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.