Team: Oliver W, Daniel B, Ethan L, Srivats A, Thomas S and Armaan S
Captain: Christian Colvin
Group H: Warwickshire, Buckinghamshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire
Venue: Thame Tennis Club
The Buckinghamshire team was fortunate this year with their location being at Thame Tennis Club on the artificial clay courts. We took a strong group of 6 players which consisted of Oliver, Daniel, Ethan, Srivats, Thomas and Armaan. The boys performed a great warm up on the day and showed a real strong team bond. The first fixture was against Oxfordshire and our 4 and 3 went to do battle first. Srivats competed hard in his match and found his groove taking the match 2 and 1, Ethan raced through his match 2 and 0. Bucks was looking solid and Oxfordshire a little nervous.
These matches were followed by 2 and 1 with some tension as Oliver was competing against a boy his trains with. Daniel showed unbelievable bravery and took the match in 2 tie-break sets saving his best tennis to the biggest moments. Oliver handled the situation well and showed nerves of steel coming through 0 and 0.
4-0 going into the doubles Bucks were in a good flow and took both the doubles, Thomas and Armaan show casing all the hard work they had done in county training and playing a s great team winning 2 and 2. Ethan and Oliver made it a clean sweep with a victory of 0 and 1.
Next up was Nottinghamshire so we went with a slight adjustment to the line and gave Thomas an opportunity at 4 which he capitalised playing some of the smartest tennis of the matches with a 2 and 1 victory. Ethan stayed in his flow with a 0 and 1 victory. Next up was Daniel and Oliver, again Daniel played with a very free flowing attitude and came through with a 2 and 2 win. Oliver had a tough battle as the Nottinghamshire number 1 was a strong player, the 1st set was a tie break with Oliver capitalising this 7-2. With a quick chat on court and a clear game plan of how we would be causing his opponent more difficulty Oliver came through the 2nd set 4-2.
We finished day 1 looking great without dropping a match.
Day 2 arrived and we were facing what looked like some tough opponents as Warwickshire had been strong against Oxfordshire and Nottinghamshire. A great warm up with a focus on being really steady, next came the tough decision to be made on who would step up for us in these matches. Based on his great performance on Saturday we went with Thomas and Ethan at 4 and 3. The first 2 matches set the tone with some big swings in momentum, Thomas managed to maintain that the momentum went with him and took the match in 2 tie break sets playing some of the best tennis in the tie breaks. Ethan lost the first set, with a reset he competed hard in the second set winning it in a tie-break 8-6, with a prep talk before the 3rd set tie-break he went in really strong and took great lead but his opponent fought hard and clinched it 10-8.
Being drawn 1-1 the next players to step up was Oliver and Daniel. Daniel stunned his opponent and the crowd coming through 4-0 in the first set, a few rain delays and his opponent found his form in the next set taking in a tie-break. This time Bucks stepped up and Daniel played some free-flowing tennis and out competed his opponent winning the match tie break 10-7. Oliver had a tough opponent who just refused to go away and challenged him - Oliver was really good and with some clear tactical decision on bringing the player into the next and then some great passing shots came through in 2 tie breaks 3 and 0.
So we were 3-1 up against Warwickshire and we knew that they would try and move their doubles pairings around. We went with some of the pairings who had worked really well in county training and put in Oliver and Ethan at 1 and Daniel and Armaan at 2. Daniel and Armaan again showed the amount of doubles they had done and looked really disciplined, professional and great teamwork with constant communication and sealed the deal with a 0 and 0 victory. Ethan bounced back from his tough lose earlier and secured the final rubber with Oliver to put Bucks as county cup winners.
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