2017/18 Senior County Teams Selected

Hi Everybody

Well now the dust from the restricted and tirals has settled, the selection committee has sat down over a few meetings and done the difficult job of trying to select teams. We have done this on a number of criteria:

• County performances from previous seasons;
• Results at the restricted;
• Results in other competitive events (leagues and tournaments);
• Potential for improvement;
• Availability;
• Discipline strength (given the format of the current county Competition);
• Commitment to the county.

We have been exceptionally lucky to be able to field some very strong teams this year and are hoping that we can fight for promotion in all 3 divisions.

Dates for your diary:

• 11th November: county match;
• 25th November: county teams social;
• 27th January: county match;
• 24th/25th March: county matches.

Below are the players selected for each county team this season. Please be aware that 1 man can now play in all 3 disciplines in a single match and so some players may play all 3, whilst others may only play 1.

Ist Team

• 2017/18 Ladies: Jenny Crump, Sara Cunnington, Hannah Sharman, Nat Taylor (C)
• 2017/18 Men: Andrew Kidger, Min Dabasinskas, Joe Pickering Sam Scharf, Martin Crossley

IInd Team

• 2017/18 Ladies: Olga Chernysheva, Alison Reed, Alison Meijers, Adele Woodhams, Jess Sharman
• 2017/18 Men: Dan Bates (c), Stephen Pickering, Neil Place, Simon Parker, Chris Tustian, 

IIIrd Team

• 2017/18 Ladies: Kerry Kellett (c), Chanumi Gamage, Steph Jong, Vicky Norris, Hannah Robertshaw
• 2017/18 Men: Jack Curtis, Chris Clarke, Michael Duncan, Mike Parker, Alex Wilson

Reserves 

Ruth le Fevre, Jude Ashman, Liz salmon, James wilson, Abu Kaher, Sanjeev Balasuthenthirarajan, Bertrand Bonnet-Badillé

Reserves are also pulled from a wide variety of players and may change over the season.

Congratulations to all that made it, and best of luck with the season!

The Selection Committee

County Selection Trials: 24th September

Cambridge County Badminton run 3 Senior County teams who are selected from a squad of players each year. All 3 teams play in the Badminton England Inter-Counties League.

Cambridgeshire Ists: Division 2 - Central
Cambridgeshire IInds: Division 3 - Central
Cambridgeshire IIIrds: Division 4 - East 

Cambridgeshire County Badminton Trials will be held at the University of Cambridge Sports Centre on the 24th September 2017.

Trials will be run at various times between 2pm and 6pm. If you are affiliated to Badminton England, eligible to represent the County, and would like to attend, please email nat_taylor@yahoo.co.uk who will confirm your place and send you your trial time.

A Facebook event is available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1924126441174828/

Start of season newsletter

With the start of the season rapidly approaching, a newsletter from the new County Committee was sent to the secretary of each affiliated club, asking them to pass it on to all of their members playing badminton in the County.

The message contained important information about major changes to the County Committee, and information about junior, senior and masters badminton in the County.  If you didn't get the letter then feel free to nudge your secretary to pass such information along!  In the mean time, the message is below:

Dear Club Secretary,

Please see below some updates about Cambridgeshire Badminton Association for the upcoming season.  I would be grateful if you could circulate this to your members so that they can keep up-to-date about badminton in the County.

AGM

Apologies for the delay in you receiving this information, but ahead of the new season I wanted to let you know that following the Cambridgeshire AGM this year it was agreed to raise the county affiliation fees as follows:

Senior: £2.80
Junior: £0.75
Associated Seniors: £2.00

At the AGM, the majority of the long-standing committee members stood down, after dedicating a very significant period of service.  The leaving members had served on the committee for a breathtaking combined 111+ years of work supporting the sport, and club members!

The County Committee is therefore now as follows:

Chairman/Publicity Officer: Daniel Bates
Secretary: Louise Place
Treasurer: Graham Barr
Registration Secretary: Campbell Wilson
Match Secretary/ South Cambs League Rep: Simon Parker
Tournament Secretary: Neil Place
Coaching Coordinator: James Wilson
Masters Coordinator: Nick Pratt

General Committee Members: Sahan Gamage, Ruth LeFevre, Geoff McCall, Damian Saunders.

Please remember the Association is run by volunteers and we need your support to keep Badminton going in the County. If you can help out with anything or have constructive comments please let us know.

COUNTY RESTRICTED

For those that are interested the annual County Restricted Tournament will be held on the weekend of 1st and 2nd October at Swavesey Village College:

Singles: Saturday 1st October 9am-3pm
Level and Mixed Doubles: Sunday 2nd October 9am-6pm

Anyone wishing to be considered for a County team should certainly make the effort to enter, as this is the best chance to pit your abilities against the most players from around the County. Entries will open within the next couple of weeks (announced on the website and Facebook) and will be via Tournament Software as per last year. 

We are also looking for volunteers to help with running the tournament, even if it's just for an hour or two. Please speak to myself or Neil (neilplace101@gmail.com) if you can help.
Please pass these details on to any of your club members who may be interested.  

MASTERS TEAMS

The county is also running Over 45s and Over 50s teams this year and are hoping to have an Over 40s team next year. If you are in either of these age groups (or approaching soon) and would like to get involved please contact Nick Pratt (nick.pratt68@gmail.com).

JUNIORS

We are also very excited that the County is fielding two junior teams this season, for the first time in several years.  Cambridgeshire will have an U18 and U16 team, and the teams will participate in regular squad practice sessions.  If you have juniors who you think are strong enough to try out for a team, please send in their details so that they can be invited.

COACHING

The Association has a long-standing commitment to coaching and development within the County.  If you are interested in taking your coaching badges, the County offers bursaries to help with the cost for anyone who can demonstrate they will be coaching in the area.  Please contact me for more information.

To keep up-to-date with other badminton news in the County, please do check the website at www.cambridgeshirebadminton.org and ‘like’ the Facebook page (search for “Cambs Badminton”).

Wishing you all an enjoyable and successful season!

Any comments or queries, please let me know.

Kind Regards,

Louise Place
Hon. Secretary
Cambridgeshire County Badminton

Senior County Team Trials

All-comers County team trials will be held at CRC on 20th September, 2-4pm.

The purpose of the session is to provide an opportunity for people to put themselves forward for potential county selection and provide a chance to identify potential for the future.

There are 3 courts booked for 2 hours, shuttles provided by the county; there will be a small contribution to the courts needed depending on numbers.

As we are constrained to only 6 court hours, numbers must be limited to around 20 to avoid long periods of sitting off. Priority will be given to those who RSVP first.

Anyone interested should email the selection committee to let them know: selection@cambridgeshirebadminton.org

Cambs IInds Go Into the Xmas Break Unbeaten With a Great Victory over Northants

Cambs IInd team continued their 2014-2015 campaign in style with another 8-7 victory over Northants on Sunday.

This game was always going to be a tough one, as these Cambs II v Northants matches have been very tight for several seasons. With James Wilson and Shan Sundra out with injuries, and several other players feeling under the weather – it was going to be tricky. 

Haixi Yan is becoming a regular feature in the IInd team, stepped up to play singles, along with Neil Place. Unfortunately both men lost in two, despite some great effort and lot of diving around the court!

Marijn Prins played outstandingly and is really looking like a classy singles player- she won in 2 against a very strong Northants lady. Katie Morton didn’t really get going and lost in two….having to rush off court at the end of the match to throw up! Clearly this worked and Katie and Adele went on to win both doubles matches in two, maintaining their unbeaten ladies doubles partnership this season. Marijn and Liz Salmon lost both doubles, despite taking their second pair to three and also getting very close against the first pair.

In the mens doubles, Neil and Daniel Bates maintained their composure and won both doubles, going to three in a particularly tight second game. The new pairing of Abu Kaher and Haixi took one match to really get going, but once they began to gel on court, they managed to pull off a great win in a niggly game, taking it to 6-6 going into the mixed.

The new partnership of Dan and Marijn were first off court, unfortunately having lost in two to a very steady Northants pair. Next off court were Abu and Katie, who managed to pull off an extremely tight win, 23-21, 22-20! This meant that, in typical Cambs II style, it was down to Neil and Adele! Adele’s parents were in the crowd along with two other supporters (we should consider charging for the spectators, its getting out of hand really!) and bums were getting twitchy. They managed to win the first game, lost the second….but held it together excellently to win 21-12 in the third! 

We’ve still got a lot of hard work ahead of us going into the New Year but overall an excellent first half of the season. 

The team: Neil Place, Haixi Yan, Abu Kaher, Daniel Bates, Katie Morton (c), Adele Woodhams, Marijn Prins, Liz Salmon.

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

Cambs IInds Win at Home Against Beds II

It was Cambs IInds first home match of the season on December 7th, and the home fans (all 2 of them) were not disappointed…with a comfortable victory over Beds 2.

With both of our usual mens singles players in action at the Masters Nationals the day before, the plan was to let both of them off the hook with the singles. Haixi Yan had kindly agreed to come along for a singles (I think he might be starting to enjoy it!) and we were pretty much down to drawing straws for the other singles. However, with Shan Sundra still stuck on the bus from Cambridge, James Wilson still returning from injury and Dan Bates still in Hatfield playing a Masters game….Neil Place agreed to take one for the team and play an extra match.

It might seem that the Cambs team had a slightly shambolic start….however this was nothing compared to the Beds II team who turned up minus a lady who forgot there was a match!

The Bedfordshire mens singles players were strong and despite a good fight from both Cambs players, we lost both. The ladies singles did not disappoint, with Marijn Prins and Katie Morton winning fairly comfortably in two.

Cambs captain, Katie was getting nervous with Dan Bates still not back from Hatfield….but with about 2 minutes to go, he came running in, racket at the ready! 

With James Wilson back in action following an ankle injury, the mens doubles was changed up this week, with James and Neil teaming up. It was great to see James back on form and looking like he was glad to be back. He and Neil gelled well on court to beat the Beds 1st pair in two.  
     
Dan and Shan beat the Beds 2nd pair in two very close games, and played well despite having never played together before. On the cross-over doubles, Neil and James took the Beds 2nd pair to three and won. Unfortunately, Dan and Shan lost in three.

Katie and Adele, and Marin and our other new recruit, Steph Potten, beat the Beds 1st pair in two. 

Going into the mixed with one more match to win in order to secure the bonus point, all three Cambs teams kept their heads and played superbly well. Neil and Adele decided to get their money’s worth and went to three, eventually beating the Beds II first pair. James and Marijn won comfortably in two, and Shan and Katie teamed up and managed to win in two, despite it being a very close game.

Thanks to Haixi for stepping in to play the singles and thanks to Steph for coming along, albeit just for one doubles match!

The team: Neil Place, Haixi Yan, James Wilson, Sutharshanan Sundrapandi, Daniel Bates, Katie Morton (c), Adele Woodhams, Marijn Prins, Steph Potten.

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

Cambs II pull off a convincing win against Suffolk II

Cambs IInd team continued this season’s success with a very convincing win against Suffolk II on Sunday November 23rd. After a very slow drive to Ipswich in appalling conditions, and a little bit of a shaky start in the singles, Cambs pulled it together, going on to win 13-2.

Neil Place was struggling with illness and an injury (developed during the first few points of the singles match!), and lost in 2 against a strong singles player.  Katie Morton made her singles debut for the season, but narrowly missed out on victory in a very tight 3-ender. Then came the second singles. With Dan Bates out with a chest infection, it was Haixi Yan’s turn to step in, despite mentioning on several occasions in the car on the way to the venue “I don’t really like singles”. Haixi put in a fantastic performance (clearly he is a singles player after all!) and won in a very tight 3-ender. Marijn Prins stepped up again to play singles –pulling off a very convincing win. This left us level pegging going into the doubles.

Suffolk demonstrated great gender equality by putting the ladies on first (clearly to show how it’s done). Adele Woodhams and Katie Morton won comfortably in 2 games against Suffolk’s 1st pair. Marijn Prins and Liz Salmon also won confortably against their 2nd pair – Liz showing that she is back with a vengeance after missing the first match of the season.   

The new partnership of Neil Place and Haixi Yan gelled immediately on court, winning 21-12, 21-12 against the Suffolk 1st pair. Shan Sundra and Abu Kaher had a tighter game against their 2nd but managed to win in two games, 21-18, 21-19.

On the cross-over doubles, both ladies teams won in two games, with Liz and Marijn looking really solid, especially as it was the first time they have played together.  Similarly, both mens teams won all their games, with Neil and Haixi looking very solid indeed (not dropping more than 12 points in any match). Abu and Shan had a shakier win, taking the Suffolk 1st pair to three, but in true Abu and Shan fashion the held it together and went on to win 21-15 in the third (I’m sure there were several between the leg defensive shots involved).

Although it was a nice feeling to be going into the mixed with a win, and the bonus point secure, Cambs were never going to be complacent. Cambs 1st pair, Neil and Adele got off to a cracking start winning in two (and managing not to break any rackets this week). Cambs 2nd pair, Shan and Marijn also won in two. The new paring of Abu and Liz decided to get their money’s worth and went to three. Abu’s composure and Liz’s first-class serving and total net domination really came through as they won a very close third end. 

Finally, it was time to eat some of Liz’s brownie (officially the best brownie in the East) and head home. Well done Cambs II, a great performance all round. Despite trying to set up an automatic player of the match online voting system….captain Katie Morton appears to be struggling with technology as results revealed that Dan Bates won player of the match…despite being at home with his feet up!  I think our unofficial player of the match has to be Haixi Yan for stepping in last minute, playing (and winning) his singles and also doing a great job in the doubles – Well done Haixi!

The team: Neil Place, Haixi Yan, Abu Kaher, Sutharshanan Sundrapandi, Katie Morton (c), Adele Woodhams, Marijn Prins, Liz Salmon.

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