Mens County WeekendHerts County Squash 22-23rd November 2003
Not a good weekend I'm afraid.
The opposition were Dorset, Essex
and the hosts Berkshire.
We were weakened by the
unavailability of Chris Ryder, Galen LeCheminant, Chris Ryder and
Jason Foster due to various reasons.
The squad was Adam Fuller (HCC)
Keith Timms (Broxbourne) Simon Venables (HCC) Martin Geear
(B/Stortford) Lasantha Fernando (Radlett) and Mark Cottingham
(B/Stortford).
Our first match on Saturday was
against Dorset. Simon got off to a fantastic start going 2-0 up,
however Mark struggled to get going on the other court and lost 3-0
quite quickly. Meanwhile Simon's opponent dug in and started to crawl
his way back into the match. Martin started brightly against a very
good opponent and did well to share the first 2 games. Simon tired and
lost 9-5 in the fifth whilst Martin eventually went down 3-1. Adam
took the first game against the experienced Martin Greenslade but was
reeled in to lose in 4. Keith Timms made the match result respectable
by winning a tough match in 9-4 in the fifth to make the final
score 4-1 to Dorset. Berkshire scored a surprise 3-2 win over a
weak Essex side in the other match.
In the afternoon, Las replaced
Mark at number 5 string and got us off to a flying start against Essex
beating his younger opponent for the loss of 6 points. Simon took the
first game in his match but tired again and lost the next three, 9-2,
9-3, 9-7.
With the match poised at 1-1 we
knew that Adam would struggle at number 1 string against Paul Allen
from Essex and were hoping that Martin would win at 4 to give Keith a
chance to win the match for us. Adam was tasked to win 1 game and
almost pulled it off in the first narrowly losing it 9-7, the next two
were lost 9-0 and 9-3 but Adam battled admirably. On the adjoining
court Martin won the first game 9-6 but lost a scrappy second one 9-4.
At 2-2 in the third game Martin turned awkwardly and fell twisting his
ankle. It didn't look good, Martin was unable to recover and had to
concede his match which more or less ended our chances of getting into
the promotion group. At 3-1 down in the match Keith was again
playing for Hertfordshire pride and won another five setter 9-2 in
the fifth. Well done Keith. In the other match Dorset beat
Berkshire 3-2.
On the Sunday morning our
opponents were Berkshire and there was an outside chance we could
qualify as long as we convincingly beat them and Dorset did the same
to Essex.
Mark came in for the injured Martin and Las was promoted to the number 4 spot. Both Mark and Las got us off to a great start, Mark winning for the loss of 10 points and Las winning 9-2 in the fifth. Simon won his obligatory first game and then tired to lose 3-1. Adam played superbly to take a game off the Berks number 1 and had chances to go 2-1 up but was unable to capitalise after being 7-5 up in the third. With the match at 2-2 any chances of going through were dead and buried especially as Essex beat a weakened Dorset side 4-1. Berkshire needed to win the match to join Essex in the promotion group and push out the early leaders Dorset. A jaded Keith lost the first 2 games to his determined opponent and was 7-0 down in the third. Keith summoned up some strength from somewhere and came back to 7-7 to worry the Berkshire crowd, however the Berks Number 2 held his nerve and won the next 2 points to send both us and Dorset to the relegation group for Stage 2.
Final placings were,
1. Essex 44
2. Berkshire 39
3. Dorset 38
4. Herts 23
A big thankyou to the team who's
attitude throughout the weekend never faltered and the future of Herts
squash is safe in the hands of Adam, Keith and Mark if they manage to
keep on improving. Regarding the old boys, Las is a dependable squad
member and Martin, we hope your ankle is better soon. As for Simon, if
he ever got himself fit again, he has the skills and game to be a very
good county player.
Also thanks to Adam's father
Dudley who came along to watch and who's support was very much
appreciated.
Jason Foster,
County Captain.
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