Masters
THE 2011/12 SEASON SO FAR
With the first half of the season now well behind us it is worthwhile looking at each of the five different teams to see how exciting the second half is likely to be. The County is one of a very small minority to have a team in all of the age groups O40, O45, O50, O55 and O60 so the demands of getting teams together is greater than most, and it is a credit to team managers that matches are consistently played – getting teams of eight to travel to places like Newcastle in mid-winter is an achievement in itself, and the team members are all thanked for the effort and expense. The Inter-League programme is progressing well, and teams getting stronger year on year, so we have reasons to be pleased.
INTER-COUNTY LEAGUE
O40 - The team play in the very strong Northern League, but a very unusual and disappointing late withdrawal by Yorkshire meant that only Cheshire, Lancashire and Northumberland are contesting the title. We opened with the difficult test of playing Lancashire away, but Helen Ambrose assembled a useful team and came away with 2 of the 3 points on offer with a 6-6 draw - a win on countback, with the sets won finishing 15-14 in our favour. A January trip to Newcastle to play Northumberland then resulted in an overwhelming 11-1 away win, but the Northern county were unable to muster a team for the return match the following week, and conceded a 12-0 win to us. This leaves the decider to the visit of Lancashire on 19th February, when we need to avoid defeat – it is a shame that so few matches are played.
O45 - The season looked in doubt again at the start as once more we found ourselves with insufficient ladies to make a full team without “borrowing” ladies from older age groups. With a maximum 2 games per person this looked like a major challenge, but again Susan Lythe stepped forward to steer the ship and ensure we could meet our commitments. There is a very strong team of men, and with new ladies being discovered the squad is beginning to look the part
Again the Northern League opposition is strong with Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire to beat, but the team had a good start against Yorkshire in the opening match and with Mark Golds, our strongest man, available it left us with a very enjoyable 8-4 result. Sadly the team travelled to Cumbria the next week with a weakened team, and with a player injured on the day the outcome was a 5-7 defeat. Cumbria have subsequently conceded the return match in Chester, and whilst the 12-0 scoreline will help with a league challenge the outcome looks to rest on the two matches to come against Lancashire, with a possible decider on the last weekend of the season, when Lancs come to Chester, but points will probably also be needed in the February away match.
O50 - A different outlook for this team who are playing in the Midlands West League, and the squad available to co-captains Jill Jackson and Derek Neary certainly looked comfortable in the opening matches, which saw them record 12-0 wins against Staffordshire and twice against Derbyshire. Between these successes they had a much tougher encounter against Worcestershire and a fine team performance saw them home 8-4 and clearly needing something similar in the return game in late February if they are to go through to the Midlands play-off.
O55 - The Northern League again for this team with regular adversaries Lancashire and Yorkshire joined by Derbyshire, so any successes have to be hard earned. Jean Melia and Peter Preston’s team were off to a flying start with an early 8-4 win over Derbyshire, but then lost 9-3 at home to Lancashire, a match that was closer than the result. Yorkshire were the next visitors, and arrived two men short, so were perhaps we were lucky to win 7-5, but Cheshire have been that close several times when losing matches in this league when some reward was denied. After 3 matches each Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire all have 2 wins and 1 defeat so the rest of the season looks very interesting.
O60 - Again we were disappointed with a team pulling out , and when Derbyshire did just that it left us in a league with only Lancashire and Yorkshire to play. Marion Doe and Geoff Pickard are gradually assembling a stronger squad with several new faces this season and although the opening two matches saw the team lose twice by 11-1 that was by no means a fair reflection of the matches which are always competitive but played in a very sporting manner. A couple of matches against other opposition would perhaps help create winning partnerships, instead of constantly playing two of the top three O60 county teams in the country.
SUMMARY
Two of the five teams (O40, O50) are in with a realistic chance of making the finals, and two (O45, O55) are holding their own in the respective decisions, so that is most encouraging. The odd one out (O60) have the misfortune to only play two of the top teams in the country in the O60, so are playing to expectations. Another satisfactory year so far confirms the gradual improvement in all the teams.
INTER COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS (ICC)
The ICC matches are now all played over one weekend in early January with Counties entering teams at chosen age groups. The teams are placed in divisions according to ability, with the top 7 teams in age groups playing in Premier Divisions, and the rest in regional Divisions 1 or 2. Cheshire had a very good year last year winning promotion to the Premier for the O50, O55, and O60 age groups, joining the O40 who have been there for a few years. The O45 lost their Premier status last season when unable to participate. The results of the 2012 championships are detailed below
O40 (Premier Div)– Gloucester pipped Cheshire to the title in last year’s competition, so the team were looking to go one better this year at Hatfield. The opening day was going to be pivotal with 3 tough matches, and after starting with a disappointing 2-2 draw with Kent, the subsequent 3-1 win over Lancashire steadied the boat for the final game that day against the favourites Gloucester, who also had dropped a point against Kent. A tight struggle ensued but just went the way of the title holders who won 3-1.
Although Cheshire picked up 5 points on the Sunday from their matches against Hants (2-2), Nottinghamshire (3-1) and Surrey (3-1), Gloucester recorded 3 wins to win the league with 11 points, with Hants and Cheshire both finishing closest on 8 points, and both 14-10 on sets won. A very good performance but only more disappointment to show for it. We did however secure the Premier status for next year, and will be fighting again for that elusive top place.
O45 (Division 1) - The team were having to rebuild following last year’s withdrawal, but playing at Stoke was at least some compensation as far as travel goes. It all looked a bit bleak however as the first match was against eventual champions West of Scotland (a good English county!) and the result was a 1-3 win for the Scots. A pair of 2-2 draws against Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire followed, and although the day ended with a 4-0 win over Shropshire we were effectively out of the running for top place and promotion.
Sunday opened with an encouraging 4-0 win over Leicestershire, quickly followed by a similar score in success over Norfolk so there was a happy ending to the event, and a firmer basis to build on for next year, when they again play in the 1st division.
50 (Premier Div) - The team travelled to Milton Keynes wondering if they could cope with their Premier opposition, with all counties bar two having won Veterans ICC honours in the past twenty years, and plans made to try and avoid relegation by taking points from the other non-winners. First game was against one of these with Avon the challenge and a reassuring 3-1 victory the outcome. Next up were regular winners Lancashire, and another 3-1 win was a tremendous boost to the league table and team confidence, so there was no real surprise when they ended the Saturday matches with a 4-0 win over Gloucestershire.
The first game on Sunday was against Surrey who had started with two defeats in their opening games but came out fighting and took us to a 2-2 draw. Next game was likely to be the decider as it was against Yorkshire who were also unbeaten in their opening 4 matches, and there was little between us with the result 2-2, but Yorks having a very marginal advantage in winning one extra set. Both won their final matches, Yorks by 3-1 against Avon and Cheshire by 4-0 against Essex. The two counties both finished with 10 points, but although Cheshire had the better sets total (18-6 against 16-8) the regulations give the title to the winner of the match between the two counties. As this was a 2-2 draw the sets won in that match counted and Yorkshire emerged as winners with one more set in the match. Disappointing but still Brilliant!
O55 (Premier Div) The same pre-match thoughts experienced by the O50 team applied here as the team found themselves amongst the high and mighty of Veterans badminton, with team organisers Peter Preston and Jean Melia unable to play on the Saturday. Opening match was against Lancashire and ended in a respectable 1-3 defeat but the following game against Yorkshire finished 0-4. Some relief was available in match 3 when Glasgow were the opposition and team spirits were lifted with a 2-2 draw.
Sunday saw the team strengthened a bit but Surrey were not aware of that and took a 4-0 result from the opening match. The weekend seemed a bit happier when the match against Berkshire saw us win 3-1, but finished with another 0-4 defeat in the last match against Essex. The outcome was that our 3 points were more than those won by Berkshire (1) and Glasgow (2) so the Premier Division status was retained for next year.
O60 (Premier Division) In the words of Marion Doe, the lady captain“At the ICC our promotion into the Premier League proved a little too tough. We lost 1-3 to both Yorkshire and Lancashire with Linda Biggs and Marion Doe victorious. Our men (Dave Brownlee and Geoff Pickard) won our only rubber against Avon, and Hampshire were too strong overall and we lost 0-4. We had a good 2-2 draw with Kent when our level doubles pairs won and the mixed lost in very close games.
Our one win was against Wiltshire when the ladies and two mixed couples (Jill Jones and Brian Rigney and Jane Brumby and Brian Bean) won and the men just lost in a close 3 games.
We finished 6th in the division and will therefore be relegated to Div 1 but all the team members (the above plus Dave Johnson and David Lonsdale) enjoyed the weekend immensely and did not feel completely out of their depth! – overall a good experience.
SUMMARY
The ICC has become a very popular weekend despite (or because of!) the venues all over the country, and most players thoroughly enjoy the experience. We are very well represented in the various leagues, and teams get the chance to meet completely different counties on fairly level terms (except that the Northern League are very well represented in the Premier Division). We look forward to continued improvement.
Anyone interested in learning more about Veterans Badminton in Cheshire should contact David Spencer at spencer928@btinternet.com
David Spencer (Chairman)
