9U Boys County Cup

Captains Report- written by Brian Heathcote

Team

Captain – Brian Heathcote

Assistant – Sue Robinson

Oscar Kunze

Jaden Edotimi

Frederick Thomson

Oscar Mccullough

Oliver Vora

Results

Vs Shropshire – 5 – 1

Vs H&W – 3 – 3

Vs Staffordshire – 6 - 0

Vs South Wales – 2 - 4

To view the full results please click here

Having arrived early and settled onto the balcony with a good view of all the courts we were ready. The boys had a good warm up and we were raring to go.

6 courts were allocated to the event. The format was a single fast 4 set with a tie break at 3-3. We would play 4 singles matches and 2 doubles against each county.

While we were playing our singles against Shropshire, 2 other counties would play their doubles. Once the matches were completed we would swap around. We would play our doubles against Shropshire while the other 2 counties played their singles.

Having printed out potential players for the opposing teams it looked like it was going to be tough day, particularly the teams from South Wales and Hereford and Worcester.

We were first on against the host county of Shropshire. Unfortunately one of Shropshire players hadn’t turned up so we would only get 3 singles matches in and 1 doubles.

Oscar Kunze, Jaden and Fred played as No. 1,2 and 3 giving them the opportunity to get into the swing of the day. 2 convincing wins from Oscar and Jaden ensued and a narrow defeat for our no. 3. We then played our doubles pairing of Oscar Kunze and Jaden and they secured a 4-0 win.

This gave us a 5-1 win over Shropshire (2 matches being walk overs)

Next up we were against Hereford and Worcester, who looked strong. Oscar took number one spot and after an immense battle lost 0-4, Jaden, number 2, also had a very strong opponent and dropped in at 2-4. Fred and Oscar McCullough played as no. 3 and 4 and secured convincing wins 4-1 and 4-0 respectively.

So to the doubles, once again we were split. After some immense battles and heavy hitting Oscar and Jaden narrowly lost 2-4 while Fred and Oliver balanced up the score by winning 4-2….. Score 3 all and shootout time!

The format for the shootout was a championship doubles tie break with one play from each of the 1st and second pair to play together….. Oscar Kunze and Fred Thomson were selected.

A super tense battle ensued with the score see sawing between the counties… H & W finally clinched it at 10-7.

South Wales were our next opponents – on paper they were had the strongest team of players and this proved to be the case.

Oscar Kunze played as no. 1, battled had but lost 2-4, Jaden had an incredibly tight match, as no. 2,  and came through 4-3 ( 7-5 in a match tie break)Fred and Oliver suffered losses against the S Wales no.3 and 4, 1-4 and 2-4 respectively.

Onto the doubles, Oscar and Jaden lost 2-4 and Fred and Oscar McCullough narrowly lost their doubles match taking their opponents to a match tie break (5-7)

Last up was Staffordshire. After many hours of battling through the matches of the day the boys still had high energy and were prepared to play.

Oscar Kunze, Jaden Oscar McCullough and Oliver all won their singles matches, only dropping 4 games between them.

In the doubles, the continuing partnership of Oscar and Jaden secured a 4-1 win, Fred and Oliver also secured a 4-1 win.

1st and second positions were decided by a shootout with S Wales and H&W taking 3 wins each. This was a fantastic match to watch and gave all the tension you’d expect. It couldn’t have been any closer; H&W closed it off 10-8 and winning the event.

Final Positions:

1.       Hereford and Worcester

2.       South Wales

3.       Warwickshire

4.       Staffordshire

5.       Shropshire

All the boys played so well. We couldn’t have asked anything more of them, they gave everything. As you can see from the match stats everything was really tight.

Even after all their matches had been played they wanted to go back down on court and hit.

Well done Bears, Warwickshire are proud of you!