Defeat for IInd Team

With 4 players making a debut to Senior County matches the Cambs team knew this would be a tough match.  The match started with Jason Lai & Ben Carter (debut) putting up some resistance to their opponents in the Men's singles but conceding in 2 ends. The Second Ladies singles also went to Suffolk in 2 ends with Carolyn Key (debut) being introduced to senior singles. Liz Salmon put up a fight in the first ladies' singles but sadly lost in 3 ends.

The Men's Doubles started well giving Cambs some hope with Sam Scharf and Chris Lim beating the Suffolk 1st pair in 3 ends. Sadly this was not to continue as they went on to be beaten by the second pair . Sam Pickup and Ben Carter as a debut scratch pair fought well but failed to trouble their opponents.

The ladies doubles was balanced with Liz Salmon and Sandra Ashcroft bring home 2 rubbers, both in 3 ends, but Tracey Bichener and Carolyn Key were disappointed being beaten in 2 ends.

Going into the Mixed Cambs needed to bring all 3 in to get a point of Suffolk. It started well with Liz Salmon and Sam Scharf winning comfortably in 2 ends, but Suffolk ruled the day as scratch pairs Sandra Ashcroft and Ben Carter, Tracey Bichener and Sam Pickup sadly lost in 2 ends each. Match result 11-4 to Suffolk.

IInd Team Falter in Tough Match

The second fixture of the season started with Jason Lai and Liz Salmon’s singles matches. After an epic battle the young but ever impressive Lai won 21-16, 14-21, 21-16 and produced Cambridgeshire’s first point of the fixture. With a strong set of women the Leicestershire’s first lady beat Salmon in a well battled game14-21, 15-21 to tie the match after the first two games. The second string of games all went to Leicestershire beating Watkins in three 21-16, 14-21, 21-16 and Hayward who was making her first appearance in two 19-21, 11-21.

Entering the doubles games with a three to one deficit, the Cambridgeshire team went down in all four ladies doubles games again illustrating the strength of the Leicestershire women.

The men had slightly better fortune with the pairings of Bates/Couch and Hodgkinson/Watkins both beating the second pair. Both pairs came unstuck loosing in three ends against the first Leicestershire pair.

Having played the singles and doubles Cambridgeshire were 9 – 3 down and playing for the chance of a single point. The first match on was Couch and Salmon who, after a mammoth first end, lost 25-27, 17-21. Thus playing now for pride the final two mixed started their games with Hodgkinson/Chandler after a closely fought first end comfortably won 22-20, 21-8 with some excellent play by Chandler. The final mixed was won by Bates/Godfrey in three, showing superb battling and Cambridgeshire determination to win in three 20-22, 15-21, 21-17. The final score 5-10 in Leicestershire’s favour.

Great Start for IInd Team

The first fixture of the season for 2008-2009 started with a nine games to six victory. In the singles, Cambs took three out of the four singles with newly crowned restricted champion James Watkins comfortably beating his opponent 21-17, 21-9.  The second of the three came from Jason Lai who took his in three ends, 10-21, 21-11, 21-18, a superb battling performance indeed. In the ladies singles Liz Salmon won in two ends 21-13, 21-12 with her serve catching out the opponent on more than one occasion. The last ladies singles saw Isabel Gutteridge take on a strong Bedfordshire player who after a battling three ends gave Bedfordshire their only singles point 19-21, 21-15, 16-21.

Having attained a 3-1 advantage at this stage the level doubles begun with new men’s pairings Will Hodgkinson/Dan Bates as well as James Watkins/Neil Place. Watkins and Place successfully took both or their games to add another two to the Cambridgeshire total, with Hodgkinson and Bates adding another point. Not a bad effort considering it was their first time on court together. With some necessary practice together this could be a very fruitful partnership.

Moving onto the ladies doubles the pairings of Amanda Godfrey/Tracey Bichener and Liz Salmon/Sandra Ashcroft both added single victories in three end epics with Godfrey and Bichener unfortunate to take both.

Going into the mixed games Cambridgeshire had already been assured of the victory after Salmon and Ashcroft fought to victory sending the Camb’s squad into a rapturous cheer.  Within the mixed pairs, Place and Salmon took the only victory capping a fine day for both players. The other pairings of Bates/Godfrey and Hodgkinson/Gutteridge both went to three ends but were sadly pipped at the post by their Bedfordshire counter parts.

All in all, considering the new look squad and a newly promoted side a victory away from home was a superb effort by all. With more experience together we expect the new pairings to get even better and predict a successful season. Having just come into the side I personally feel the one thing this team has is a lot of fight and support for each other, which no doubt will only increase as the season progresses. 

County Selections 2008/2009

Once again the county selection for the forthcoming season has taken a long time and has been a difficult process. There are many players with a strong case to be included, but there are only a limited number of places we can offer and we have tried to be as objective and fair as we can.

The selections below are based on many factors, including:

- performance over the summer practices

- results at the restricted tournament

- performance from the previous season

- potential

- availability

- commitment to county/training

- personal development and course plain old talent.

We have lost some players but also gained new ones, so there are some new names and faces here and there. Currently we have two county teams, the first team in div. 2B and the second team in div. 4B. The first team narrowly missed promotion last year so the target for this season is to again push for a high finish. The second team did get promoted last year and their target will be to consolidate that position and ideally achieve a successive promotion. To this end we have decided upon a squad of 29 players (16 men and 13 ladies) of which 11 are reserves. We must nominate four men and four ladies for the first team who then cannot play down in the seconds. We have also decided to allocate one further man who does not have to be nominated, but who will also be a first team pick. As the match dates this year are the same for both the first and second teams, it is highly likely that the reserves will be called upon during the season.

Before we list the teams, although no doubt some of you have already taken a sneak peak, we should mention the restricted. Special mention should go to Olga Bryant for winning a clean sweep again, James Watkins for a fantastic win in the mens singles, Kevin and Sonny for successfully defending their mens title and of course Nick Pratt for winning the mixed for the 8th time in 10 years. We'd also like to welcome newcomers Katie Balls, Will Hodgkinson and Peter Galloway to the county squad, who have all impressed recently with very strong performances.

And so to the teams......

First Team Ladies:

Olga Bryant (nominated)

Alison Bennet (nominated)

Katie Balls (nominated)

Jaclyn Lai (nominated)

First Team Men:

Rob Pace (nominated, captain)

Jon Carson (nominated)

Peter Galloway (nominated)

John Tibbutt (nominated)

James Wilson

Second Team Ladies:

Liz Salmon

Sharon Chandler

Amanda Godfrey

Tracey Hayward

Second Team Men:

James Watkins

Dan Bates

Rob Couch

Will Hodgkinson (captain)

Jason Lai

Reserves

Nick Pratt

Sonny Loy

Neil Place

Stephen Pickering

Joe Pickering

Mariusz Borowiec

Sandra Ashcroft

Isabel Gutteridge

Tracey Bichener

Carolyn Key

Rachel Farrington

The first county matches are on Sunday the 12th October. Further emails regarding training and match arrangements will be sent out shortly. Many thanks, Olga, James and John.

County Champions! - IInd Team Win The League

The second team approached the final match of the season with hope and apprehension, knowing that a win was essential for the long desired promotion from the 5th division. The singles started well with all Cambridgeshire players, Jason & Jaclyn Lai, Rob Couch and Alison Bennett securing wins in 2 ends.

The Men's doubles started with slight consternation as Daniel Bates & Rob Couch won their first end of men's 26-24 and narrowly lost the second end to 19. They found form in the third end and won comfortably to 12 then were comfortable throughout their match against the second pair. Neil Place and James Watkins had an easy first match against the second pair winning 6 & 7, but had to work harder against the first pair to win in 2 ends.

The ladies doubles was a bit more mixed with Alison Bennett and Jaclyn Lai playing very well and denying the opponents double figures in most games, the second pair Sandra Ashcroft and Liz Salmon struggled a bit, losing narrowly 22-20 in the third end to the second pair, but rallied round to beat the first pair in 3 ends.

With the match and league decided going into the mixed the Cambridgeshire team were more relaxed! First pair Rob Couch and Alison Bennett won in 3 ends, and the decision to try mixing youth with experience paid off with Daniel Bates and Jaclyn Lai, James Watkins and Liz Salmon both winning in 2 ends.

The second team look forward to the challenges awaiting them next year in division 4 and wish to commiserate the first team on missing promotion so narrowly. 

County IInd Team Lose to Northamptonshire IInds

On Sunday both the county 1st and 2nd teams played their penultimate matches of the 2007/08 Victor Inter County Championship. Going into the weekend matches both teams were unbeaten, with them both needing bonus point wins to secure league champions status.

The situation was similar for Cambridgeshire 2nd team when they played host to Northamptonshire II. The Cambridgeshire ladies have been dominant during the season, and quickly opened up a two nil lead with wins for Jaclyn Lai and Alison Bennett in the ladies singles. Northamptonshire then levelled the match defeating Jason Lai and Rob Couch in the men’s singles.

The Cambridgeshire men found the going tough in the doubles with a solitary win coming from 1st pairing of Neil Place and James Watkins and 2nd pairing of Rob Couch and Craig Haughton losing both their matches. The Cambridgeshire ladies once again levelled the match with 2 wins for Jaclyn Lai and Alison Bennett, and 1 win for Liz Salmon and Sandra Ashcroft.

The mixed started well for Cambridgeshire, with Neil Place/Liz Salmon winning their match, albeit with the opposition conceding through an injury. Northamptonshire 1st pairing quickly levelled the match beating Rob Couch and Alison Bennett in two straight ends. Once again the match has gone to the final mixed, and once again this had gone to the 3rd end, with James Watkins and Jaclyn Lai winning the 1st end 21-16, but lost the 2nd end 17-21. In the end, Northamptonshire proved too strong, winning the 3rd end 21-15.

This gave Northamptonshire II team an 8-7 win. Cambridgeshire final match of the season is this coming Sunday away to Worcestershire IV, where a win for Cambs will see them as division 5 champions.