Ist Team Struggle With Tough Opener

This weekend saw the opening fixtures of the new county season with the first team travelling to play to Norfolk 1. The team has seen many changes this season with several key players leaving the county, however new blood has also arrived and the team welcomes newcomers Kate Balls, junior Jaclyn Lai and university player Peter Galloway.  Having closely missed out on promotion last season the team was confident of another successful season, however Norfolk were unfortunate to be relegated from division 1, and have been greatly strengthened with the addition of several new players.

The opening singles games saw straight sets defeats for Rob Pace and Peter Galloway against very strong opponents. The ladies singles players (undefeated all last season) also found their opponents too strong, with both Olga Bryant and Jaclyn Lai suffering straight sets defeats.

Cambridge were hopeful of better results in the doubles matches, however the first pairing of Jon Carson/Peter Galloway were unable to change Cambridge’s fortunes, losing to the Norfolk first pair then despite taking an end against the second pair, unfortunately again being beaten. Cambridge second pair of John Tibbutt/James Wilson, reunited after a season apart due to injury suffered no better luck, also losing both their games.

Cambridge champions Olga Bryant/Alison Bennett had a close match against an extremely strong Norfolk first pair and were unfortunate not to get a result, however they got Cambridge off the mark with a tight three end win over the second pair. Kate Balls/Jaclyn Lai, playing together for the first time in a competitive match found the Norfolk first pair too strong, but had a very close game against the second pair, unfortunately just missing out on a win.

The mixed doubles also did not go in Cambridge’s favour with pairings of Bryant/Carson and Balls/Pace finding their opponents much too tough. However third pairing of Bennett/Tibbutt won a consolation game with an exceptionally tight win to leave the final score a disappointing 13-2.

Despite the heavy loss several positives came out of the game, with two good wins for Alison Bennett, and good performances from new pairings of Balls/Lai and Carson/Galloway. Norfolk must be strong favourites for promotion back to division 1 and Cambridge are confident of much better results against their other opponents.

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.

Ist Team Pipped at the Post

The Cambridgeshire 1st team played the season decider against local rivals Northamptonshire 1st team in division 2 of the Victor Inter County Championship.  The match was a winner takes all, whereby whichever team won the match, wins the league and gain promotion into Division 1.

The match stated well with but Olga Bryant and Kat Young winning their ladies singles in two straight games, but the matches were closer in the mens doubles with both Sunny Lol and Rob Pace winning their 1st ends, but then losing the 2nd and 3rd ends leaving the match all square after the singles.

In the mens doubles, Cambridgeshire have not performed well during the season, and this carried into this match, with both pairing of Nick Pratt/Sam Scharf and Sunny Lol/James Wilson losing all their matches.  However, the ladies double have pulled the county through many a match, and once again the pairing of Olga Bryant/Kat Young won both their matches, and Faye Gregory/Amanda Godfrey winning one of theirs.

This gave Northamptonshire a 7 games to 5 lead going into the mixed.  They soon wrapped up the match and league title, with Cambridgeshire 2nd pairing of Rob Pace/Kat Young losing in two straight games.  Althought, nothing to play for except pride, 3rd Pairing of Nick Pratt/Faye Gregory won their match in 3 ends, but 1st pairing of Olga Bryant/Sam Scharf lost their match in 2.

This gave Northamptonshire a 9 games to 6 win.  Althought disappointed, the county team gained promotion into this division last season, and were looking to avoid relegation, but after winning their first 6 matches found themselves pushing for promotion once again.

County Ist Team Lose Close Encounter

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 1st team played host to a very strong Yorkshire team.  The match started well for Cambs with Olga Bryant and Kat Young both winning their ladies singles, and Rob Pace eventually coming out victor 29-27, 17-21, 21-19 in his men’s singles.  The only defeat was Richard Fryer against the Yorkshire 1st singles player.

During the season the Cambridgeshire men have found the doubles hard going, and this carried through to this match, with the only win coming from Sunny Lol and James Wilson beating the Yorkshire 1st pairing.

The Cambridgeshire ladies on the other hand have been dominant all season, but again Cambs found the going slightly tougher then normal, with Olga Bryant and Kat Young winning both their matches, but 2nd pairing of Faye Gregory and Amanda Godfrey finding the opposition too strong.

This made the match all square going into the mixed.  It started well for Cambs with 1st pairing of Olga Bryant and Richard Fryer winning in two, but Yorkshire quickly levelled the match beating Sam Scharf and Faye Gregory in two.  The whole match therefore went down to the last mixed, with Rob Pace and Kat Young representing Cambs.  Rob and Kat won the 1st end 21-14, but lost the 2nd end 18-21.  The final end was nip and tuck with Yorkshire eventually winning 29-27.

This gave Yorkshire an 8 – 7 win, but still keeps Cambs title hope alive.  Their final match of the season is the title decider this coming Sunday away to Northamptonshire, whereby whichever team wins will win the title and promotion into division 1.

County Ist Team - Six in a Row

This weekend saw Cambridge travel to Nottinghamshire III for the latest game in the ICC division 2B. The home fixture earlier in the season had seen a 10-5 Cambridge victory and a repeat performance taking maximum points was essential for Cambridge to move back to the top of the division for the first time since November.

Cambridge's mens singles players have enjoyed little success this season, and this trend continued as Richard Fryer was defeated in straight sets at first singles. However Rob Pace then levelled the scores with a comfortable victory at second singles, an encouraging result in a rather unfruitful season for the men. Cambridge's ladies however had few problems, with both Olga Bryant and Natalie Taylor recording straight sets victories over their opponents, putting Cambridge 3-1 ahead and ensuring that they both maintain their 100% singles records for the season.

The mens doubles has been another weak link for Cambridge this year, and once again had given the selectors the most difficulty in preparing for this match. However once again the men failed to realise their full potential as the normally reliable Sam Scharf/Jon Carson lost out a in a very close fought three end match against Nottingham's strong first pair, but then disappointingly lost in straight sets to Nottingham's second pair. Cambridge second pairing of James Wilson/Sunni Loi staked their claim to a regular first team place with a hard fought three end win over Notts second pair, before they too were defeated by the Notts top pair. 

As so often this season Cambridge's ladies rescued the match and demonstrated their total dominance over this division with both pairings of Faye Gregory/Natalie Taylor and Kat Young/Olga Bryant winning all their games in straight sets. Of all the matches played so far this year the ladies have taken full points from every match bar one, showing they really ought to be playing a division higher. 

This left Cambridge 8-4 ahead and guaranteed the match was won but Cambs required two out of the three remaining mixed to take the bonus point and move to the top of the table. Due to the similar standards of the Cambridge mixed pairings the first games were always going to be tough,  and this showed as Bryant/Fryer lost in three ends at first pair. The university pairing of Young/Pace were undefeated going into this match but unfortunately they too were unable to overcome their opponents, but Taylor/Scharf were more successful with a comfortable straight sets win at third pair.

This left Cambridge 9-6 winners but bitterly disappointed to have missed taking maximum points and the chance to move to the top of the division. Chances were wasted- of the four games decided in three sets only one went to Cambridge, suggesting a lack of nerve when under pressure. This is the fourth consecutive match Cambridge has won but failed to take maximum points and this may well cost them dearly in their quest for back to back promotions.