Warwickshire Bears Roar Back Into Elite, Finish 2nd in Nation After 15-Year Wait

Written by Gavin Henderson, Team Captain

Warwickshire Mens Summer County Team

Team

Gavin Henderson - Captain

Mason Recci

Harry Lazell

Max Stewart

Jake Hersey

Oliver Plaskett

Luca Pow

Cam Malik

Alex Griffiths

Hammond (wild card poss fly in from NTC last min when hopefully Cash & Glass give him time off)

Rich Partridge

Results

Vs North of Scotland 6 – 3

Vs East of Scotland 6 – 3

Vs Surrey 3 – 6

Vs Northamptonshire 6 – 3

Vs South Wales 4 - 2

To view the full results please click here

After a good practice on Sunday I elected for a tested partnership of Malik & Pow with an 81% strike rate of wins over the past 2 years.

Also a partnership of Recci & a calculated gamble of Max Stewart (who was magnificent all week for effort and talent)

Finally a partnership of Hersey & Plaskett 2 big servers and natural doubles players who got stronger and stronger as the week went on.

Monday v North of Scotland win 6-3

Player of the day Max

1st pair Malik & Pow round 1 won 6-3 4-6 11-9 round 2 won 7-6 6-3 round 3 won 6-4 6-4

2nd pair Hersey & Plaskett round 1 won 3-6 7-6 10-8 round 2 lost 2-6 3-6 round 3 lost 6-7 6-4 14-12

3rd pair Recci & Stewart round 1 won 6-3 6-4 round 2 won 4-6 6-1 10-6 round 3 Stewart & Lazell lost 6-2 4-6 10-4

Subs Lazell & Griffiths

Tuesday v East of Scotland 6-3 win

Player of the day Oliver Plaskett

1st pair Pow & Malik round 1 lost 4-6 4-6 round 2 won 7-5 6-3 round 3 won 6-0 6-1

2nd pair Plaskett & Hersey round 1 lost 1-6 6-7 round 2 won 6-4 6-2 round 3 6-4 5-7 11-9

3rd Pair Recci & Stewart round 1 won 6-2 6-1 round 2 lost 6-7 6-4 12-10 3rd round won 6-7 6-2 10-7

Subs Lazell & Griffiths

Wednesday v Surrey lost 6-3 player of the day Jake hersey

1st pair Pow & Malik round 1 won 3-6 7-6 11-9 round 2 lost 2-4 3-4 round 3

2nd pair Hersey & Plaskett round 1 won 4-6 6-4 10-8 round 2 lost 2-4 2-4 round 3

3rd pair Stewart & Recci round 1 won 3-6 6-4 11-9 round 2 lost 1-4 4-3 (7-5) round 3

Subs Lazell& Griffiths

Thursday v Northants won 6-3

1st pair Hersey & Stewart 1st round won 7-5 7-6 2nd round 2 won 7-6 7-5 round 3 won 7-5 6-3

2nd pair Griffiths & Plaskett 1st round lost 3-6 6-7 2nd round lost 6-3 6-2 round 3 Griffiths & Lazell lost 3-4 3-4

3rd pair Pow & Malik 1st round won 6-4 3-6 10-4 round 2 won 6-3 6-2 3rd round Pow & Partridge won 4-2 4-2

Subs Lazell & Partridge

Player of the day Luca

Friday v South Wales won 4-2

1st pair Pow & Partridge round 1 won 7-5 6-3 round 2 lost 6-0 6-4 10-4

2nd pair Hersey & Stewart round 1 lost 3-6 7-5 10-4 round 2 won 6-0 6-4

3rd Pair Recci & Malik round 1 won 6-4 6-3

Overall Warwickshire finished 2nd in the country out of 44 counties. Entering the elite group for the first time the goal was to stay up. Beating north of Scotland & East of Scotland on Monday & Tuesday put us in a strong position going into day 3 .

Taking on the holders and championship favourites Surrey was a tough ask but with the same formation lined up as day 1 & 2 we went 3-0 up after round 1 winning all 3 champ tie breaks

Round 2 & 3 were less successful losing some close matches but what a match eventually losing 6-3

Going into day 4 v Northants a comfortable 6-3 win for the bears

Final day so exciting 3 teams could win the title East of Scotland Surrey & ourselves all having lost 1 match

Team selected we knew we had to gamble with a tired Plaskett cheering on from the bench . knowing East had to beat Surrey and we needed a convincing win against south wales who we lost comfortably to last year

Pow & Partridge

Malik & Recci

Hersey & Stewart

4-2 win was close to winning but not enough as Surrey beat East of Scotland

After the presentations picking up the runners up trophies reflecting on an unbelievable week who would of thought 7 yrs ago languishing in group 5 finishing joint top (in my eyes ) actually 2nd out of 44 counties . Back where the bears belong backed by family friends and an Eastbourne crowd seeing our fighting spirit and never giving up . Thanks to all the players who did themselves and Warwickshire proud . We go again next year and who knows we may go one better . U got to believe