Senior County Selection 2013-14

As always, senior County selection has been a very long and challenging  process, with many players making strong cases for their inclusion.  Please appreciate that the Selection Committee apply a considerable amount of time and thought to the decision, and that there are only a very limited number of places to be offered.  We have tried to be as objective and fair as we can in applying the following selection criteria:

• County performance from the previous season;
• Results at the restricted tournament;
• Results at other tournaments over the last twelve months;
• Potential for improvement / Development trajectory;
• Availability; and
• Commitment to the County.

The standard within all the teams this year is incredibly strong. For anyone who is disappointed at not making a team, it is worth noting that in previous seasons there are often opportunities to play up or play within teams and due to the competition this year (especially for the Mens III spaces) the Selection Committee certainly hope that most players get their chance to show off their ability.

Please continue to let the Selection Committee know (selection@cambridgeshirebadminton.org) of any achievements or improvements that you have as the more information we have is better to aid our selection.

This season we are submitting three teams: Ist team (Division 2), IInd team (Division 5) and IIIrd team (Division 6).  If you want to add fixtures to your phone/Google calendar, then instructions are at http://www.cambridgeshirebadminton.org/calendar/

We hope everyone has a great season and plays well, and remember to give full vocal support to your team-mates.

Best of luck,

(Dan, Graham, John, Katie & Sara)

Cambridgeshire County Teams 2013-14

TEAM 1

(Division 2: First Match 27th October away)

Mindaugas Dabasinskas, Paul Heads, Sam Scharf, Simon Woodhouse

Alison Meijers, Olga Bryant, Natalie Taylor, Sara Cunnington (saracunnington@gmail.com) ©

TEAM 2

(Division 5: First Match 20th October away)

Abu Kaher, Daniel Bates (daniel@bates.net) ©, Joe Pickering, Neil Place, Stephen Pickering

Adele Woodhams, Kate Marshall, Katie Morton, Louise Tarbit, Vicky Norris

TEAM 3

(Division 6: First Match 13th October away)

Ben Aldred, Damien Dugmore, James Watkins, Paul Martell (pamartelluk@yahoo.com) ©, Geoff Green

Laurel Bennett, Liz Salmon, Sharon Chandler, Tanny Dan

RESERVES (in no particular order)

James Wilson, Graham Barr, Will Hodgkins, Sanjeev Balasuthenthirarajan, Tom Frearson, Sunny Kong, Michael Parker, Simon Parker, Adam Parr, Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian, John Tibbutt

Yoong-Eun Kwon, Jo Brant, Emma Best, Molly Carter, Lisa Goff, Stacy Knoop, Hazel Greetham, Emma Brewster, Holly Gale, Sammy Jones,

Cambs IInds 'Flipped' in Northants

It was in arctic conditions that the Cambs IInd team arrived for their second match against Northants Ist team in a week.  There had been a number of squad rotations, and a special season's appearance by Sam Pickup, 'fresh' from his University BUCS weekend.

​Northants were keen to avenge their previous week's defeat, and it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a long and gruelling day - the temperature in the hall was hitting debilitating lows and with only two courts and many games going to three ends, it was very late into the afternoon before a result was reached.

The singles was neck and neck, with Stephen Pickering experiencing a very similar game against Matt Asbrey as Paul Heads had the week before - with the Northants player starting strongly, but Stephen gaining ground to win in three.  Sam Pickup also overcame his exhaustion and nausea to win, while Katie Morton and Laurel Bennet found the Northants ladies too strong and both lost in straight sets.

In the doubles the balance started to tip slightly in Northants' favour, with both Stephen and Sam, and Daniel Bates and James Wilson failing to secure their first games.  Katie and Louise were also defeated, while Laurel and Jessica Sharman ground out a three set win after losing the first end in sets 22-20.  Things improved for the men in the second round, with both pairs turning the form book on its head by winning, while the ladies again found Northants too tough.  Katie and Louise agonisingly lost the third end of their game 23-21.

That left Cambridgeshire trailing 7-5 going into the mixed round.​  However, as muscles continued to stiffen in the ever-freezing conditions, it was too much of a task to overturn the lead.  Although Stephen and Louise won comfortably, James and Katie were dispatched in two ends, meaning the match was lost.  Perennial mixed back runners Daniel and Jessica also lost their nerve and despite winning the first end comfortably, eventually succumbed and lost in three, leaving the result a mirror-image 9-6 of the previous week.

Although this was a reasonable result, and the consolation point secured, there was still an edge of glumness to the team.  The cold had dulled everyone's mood, and also there was a sadness that a better result in the match had not been that far away.​

Congratulations also go to Stephen, who pipped Sam Pickup to the coveted Player of the Match position.​

The team: Daniel Bates (c), Katie Morton: Hurst Badminton Club /  James Wilson, Louise Tarbit: Ely Victoria Badminton Club / Jessica Sharman: Court Badminton Club / Sam Pickup: University / Laurel Bennet, Stephen Pickering.

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

Cambs IInd Pip Northants Ist

After a long break, including a snow postponement, the Cambs senior IInd team returned to action in the first of a double-header against Northants Ist team at CRC on 24th February. Spirits were high, as Skipper Daniel Bates was celebrating a 'significant Birthday', and sporting Birthday Boy badge, he insisted that the team deliver him the present of a win.

Northants had been doing well in the division so far, so it was pleasing that Cambs started well. Despite some extremely spirited resistance, and losing the first end in a thunderous 23-25 clash, Paul Heads took his singles by dominating the second set 21-9 and then edged out opponent Matt Asbrey 21-18 in the third.

In the other men's singles, debutante Abu Kaher fought well in a discipline in which he does not particularly specialise, but was beaten in two tight sets - 20-22, 18-21.

The girls singles also saw Cambridgeshire success.  Molly Carter showed true grit to ground out a three-end result against an athletic Marain Formenko 18-21, 21-18, 21-18, while another debutante, antipodean Alison Greenhill, raced to a 21-11, 21-10 victory.

In the mens doubles, the regular partnership of Paul and James Wilson worked well together, and secured both of their games in straight sets with confident play. The new pairing of Daniel Bates and Abu hit the ground running with a 21-6, 21-4 win, but then ran out of steam in the closing points of their second game, losing by the finest margin 21-14, 13-21, 21-23.

In the ladies doubles Northants staged something of a comeback. The new pairing of Molly and Alison beat their first opponents in a tight three-ender, but then unexpectedly struggled against the second pair and were hunted down in the third end 22-20, 19-21, 15-21. The regular pairing of Katie Morton and Jessica Sharman also struggled to impose themselves on their games, and lost both in straight sets -always getting high scores, but unable to convert pressure into wins.

That left the match still in the balance going into the mixed, with Cambs 7-5 up.  Things got even closer when Paul and Katie lost to a strong pair, despite winning the first end 21-17, followed by 12-21, 16-21.  On the third court though, the new pairing of James and Alison had romped home quickly, and triumphed 21-6, 21-12. In the middle match, Jess initially carried over her disappointment from the ladies games, and she and Daniel were beaten 13-21 with Matt dictating the everything. However, the Cambs pair asserted themselves on the game, and eventually held their nerve and completed the final two ends by winning 21-17, 21-19.

That left Cambs 9-6 winners - satisfied, but having missed out on the bonus point by a single game. The end of the match saw the distribution on a stupendous *quadruple* chocolate Birthday cake in celebration.  We must only hope that the team will have worked off the calorific overload before travelling back to Northants to repeat the match next week!

Congratulations also go to Alison, who was voted Player of the Match by the team, with 67% of the vote - pipping Daniel and Abu to the award.​

The team: Daniel Bates (c), Abu Kaher, Katie Morton: Hurst Badminton Club /  Paul Heads, James Wilson: Ely Victoria Badminton Club / Jessica Sharman: Court Badminton Club / Alison Greenhill: Ramblers Badminton Club ​/ Molly Carter: St Ives Badminton Club.

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

Cambs II Repeat 8-7 Leicestershire Win

Cambs IInd team faced the return match against the Leicestershire IIIrd team on Sunday 13th January at CRC, in another tiffin-fuelled nailbiter.

Starting with the singles, the match followed the identical pattern of the away leg, with Paul Heads and Stephen Pickering picking up the mens singles, while Katie Morton and Laurel Bennett struggled to apply pressure against a much-changed Leicestershire side.

Going into the levels, Paul and James Wilson continued to develop the understanding in their partnership, winning in straight sets.  However, it was a shock to see the new pairing of captain Daniel Bates and Stephen Pickering beaten in two ends despite a late rally, victims of poor touch and consistency.  Thankfully, the ladies had more success this time, with Katie and Jessica Sharman combining well to win their game, although Laurel and Louise Tarbit (struggling with a ill-advised netball injury) lost in straight sets.

The second round of doubles followed exactly the same path.  James and Paul kept their heads(!) to win despite losing the first end, Daniel and Stephen failed to capitalise on a mid-game turnaround, Katie and Jessica stayed strong to win another three-end marathon, and Laurel and Louise found the final winning handful of points difficult to grasp.

That left the match absolutely in the balance, 6-6 going into the dramatic final mixed round.  Paul and Katie had established a strong lead in their first game, but half-way through the second the Leicestershire player suffered a debilitating attack of cramp, and eventually had to withdraw.  In second berth, James and Louise struggled to find their consistency, and lost the first end quickly.  Despite ratcheting up their effort levels, they also lost the second end, albeit to 19.

That left the entire hushed hall, watching rapt as Daniel and Jessica went into their third end.  Having lost the first end closely to 19, they had upped their pace in the second and won comfortably to 15.  They established a good lead, and then finally, with Jessica serving in an atmosphere where you could hear a pin drop, they closed out the game, and the match.  

Once again, it had ended 8-7 to Cambridgeshire.  Cue exhausted smiles, and a completion of the remaining tiffin rations.

Voting for Player of the Match (MVP) was completed by early evening - a record - and was awarded to Jessica for her all-round performance and cool head in the final reckoning.

An oddly laid-out fixture list now sees the IInd team face Staffordshire again, before two double-headers against Northants and then Ulster.

The team: Daniel Bates (c), Katie Morton: Hurst Badminton Club /  Paul Heads, Louise Tarbit, James Wilson: Ely Victoria Badminton Club / Jessica Sharman: Court Badminton Club / Stephen Pickering, Laurel Bennett

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

Cambs IInd Close Out Tough Leics Trip

Sunday saw apocalyptic weather, as Cambs IInd team fought the elements to travel to Leicestershire IIIrds for their second match of the season.  Once safely in the 'home of Leicestershire badminton' though, the team was still battered by a storm of tricky games.

With four courts in play, all the singles games went on together.  The men (stand-in Sam Scharf, and Paul Heads) secured reasonably comfortable wins, notwithstanding Paul being annoyed at his own performance in the second end having lost a comfortable lead to only win 23-21.  However, the girls faced an uphill task, playing strong Leics ladies.  Katie Morton was battling a hangover, while Jessica Sharman was grappling with singles nerves.  After starting brightly, Katie was edged out of a tight three-ender 21-18, 19-21, 17-21.  Jess was engaged in a singles game with the most astonishing number of serving errors from both players.  It really was down to who could serve the most consistently, and while she started to play well, Jess couldn't quite string enough points together and lost 18-21, 16-21.

The level doubles game followed a similar pattern, albeit with a shock in the mens.  All four ladies games went to Leics, who had quality in depth in their squad.  All of the games were close, with the Cambs ladies getting to mid-high teens in every one.  Club partners Louise Tarbit and debutante Jacquie Dennis played well, but couldn't exert control over the Leics ladies.  Katie and Jess went agonisingly close with another three-ender against the second pair, finishing in setting: 14-21, 21-16, 20-22.

In the mens, Sam and Skipper Daniel Bates were playing like men who had somewhere to be, winning the first end against the Leics first pairing to 7, and then finishing the second to 16.  They also won against the second pair comfortably.  Paul and James Wilson however won their first game easily (21-8, 21-14), but then came up against a wall in the second.  They found the Leics pair's defence just too good, and could not adjust their game plan, leaving them 19-21, 19-21 down.

That meant Cambs were trailing 5-7 going into the mixed, with a victory looking unlikely.  However, the traditional favouring for mixed in the County came again to the fore.  Paul and Katie have rapidly developed an understanding, and for the second match running registered a commanding win 21-13, 21-12.  James and Lou made harder work of their game, losing the first end in sets before building up a real head of steam, and winning 20-22, 21-19, 21-12.  That left Dan and Jess still on court, and the match there for the taking.  After slipping slightly in the middle period, they secured the game and the match by playing solid badminton and running away in the third end, winning 21-18, 17-21, 21-14.

The so the win was secure, although Leics IIIrds left with a well-deserved bonus point.  An exhausted Cambs team fell in to head for home, but the difficult day dragged on a little longer, with navigational crises making it difficult to find a suitable en-route watering hole which wasn't located down a dead-end country lane.  Cambs would also like to register a formal complaint to the Beefeater Observatory in Braunstone: not only does it not feature correctly on TomTom, but it is unacceptable to advertise 'Ultimate Chips', which have not a single quality which could be described as 'Ultimate', nor which are little more than a small cup of french fries...It was certainly sorely lacking for a hungry badminton team.

The IInd team now enjoy a break in matches until mid-January, when the face.... Leics IIIrds...(!)  The team will need to come out fighting to again earn points from the return leg.

The team: Daniel Bates (c), Sam Scharf, Katie Morton: Hurst Badminton Club / Paul Heads, Louise Tarbit, James Wilson, Jacquie Dennis: Ely Victoria Badminton Club / Jessica Sharman: Court Badminton Club

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

Cambs II Kick Off With Staffs Win

​With some new faces added to the ranks, it fell to the Cambs IInd team to kick off the ICC season this year, with a home match against Staffs IIIrds in the newly designated 'Division 5 Central'.  The IInd team are the very grateful recipients of the hard labours of the IIIrds last year, who won promotion through their Division 5 playoffs, with the higher league placing resulting in the IInd team going up.  However, with the vagaries of Badminton England organisation, such promotion has resulted in the team remaining in 'Division 5' because other leagues above have been re-ordered!

​There was much anticipation as the team formed and began to warm up, and everyone knew the day was sure to be a good one when the 1-ton tin of homemade tiffin arrived with Katie.

Staffs looked like a young but decent team, and that proved to be the case in the singles.  Debutante Paul Heads enjoyed some challenging rallies, but always had the class to be in charge of his game, and won in two straight games, as did Katie Morton - looking more the classy singles player every match.  Will Hodkinson and Laurel Bennett both encountered sterner resistance.  Laurel played well, but was eventually outrun by a younger opponent, while Will's match was the spectator selection of the round, with a nailbiting first end going to 21-23.​  Unfortunately, despite giving his all, and winning the middle game, Will was pipped 19-21 in the third.

With the match 2-2 going into the levels then, Cambs II knew that they are going to have to fight for all their points this season.  In the mens doubles, Paul and James Wilson - the established pairing - had a harder game against the first Staffs men, but then settled into their groove and beat the second pairing comfortably.​  Will and Daniel Bates founding the going harder.  Although they powered home to win a third end 21-10 against the second pair, they gave the first pair over-generous leads in both games, and failed to reel them back in, and lost in straight sets.

The ladies doubles also reflected a difference in strength between the two Staffs pairs.  Both Katie and Jessica ​Sharman, and Laurel and Louise Tarbit (also a debutante) won in straight games against the Staffs second pair.  However, in identikit games, they won the first end, and then lost the second two in hard games against their first.

​That left the score 7-5 going into the mixed, and with both victory and the bonus point for Cambs sitting on a knife-edge.  James and Louise put their experience together to good use, winning in two - although they conspired to take the second to an impressive 29-27, after having been a long way behind.  New pairing Paul and Katie seemed to click well, and rampaged to a 21-4 / 21-7 victory, clearly inspired to get back to the tiffin-tin before anyone else was off court.  This left the bonus point down to Daniel and Jess, who despite letting a good lead slip away, were comfortable in winning their game in two ends.

This was a stiff test for a new team, and it's clear that the league will be a challenging one.  It's great to get the season off to such a good start though.​

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Cambs IInd Team 2012-13​

The team: Daniel Bates (c), Katie Morton: Hurst Badminton Club / Paul Heads, Louise Tarbit, James Wilson: Ely Victoria Badminton Club / Jessica Sharman: Court Badminton Club / Will Hodgkinson, Laurel Bennett

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

County Selection 2012-2013

As always, County selection has been a very long and difficult process, with many players making strong cases for their inclusion.  Please appreciate that the Selection Committee apply a considerable amount of thought to the decision, and that there are only a very limited number of places we can offer.  We have tried to be as objective and fair as we can in applying the following selection criteria:

• Results at the restricted tournament;
• Results at other tournaments over the last twelve months;
• County performance from the previous season;
• Potential for improvement / Development trajectory;
• Availability;
• Commitment to the County;

For anyone who is disappointed at not making a team, it is worth noting that in previous seasons there have been more than enough times when players have been required to play up to support higher teams. It is likely that everyone will get their chance to shine at some point.

This season we are submitting three teams: Ist team (Division 3 Central), IInd team (Division 5 Central) and IIIrd team (Division 6 East).  More details are available in the 'Senior County Squads' sections.

The targets for this year are for the Ist team to obtain promotion back to what is now Division 2.  The IInd team have got a very strong challenge, to do well in their division which includes the Ulster team.  The IIIrd team excelled themselves to go through the playoffs last year, and we would hope that they might be able to do the same again this season!

The teams as selected are:

Ist Team

Ladies: Olga Bryant, Jen Hewitt, Sara Mason (c), Natalie Taylor

Men: Min Dabasinskas, Tom Li, Neil Place, Simon Woodhouse

IInd Team

Ladies: Laurel Bennett, Katie Morton, Jessica Sharman, Louise Tarbit

Men: Daniel Bates (c), Paul Heads, Stephen Pickering, James Wilson

IIIrd Team

Ladies: Sharon Chandler, Emma Brewster, Jacquie Dennis, Holly Gayle, Stacy Knoop

Men: Graham Barr, Geoff Green, Aiden Foo, Martin Harvey, Will Hodgkinson, Paul Martell, Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian, Tom Zhang

John Tibbutt (Non-playing Captain)

Squad

(These are players who might be available for selection from time to time, but are not nominated to specific teams)

Kevin Barron, Damien Dugmore, Owen Mugeridge, Joe Pickering, Sam Scharf, Abu Kaher

There is of course the possibility that other players from the County may be asked to play as and when options become available.

The first County match is for the IInd team on 14th October, with the Ist and IIIrd teams playing the week after on 21st October.  All three are home matches at CRC.

Have a great season, enjoy your games, and play well!

The Selection Team (Daniel, Neil, Sara and John)