Cambs II Kick Off With 15-0 Win

In an emphatic and encouraging start to the 2011-12 season, the Cambridgeshire IInd team romped to a 15-0 victory against a newly-relegated Warwickshire IV side. After a disrupted start due to a late arrival, things were immediately positive with Tom Li pressing home his singles victory after a hard-fought first end. Debutant Graham Barr also put in a comprehensive singles game, defeating his opponent in straight games to 18 and 14. Laurel Bennett showed grit and determination to turn around a first-end loss, and finished the next two games with thumping wins to 7 and 10. Once Molly Carter could get started, she also played a strong game and won in two ends.

The mens doubles partnerships of James Wilson/Daniel Bates and Paul Martell/Tom Li won their games comfortably – all finishing in two ends. The ladies found the Warks first pair harder going, with both Molly and Jessica Sharman, and Laurel and debutant Katie Morton, fighting through to win that game in three after losing their first ends. The second pair was dispatched in two ends in both games.

With the game and the bonus point secure, Cambs went into the mixed in high spirits. All three pairs – James and Katie, Daniel and Jess, and Paul and Laurel all secured their games in two straight ends.

In all then, an extremely satisfying and welcome start to a season in which this team is focused on hunting promotion. This was a good consistent performance, and we can hope that the taste of success is one we can repeat over the course of the season.

More information on the progress of the team can be found in the appropriate Team Page.

Cambs I Fight Hard in Season Opener

Following promotion last year, Cambs first team began what will inevitably be a hard-fought season with a 5-10 loss to Middlesex. Natalie Taylor was the standout performer, winning her singles, mixed with Simon Woodhouse, and one ladies with recent County addition Sara Mason. Simon also teamed up with Neil to win one of their mens, and Sara joined Neil to win their mixed as well.

Cambs were in contention throughout, and a lot of the games were very close. Middlesex are a strong team in this league, so if the team push ahead with this level of effort and committment, then the goal of survival in the division should be more than achievable.

Captains Report

The first match against Middlesex bought a family rivalry to Cambridgeshire with Simon Woodhouse’s older brother playing for the opposition. Because we had all 4 courts we sent all four singles on at once, Sam Scharf playing 1st singles was up against a class singles player who comfortably beat him in two games, meanwhile Stephen Pickering was in a longer 2 set battle and eventually went down 19 and 19.

The Ladies singles was closer with Olga Bryant wining the first end 24 – 22 unfortunately then lost the next 2 games to lose the rubber, Nat Taylor at second singles however offer a ray of hope winning easily in two games 21-15 and 21-10.

On to the doubles in the men’s Simon and Neil Place went on for the family crunch game against Daniel and Jinesh who had won the Middlesex restricted for the last 2 years and although playing well lost 21-18 and 21-16 meanwhile Sam and Jon Carson had, had an equally close game against the second pair and lost 21-17 and 21-19.

In the reverse double Neil and Simon lost the first end 23-25 and then went onto win the next two games 21-13 and 21-10 giving Cambs men their first winning rubber however Sam and Jon struggled against the Middlesex 1st pair losing 21-16 and 21-8.

In the ladies there was a better start with new-to-the-county Sara Mason and Nat justifying their number one status by beating the Middlesex first pair 21-19, 14-21 and 21-18, however second pair Olga and Hannah Sharman did not fare so well losing 12-21 and 20-22.

In the reverse of the ladies Sara and Nat battled against the second pair and unfortunately lost in three ends, 22-20, 20-22 and 17-21, Olga and Hannah did not fare much better losing 20-22 and 14-21.

This meant we needed all 3 mixed to try and salvage a point from the day, first to win was Neil and Sara playing at 3rd winning 21-16, and 22-20, second off was Simon and Nat playing at 2nd who won 21-18 and 22-20, unfortunately Olga and Stephen playing at 1st mixed failed to win going down 15-21 20-22.

A tough first foray in the division but some highlights, the team decided to nominate Nat Taylor as player of the Day winning 3 out of 4 games, also deserving a mention are Sara Mason, Simon Woodhouse and Neil Place who won 2 out of their 3 games.  This was not enough to get us a point but Middlesex are fighting for promotion so will be one of tougher teams in the division.

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

Cambridgeshire U15 Restricted Tournament Results

The finals of the Boys Singles at the Cambridgeshire Under 15 Tournament saw a very close match between Jordan Huynh and Ashley James.  The early exchanges favoured Ashley who went into a good lead.  However, Jordan gradually caught up and eventually after the game was set was successful by 22-20.

In the semi-finals Jordan had defeated Aaron May 21-12 whilst Ashley beat Xi Mian Quah 21-19.  The match for third place saw Xi Mian beat Aaron 21-14.

For the doubles, Ashley teamed up with Xi Mian and they were successful defeating Jamie Rutter and Jamie Veitch 21-16.

There was no girls competition because there were not sufficient entries.

Match report by Ken Verney

County Restricted Weekend Produces an Excellent Display of Badminton

The Cambridgeshire Restricted Tournament produced a scintillating weekend of badminton over Saturday and Sunday, tinged with a little disappointment.

Most notable was the superb results for Olga Bryant - winning the ladies singles on Saturday, and then following up with the mixed title on Sunday with Stephen Pickering (against James Wilson and Sara Mason in the final), and also teaming up with Natalie Taylor to win the ladies doubles (against Sara Mason and Hannah Sharman).

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​Olga Bryant, Singles winner 2011

Having been beaten in the first round by Olga and Stephen, Jess Sharman and Daniel Bates won through to take the mixed plate.

Joe Pickering also fought a long and hard competition in the mens singles, ending with success in the final in a showdown against brother Stephen. The plate went to Tom Li with a very classy showing against a strong draw.

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​Joe Pickering, Singles winner 2011

The disappointment came in the mens doubles, where a succession of hard and close games in both the mixed and levels draw resulted in the day running long. With CRC unable to stay open, the final rounds of the mens doubles and plate could not be played. Strenuous efforts will be made to get the appropriate people together to finish the competition as soon as possible.

In all, a superb weekend of badminton. There were lots of excellent games, a large and strong draw (with the exception of ladies singles, where more need to get involved), and vocal and enthusiastic support all around. Thanks to everyone involved in organising and running the event, to everyone who supported, and to CRC for hosting.​

St Ives Continue Record-Breaking Trophy Run

St Ives Badminton Club continued a proud tradition on Sunday, beating a University team to win the South Cambridgeshire League Bill Pink trophy for the ninth year in a row at Cambridge Regional College.

Neil Place lost his first end of mens singles, but renewed his effort and turned the game around to defeat Chin Kiat Tan in three ends. In the ladies, special recognition should go to up-and-coming club and County star Molly Carter, who showed real class and rampaged through her singles game to win 21-0, 21-2 against Sammy Jones.

The remaining team comprising Simon Woodhouse, Daniel Bates, Liz Salmon and Amanda Godfrey joined Neil and Molly to take on Sammy Jones, Qichao Zhao, Mary Wang and Jo Brant who represented the University.

Despite a number of other hard-fought games between the men and in the mixed disciplines, St Ives still ran out resounding winners with a 9-0 overall score. St Ives has now won the title 16 times in the 51 year history of the competition.

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​St Ives, Bill Pink winners 2011

On the same day, the South Cambridgeshire League Mixed Handicap Final saw Hawks playing Ely Victoria Mixed II. Ely Victoria has just been promoted to the 1st division after a strong season losing only one match. Hawks finished mid-table in Division 3, making handicapping the tie a challenge for organisers.

The match was played in a competitive but friendly spirit and there were some great rallies, belying the apparent mismatch between the teams. While both teams played well, special mention must to go to Daniel Lay and Katherine Staden who had some very close games, losing with 19, 16 and 17 points.

The final scores were Hawks 172 v Ely Victoria 378, a difference of 206 points. The sealed handicap had previously been set at 225, so Hawks were winners by 19 points.

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​Hawks, Mixed Handicap Winners 2011

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​Ely Victoria, Mixed Handicap finalists 2011

3rd Team start off with win

On the 31st October, Cambridgeshire 3 recorded their first ever win in the ICC with a 9-6 victory over Oxfordshire 3 at CRC. Fielding a new look team this season, including 3 juniors winning their first county caps, Cambs 3 got off to a slow with Will Hodgkinson and Campbell Wilson (J) losing both mens singles in 3 ends. The ladies faired better, with Laurel Bennet and Jess James (J) both recording wins to square the match, Laurel winning in 2 ends and Jess in 3.

Cambs got off to a strong start in the doubles with Will and Andy Kind overpowering the Oxfordshire 1st pair, winning in 2 ends. This was matched by Campbell and Josh Males (J) with a fantastic first senior win against the Oxfordshire second pair, again in 2 ends. Both the ladies first round games were very close, with Emma Best and Tracey Bichener unfortunate to lose a tight 3 ender. Laurel and Jess though ultimately proved too strong for the Oxfordshire 2nd pairing and came through an equally tight game to win in 3. This left the match score at 5-3 in favour of Cambs. The reverse doubles started in the same way as the previous games with Will and Andy again too strong for their opponents. Campbell and Josh found things tougher second time around, and went down in 2 close sets to the Oxfordshire 1st pair. The ladies were more successful, Emma and Tracey winning in 3 against the Oxfordshire 2nd pair and Laurel and Jess winning in 2 against the 1st pair. This final doubles game left the match score at 8-4 and confirmed a fantastic win for Cambs.

The icing on the already very special cake would have been to get maximum points, but the mixed proved a stretch too far. Josh and Emma won a close 3 ender for the 3rd mixed, but the first two mixed games had already gone to Oxfordshire with both Tracey and Andy, and Will and Laurel losing in 2 and 3 ends respectively. Nevertheless, for the 3rd team to record their first ever win in only their second season is a fantastic result. Next match is the 28th November at home to Middlesex 4.

Cambs II vs Suffolk II

It’s been a tough season for the Cambridgeshire second team, struggling for consistency while only fielding the same set of ladies once, and never the same mixed pairings. Another new-look team travelled the long road to Ipswich for the second of back-to-back games against second-placed Suffolk. Having lost 6-9 only two weeks before, and facing Suffolk on their (somewhat illusive) Ipswich YMCA home turf, the second team knew that that they would have to pull off something really special if they were to bring anything home. With the fight for survival at the bottom of the league looking like it will go to the final games, every point counts at this stage.

Having observed the singles competition in the previous match, the men of the team had conferred and agreed that no-one was likely to have the strength to conquer the Suffolk premiere man. Captain Daniel Bates agreed to sacrifice his statistics for the team, and to preserve energy levels for the other men to play the other disciplines. However, while he was beaten swiftly, the youthful trinity of Sam Pickup, Jess Sharman and Molly Carter, all fought bravely. While Jess was overcome, Sam and Molly gave the team renewed hope by winning their singles - Molly battling through to win in two straight games. A superb introduction to representing the County in singles at second team level.

The viewing balcony was a maelstrom of emotions at this point, with the frustrations of selection disagreements swirling intermixed with the heady suspicion that there were vital points to be taken from the match. However, as the doubles started, it seemed like any frustrations were being focused anew into effort in the games. The men matched their previous results, with Sam and Paul Martell continuing a long season of excellent performances and capturing both games. Daniel and Rob Couch struggled to match their consistency, with thundering wins one end being matched by unsettled defeats at the other.

It was the ladies’ results that once again offered hope of some reward from the day, with Lisa Hawes and Sandra Ashcroft applying themselves vigorously against the Suffolk first pair, and coming out winners in the third end. With Jess and Molly also winning against the same pair in an extremely tense grandstand finish (and showing a calmness belying their ages), the ladies also came away from the doubles with two vital games.

That left the match 7-5 going into the mixed, and by that time the team was growing in confidence and spirit. Surprisingly, this seasons Mr and Mrs Reliable - Paul and Sandra, were beaten quickly. Victims of some rearrangement of the Suffolk pairings from the previous match. However, the blending of (very) old age and youth in the new pairings of Daniel and Jess, and Rob and Molly, fought valiantly, and amid much cheering and celebration, took both their games to three ends, leaving the result 9-6 in Cambridgshire’s favour. A terrific result against a strong team towards the top of the league.

This reversal of the previous result is a testament to the effort put in by the team, and the spirit shown. With only two matches left – one of which is against the only team below Cambridgeshire in the league (by three points) – and continuing to face selection difficulties due to clashing commitments, it is that continued effort that the team will need to ensure security for next year. However, with youngsters like Sam, Jess and Molly improving with every game, the outlook for the second team should be bright.