Herts County Squash

Ladies Inter County Report - Relegation Weekend - 11th/12th March 2006

Although missing some of our regular players, we managed to field a strong team of Zoë Durbach, myself, Elke Rubsam, Mette Veitch and Laura Taylor.

Mette has recently joined Cannons St Albans and proved to be a great addition to the Herts team.

We were playing in Gloucester and four of us decided to travel on the Friday night hoping to make use of the facilities at the hotel resort, i.e. do some court training, have a swim in the pool, maybe a steam and then something to eat. However, we did not bargain for the crash on the M25 and when we did arrive, 3½ hours later, there was only enough time for a drink and a meal……………. Shame!

Zoë joined the team on Saturday and our first match was against the hosts Gloucestershire. The courts were in very poor condition and we had to take a mountaineering course to climb up the stacked seating to mark one of the matches. However with great performances from everyone, we managed to win the match 5-0.
Oxfordshire beat Devon 3-2

In the afternoon our opponents were Devon, who had previously beaten us at other county matches. Their number one player had recently won the World Masters O35 Badminton Championships and was unfortunately deadly on the cold courts, and beat Zoë 3-1, Zoë putting up a great fight though. The rest of us won our games and we won the match 4-1. This was great news as we could now relax knowing that we would not be relegated. Oxfordshire beat Gloucestershire 4-1

Sunday and following a very pleasant, relaxed breakfast we were ready to face Oxfordshire. Elke lost her match 3-0 and also Laura, having made a good start lost her game 3-1. Mette went on and won her match convincingly, she was the only player to win all of her matches, well done. Zoë played extremely well and won her match 3-0. The deciding match was on me and unfortunately I couldn’t produce a captain’s performance and lost 3-0. We lost to Oxfordshire 3-2 and Gloucestershire beat Devon 3-2

Final Results
Oxfordshire 49
Herts 45
Devon 28
Glos 22

Thanks to everyone who played in both weekends and let’s hope next season we can make it to the promotion stage.

Isobel Smith
Ladies Captain
March 2006