CAMBRIDGESHIRE SECONDS TAKE COUNTY VETS TITLE

County Championship Veterans Division 4a

Cambridgeshire seconds easily completed victory in the County Championships Veterans Division 4a, which was mainly played over one weekend at St Neots TTC.

Having already recorded a 7-3 victory over their own third team, the Cambridgshire squad of Mirek Pazdzidr, Terence Cardwell, Liwu and Tracey Sambrook swept all before them, dropping only three more sets in their four remaining matches with all players remaining unbeaten in singles play as they beat Northants 2, Clwyd and Norfolk 2 by a scoreline of 9-1 and went one better against Shropshire as they completed a whitewash.

The real interest in this division was to who was going to finish runners-up to the dominant Cambridgeshire team as their own third team and Clwyd went head to head to see who would take second spot.

On the Saturday, Norfolk held up the progress of Clwyd in a thrilling draw which saw Dave Atteridge of Norfolk and Mark Pugh of Clwyd both remain unbeaten in singles play along with Chris Watkins of the Welsh team. There was never more than one set between the teams throughout the match which ended in a 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-8) final set mixed doubles win by Zoe Watters and Alan Nicholls over Harold Furber and Chris Watkins which – earning a well deserved draw for Norfolk.

In the end the chase for second place came down to the clash between Cambridgeshire thirds and Clwyd. The Cambridgeshire side held a slight advantage with a one point lead over their opponents by virtue of both teams defeats to the champions and Clwyds draw with Norfolk.

The match was a thriller and the outcome was not determined until the penultimate set of the match when man-of-the-match Pugh beat Paul Hellier 3-1 (11-6, 11-9, 4-11, 11-7) which gave Clwyd an unassailable 6-3 lead. Despite a final set mixed doubles win for Cambridgeshire it was the Welsh team who completed the season as runners-up

Barry Snowden
County Championships Press Officer