18&U Boys County Cup 2026
20th-22nd March, Group 4a at Edgbaston Priory
Team: Charlie Harvey, Mohan Mehta, Harry Cornhill, Oliver Westbrook, Nicholas Morrell, Oliver Osborne, Harry Cartledge and Ethan Dallas.
Captains: Seb Callcut and Fin Barrett
The 18&U boys team travelled to Edgbaston Priory, a fantastic venue for division 4 of this year’s county cup event. The team consisted of Charlie, Mohan, Harry Cornhill, Oliver W, Nicholas, Oliver O, Harry Cartledge and Ethan. The boys were the favourites to be promoted from their group, with strong rankings and great strength in depth. Captain Seb Callcut reminded the boys it is not always easy being the hunted rather than the hunters.
Day 1 saw them take on Derbyshire, with 3 courts available for Oliver O, Nicholas and Oliver W to start us off. Both Ollies raced through their first sets 6-0, before getting the first points on the board. Nicholas Morrell opponent had an ITF ranking higher than his LTA ranking, but after losing the first set 6-2, he rallied to take the next two sets 6-0 and 6-2. Bucks went up 3-0, with our top 3 singles players Charlie, Mohan and Harry Co ready to go. All were focused and picked up wins in straight sets Charlie 6-2 6-2, Mohan 6-4 6-1 and Harry Cornhill 6-4 6-1. A great effort to win the match before the doubles, laying down a marker for the rest of the weekend. With the potential for rubbers won being a factor at the end of the weekend, the team didn’t let up. Ethan and Harry Cartledge came in for their first matches of the weekend and we picked up three fairly comfortable wins. Harry Cornhill and Nicholas won 6-3 6-2 at 1st pair, Ethan and Charlie won 6-0 6-2 at 2nd pair and Harry Cartledge and Mohan sealed a 9-0 victory with their 6-4 6-4 win.
Day 2 saw us take on Staffordshire, who had lost the day before. We stuck with the same singles line up, Oliver O wasted no time in winning 6-0 6-0 and Nicholas followed very soon after 6-0 6-1. Three nil up again at the halfway stage in the singles, as Oliver W had another good performance winning 6-3 6-2. Harry Cornhill kept the scoreboard ticking over with a 6-0 6-1 win putting the boys 4-0 up. Mohan and Charlie had closer matches against strong opponents, but both were very focused with Mohan winning 6-4 6-2 and Charlie 6-4 6-4. So the team had the match won again after the singles. 2 out of 3 in the doubles meant a great 8-1 win on day 2.
Day 3 was the promotion battle against Wiltshire, who had won the previous two days, so both teams were feeling confident. We had to change the singles line up with Harry Cornhill nursing a slight arm injury, so that bought Harry Cartledge in at 6 pushing those above up a place. Nicholas got us off to the perfect start with a 6-1 6-4 win, followed by Harry Cartledge (who only knew he was playing the singles 10 minutes before the match started) with a solid 6-4 6-1 win. Oliver O playing a very good opponent with a first set that lasted 1 hour 30 mins finally clinching it 7-5 and he then went from strength to strength winning 7-5 6-1. So Bucks went 3-0 up. Oliver W, who is still in his first year at 16&U, put in a good performance against an opponent who was not missing, losing 3-6 2-6. Mohan at 2 played his best tennis of the weekend with some massive serving and forehands to take out a very good opponent 6-3 6-1. Bucks were 4-1 up needing one more win to seal promotion.
The race for that promotion moment was on, Charlie was playing at 1 against a similarly-ranked player, while the others were given 45 minutes to rest before the start of the doubles. The 3rd pair of Harry Cartledge and Nicholas, started at the same time as 2nd pair Harry Cornhill and Mohan. Meanwhile Charlie was part of the highest quality match of the weekend. They were on court for 2 hours 39 minutes and by the time he finished we were a set up in each of the doubles. But it was fitting that Charlie in his final match for the Bucks 18&U team would win us promotion with a massive 7-5 7-6 (10-8) battling win. Both doubles rubbers were also won, giving us a 7-1 win and a deserved promotion to Division 3 in 2027!