NORTHAMPTONSHIRE TAKE COUNTY TITLE

County Championships Senior Division 2a

Northamptonshire seniors eased to Division 2a of this season’s County Championships when they took the title in another division of six teams who played all their matches over one weekend at Westfield. In the end it was the home county who comfortably took the title averaging eight sets per match.

The Northants quintet of Andy Trott, Miles Chan, John Fuller, Nicole Bird and Jordan Wood all performed with distinction in the title winning season, Bird in particular catching the eye with a perfect record of 10 wins from 10 starts and she was well supported by her team mates Chan 9/10, Fuller 8/10, Trott 7/10 and Wood 6/10 as the team were promoted in style.

It was South Yorkshire who completed the proceedings in runners-up spot, winning four of their five matches, only losing soundly to champions Northants 8-2 as their squad of Kim Daybell, Steve Horsfield Jack Grant, Modesta Vaitkeviciute and Pat Thorley beat off a determined challenge from Warwickshire seconds to get second place.

It was Warwickshire who gave champions Northants the hardest match as they narrowly lost 6-4 to the home team in a thrilling match which saw Northants unable to pull away and victory was not sealed until the penultimate set as Bird beat Charlotte Spencer, but not without a fight as the home player triumphed 3-2 (11-7, 7-11, 15-13, 9-11, 11-9) to complete victory for her side.

Second place was sealed when Warwickshire faced South Yorkshire and it was the Northerners who triumphed 7-3, ironically beating Warwickshire more comfortably than champions Northants as South Yorkshire’s three male players, Daybell, Horsfield and Grant each recorded match winning maximums to complete victory with Vaitkeviciute chipping in with one win.

Barry Snowden
County Championships Press Officer