The Wiltshire Men’s County Cup 35s team delivered a strong performance in this year’s competition, finishing joint top of their division with Staffordshire and Somerset (https://competitions.lta.org.uk/sport/draw.aspx?id=23A0D117-50C9-4518-8F6A-887092813992&draw=10). However, they narrowly missed out on promotion due to head-to-head results, with Somerset edging them out in the final standings. A commendable effort considering key players were missing and the majority of the team were debuting for the county in this prestigious event.
The tournament’s opening day presented significant challenges, with heavy rain delaying play until the afternoon and the format being altered to FAST4. Despite the conditions, Greg Caterer and Nick Bunyard set the tone for the team with a hard-fought victories in the first singles matches. These wins seemed to inspire the team, who went on to dominate the tie, securing a 4-1 victory over Staffordshire.
The second day of the tournament saw the team relocate to Moira House School grass courts to face Somerset. Despite some impressive play, particularly by Martin Wright and Jon Gregory in the doubles, the team lost 4-1 overall. Although, this put a dent in Wiltshire’s promotion hopes, the team remained optimistic for the remainder of the weekend and were relishing another opportunity to play on the hallowed grass courts at Eastbourne.
Entering the final day, the team needed to defeat Durham and Cleveland 5-0, without dropping a set, while simultaneously hoping that Staffordshire defeated Somerset by the same margin. Wiltshire rose to the challenge, showing grit and determination as they won 5-0. The standout rubber was Chris Roberts in the singles, securing a superb victory in his maiden County Cup match. Unfortunately, Somerset were equal to the challenge and won rubbers against their opponents, which left Wiltshire just short of promotion on head to head results.
Despite the disappointment, Wiltshire’s performance throughout the tournament was encouraging. The experience gained will undoubtedly serve them well in future competitions. Many thanks to all the players and stand-in Captain, Martyn Ledbury, for his efforts over the weekend.
Ben Rogers (Team Captain)