

Cambridgeshire IIIrd team hosted Northamptonshire IIIrds at the weekend for their second ICC Division 5C match, and got their season back on track with a 12-3 win.

Geoff Green and Owen Mugeridge opened proceedings in the first and second men’s singles respectively, with Geoff winning comfortably in straight sets. Owen found the going slightly tougher and lost in two. The ladies were more dominant as both Kate Marshall at first singles and Jess James (J) at second won comfortably in two sets, leaving the score 3-1 to Cambs.

The mens doubles continued in a similar vein, with first pair Will Hodgkinson and Josh Males (J) beating both the Nhants pairs in straight sets. Jet-setting second pair Owen and Damien Dugmore (recently back from the Balkans and China respectively) found the going tougher, losing a very tight game to the Nhants second pair in three sets. They finally found their form against the first pair, winning comfortably in two. 6-2 to Cambs.

The ladies dominated again in the doubles, with both Kate and Jess at first pair and Laurel Bennett and Lisa Lim at second beating both the Nhants pairs. Kate and Jess had a slight stumble against the first pair when they loss the second set, but they came back very strongly in the third to win 21-9. Laurel and Lisa won both their games comfortably. 10-2 to Cambs and all three points staying in Cambridge.

With the match won and all the points decided, the team could have relaxed, but instead maintained their level and took two out of the three mixed games. Scratch first pair Geoff and Kate battled back from a 10-21 loss in the first set to take the second 21-16, but lost out to the experienced Nhants pair 21-18 in the third. Second pair Will and Lisa and third pair Josh and Jess cruised through both of their games in two comfortable sets.

The 12-3 win is a good confidence booster for the team after the Bedfordshire defeat and means they are still in the running in the division.

More information about results of the Cambs III team is available on the Team Page.

Bedfordshire II vs Cambridgeshire III

Cambridgeshire IIIrd team travelled to Bedford last Sunday for their first ICC Division 5C match of the season, but came away empty handed after a 4-11 loss. Graham Barr and Will Hodgkinson opened proceedings in the 1st and 2nd men’s singles respectively and despite very competitive games, both lost in straight sets. The ladies fared slightly better when Kate Marshall won convincingly at 2nd singles, but Jess James (J) at 1st singles followed the men by losing in 2.

Things didn’t improve in the men’s doubles as first pair Will H and Josh Males (J) and second pair Will Cheng and Graham lost all of their games in straight sets. Mention must go to Will H and Josh however, as they lost their games by frustratingly narrow margins, 22-20, 22-20 and 21-18, 21-19.

The ladies doubles got off to a better start as 2nd pair Laurel Bennett and Lisa Lim beat their opposite pair in straight sets. Emma Best and Jess had a see-saw game against the Beds 1st pair, winning the first set 21-8, losing the second set 8-21 and then narrowly losing 20-22 in the third. The remaining doubles games all went to Beds, although Laurel and Lisa gave the Beds 1st pair a good run for their money, finally losing the third set 19-21.

With the score now at 10-2 the chance of a bonus point for Cambs III had gone, so playing only for pride Will H and Laurel opened the mixed against the Beds 1st pair. Things didn’t go quite according to plan though, and they suffered a heavy defeat in straight sets. Kate and Graham at 2nd mixed produced a fine performance, coming back from a set down to win in three. Josh and Jess followed suit with a spirit breaking comeback from 20-12 down in the second set, to finally win 21-13 in the third.

The 11-4 score line flatters Beds somewhat, and doesn’t quite reflect how close some of the games were. With the return leg in only a few weeks time a home win for Cambs III is not completely out of the question.

More information about results of the Cambs III team is available on the Team Page.

3rd Team start off with win

On the 31st October, Cambridgeshire 3 recorded their first ever win in the ICC with a 9-6 victory over Oxfordshire 3 at CRC. Fielding a new look team this season, including 3 juniors winning their first county caps, Cambs 3 got off to a slow with Will Hodgkinson and Campbell Wilson (J) losing both mens singles in 3 ends. The ladies faired better, with Laurel Bennet and Jess James (J) both recording wins to square the match, Laurel winning in 2 ends and Jess in 3.

Cambs got off to a strong start in the doubles with Will and Andy Kind overpowering the Oxfordshire 1st pair, winning in 2 ends. This was matched by Campbell and Josh Males (J) with a fantastic first senior win against the Oxfordshire second pair, again in 2 ends. Both the ladies first round games were very close, with Emma Best and Tracey Bichener unfortunate to lose a tight 3 ender. Laurel and Jess though ultimately proved too strong for the Oxfordshire 2nd pairing and came through an equally tight game to win in 3. This left the match score at 5-3 in favour of Cambs. The reverse doubles started in the same way as the previous games with Will and Andy again too strong for their opponents. Campbell and Josh found things tougher second time around, and went down in 2 close sets to the Oxfordshire 1st pair. The ladies were more successful, Emma and Tracey winning in 3 against the Oxfordshire 2nd pair and Laurel and Jess winning in 2 against the 1st pair. This final doubles game left the match score at 8-4 and confirmed a fantastic win for Cambs.

The icing on the already very special cake would have been to get maximum points, but the mixed proved a stretch too far. Josh and Emma won a close 3 ender for the 3rd mixed, but the first two mixed games had already gone to Oxfordshire with both Tracey and Andy, and Will and Laurel losing in 2 and 3 ends respectively. Nevertheless, for the 3rd team to record their first ever win in only their second season is a fantastic result. Next match is the 28th November at home to Middlesex 4.

IIIrd Team Struggle v Beds II

Second game in for the 3rd team proved a little harder than expected. With a few squad changes and some illness amongst the team - I guess that isn't the best preperation. Starting off with the mens singles, the 3rd team started off with a bit of a tough time...Tom up against a tough opponent, managing only to get 12 in both ends...Ray improving,, but still a little short with 16 and 15. Ladies singles on the other hand has been totally different, Laurel played as 1st this time, and had a very difficult and well trained opponent, taking it to 3 ends although loosing in the end(16-21, 21-17, 21-13)..and she had won her first singles on our first tie. Staci played at two this time around, and although she lost in two the second game was 26-24!, and she has had constant close matches always loosing at around 19!

Mens doubles. Owen and Tom having played together at the restricted had some history, but unfortunately this was one step up and lost both mens, though putting up a good fight. Playing at 2nds Damien and Ray took the Beds II pairs a bit further into 3 ends, however, without the killer instinct this time around weren't able to finish things off. Ladies doubles. Emma and Carolyn together for the first time played at 1 losing both games though close in all ends. Staci and Laurel played together at 2nd and were unfortaunately out played in both.

Mixed. Tom and Emma having played in the last match were put up as 1st pair, with Owen and Staci playing 2nd and Damien and Carolyn playing 3rds. With Owen and Staci going to 3 ends this looked like the best chance for a victory. Unfortunately the luck just didn't seem to be blowing in the way of Cambridgeshire and all three mixed ended up going the wrong way. All in all not the result that was hoped for, but it should not be forgotten that this is the first year the County has had a 3rd team. The purpose of which is a development team both for juniors and top club players to experience this level badminton. A couple of games in show that it takes a while to become acustomed to County level badminton, however, there is no doubt that over the season there will be a huge improvement.