Over the weekend of the
10th/11th January, Cambridgeshire sent two teams to Loughborough
University to compete in the Yehlex Veterans Inter-County Championships.
The over 40s captained by Nick Pratt were
competing in division 2a, where there was only 5 teams, this meant an
home and away type scenario, with each county playing each other on the
Saturday, and the fixtures repeated on the Sunday.
The over 45s captained by John Pickering were
competing in a single group of 7 teams, which meant a single fixture
against each of the other teams.
Over 40s
Team : John Foo, Kevin Barron, Nick Pratt, Pete Coleman, Jackie Coleman, Olga Bryant, Sandra Ashcroft, Sharon Chandler
The Saturday started with a 10am match against
Durham, who in previous years had been a tough opposition. They once
again proved a tough with Jackie/Sandra losing in two straight ends.
Kevin/Pete quickly levelled the scores after the men’s doubles. The
match was then quickly wrapped up with mixed wins for Nick/Olga and
John/Sharon.
The next fixture was a 12:10am match against
hosts Leicestershire. This proved to be an easier match then expected
with the same Cambridgeshire setup winning all four rubbers.
The 3rd fixture of the day was a 2:20pm match
against Nottinghamshire II. With a slightly changed setup, with John
pairing up with Pete in the men’s doubles, and Kevin pairing up with
Sharon in the 2nd mixed pairing, this again proved to be an easy match,
with Cambridgeshire winning by 4 rubbers to 0.
The final match of the day was against an
unknown Northumberland team. With Cambridgeshire back to the original
setup, we quickly took a 2 - 0 lead with both the ladies and men’s
doubles winning. Unfortunately, the mixed proved far harder, with shock
defeats for both the Cambs mixed pairing, leaving the match as a 2 - 2
draw.
After the Saturdays play the league tables
stood at Cambridgeshire 7pts, Leicestershire 5pts, Northumberland 5pts,
Durham 3pts, Nottinghamshire 0pts
The Sunday fixtures followed the same order and
times, with the 1st match against Durham. This proved to be a little
harder then the previous day, with many of the Cambridgeshire team
feeling the after effects from the fluid replacement the previous night.
Once again, the Durham ladies proved too strong from Cambs, but again
the men’s doubles quickly levelled the score. With strong mixed pairing
from Cambs, we were quietly confident of quickly wrapping the match up,
but the going was a little harder but Cambs came out victors in both
matches in the 3rd ends.
The next fixture was against joint 2nd place
and hosts Leicestershire. Cambs made life hard for themselves with our
ladies losing to a strong Leicestershire pair, and our men losing their
only match of the competition in a close 3rd end. The mixed pairings
came to the rescue, with victories for both pairs once again in the 3rd
end. This match proved to be so close, it took 1hr 45minutes to
complete, which delayed the tournament.
At this stage, Cambs were still feeling
confident, although Leicestershire could still catch them in the league
(Northumberland slipped up to Durham). The next match was against
Nottinghamshire. This proved to be a confident booster for the Cambs
ladies, with them winning a tight match 21-19 in the 3rd end. The men’s
and mixed pairings quickly wrapped up the match giving Cambs a 4 - 0
win.
With the final match of the tournament against
Northumberland, the pressure was off as Cambs had already won the league
when Leicestershire drew with Northumberland the previous match. Both
the ladies and men’s doubles completed the 'double' over the opposition,
leaving the mixed pairings to seek revenge from the previous day. With
no pressure on, both mixed pairing turned the tables on the opposition
with Nick/Olga winning in the 3rd end, and John/Sharon easily winning in
2 ends.
Final Position : Champions
Click here for score sheets
Over 45s
Team : Geoff McCall, John Harvey, John Pickering, Martyn Clark, Angela Sharman, Carol Salmon, Chris Key, Di Baker
This was always going to be a tough league for
the over 45s, and it proved so in the first match on Saturday against
Derbyshire. The ladies doubles pairing of Chris/Angela found their
opposition just too strong losing in two straight ends. The men’s
doubles pairing of John H/John P managed to level the match in a close
two ender. Unfortunately, the mixed doubles went in the way of
Derbyshire with pairings of Di/Geoff losing in 3 ends and Carol/Martyn
in two ends.
The 2nd match of the day was a slightly easier
game against Shropshire. The level doubles went in the way of the
opposition with the ladies losing in two straight ends, and a different
men’s doubles pairing of Geoff/Martyn losing in three ends. The new
mixed doubles pairings of John P/Carol and John H/Di saved the day, with
both pairings winning their rubbers leaving the result as a 2 - 2 draw.
The 3rd and final match of the day was against
the very strong Essex team. The team went back to the first match of the
day with regards the pairings, but this proved to be futile, with all
pairings losing their matches in two ends.
The 1st fixture Sunday morning was against a
very strong Cumbria side. With Cambs having another restructure
(probably caused by the same fluid replacement regime as the over 40s),
the ladies doubles pairing of Angela/Di losing heavily in two ends, and
men’s doubles pairing of John P/Geoff losing a very close match in three
ends. Both mixed doubles went in the way of Cumbria with Martyn/Carol
losing in two ends, and John H/Chris losing in three ends.
The 2nd fixture of the morning against
Nottinghamshire proved to be just as difficult, with yet another
re-organisation within the team, saw Angela/Christine pair up again, but
lost in a close two ends. Martyn/Geoff paired up again but found the
Nott’s pair too strong, going down in two ends. Once again, the mixed
went in the way of the opposition, with John P/Carol and John H/Di both
losing in two ends.
The final fixture of the day was against
Lincolnshire, with a draw or better being required to avoid the bottom
position in the table. Ladies pairing of Carol/Christine lost in three
ends, but men’s doubles pairing of Geoff/John H levelled the match. The
1st mixed pairing of John/Angela went to Lincolnshire 21-19 in the 3rd
end, but Martyn/Di quickly levelled the match.
Final Position : 6th
Click here for score sheets
Photographs will be uploaded later
