17-21 ICC Report
Cheshire ICC Report April 2011.
After a long drive down to the University of Hertfordshire, Cheshire’s first match came against the underdogs of the group, Wiltshire. It was a comfortable start for Cheshire with Adam Dolman taking the men’s singles 21-15, 21-6. It was the Wiltshire girls who proved to be the stronger though, taking both the girl’s singles and doubles in 3 games. With the men’s doubles pairing of Mike Phillips and Matt Riley taking their match 21-12, 22-20, the match entered the mixed at 2-2 with everything to play for. Richard Bergh and Rachel Vickers played extremely well in a close fought game to put Cheshire 3-2 ahead, but the Wiltshire 2nd pairing was just too strong for Adam Dolman and Nikki Rowarth, meaning the match finished at 3-3.
Cheshire then played Kent, who were the favourites for the group. A brilliant singles performance from Rachel Vickers saw her walk out with 21-5, 21-8 win and Adam Dolman put Cheshire 2-0 up with another good performance in the singles but in a much closer score of 21-19, 21-15. These were the only games that wouldn’t go the distance to 3 games in the match. Losing both straight doubles games in 3, meant that Cheshire were again going into the mixed at 2-2 with everything to play for. Cheshire managed to take both of these games after 2 brilliant matches, both winning 21-19 in the 3rd end.
Wiltshire also managed to beat Kent to put a shock result on the board and this meant that Wiltshire and Cheshire were tied on points. In previous years, it would have gone on games won in the match of Wiltshire vs Cheshire, which would have seen Cheshire playing for the top 10 spots. But instead, it went on both results against Kent, where Wiltshire game out on top thanks to a 5-1 victory.
This meant that Cheshire had to play Yorkshire in a match that would determine which position they played for. Winner would play for top 8, Loser for 9-14.
Perhaps not Yorkshire’s strongest team, but a strong team none the less were next. Another brilliant singles performance from Rachel Vickers, saw her beat friend and rival Chrissi Nettleton in straight sets 21-19, 21-10. After a brilliant game, Adam Dolman would come out second best against Matt Steel, going down 21-19 in the 3rd. Richard Bergh and Matt Riley faced a strong Yorkshire partnership in the doubles and Yorkshire were too good and went 2-1 up. An inspired performance followed from Rachel Marsh and Nikki Rowarth who won the girl’s doubles in 2 to put Cheshire in the all too familiar position of 2-2 going into the mixed. Unfortunately though, it wasn’t to be and Yorkshire took both of the mixed games to win the match 4-2 and put Cheshire into the battle for positions 9-14.
After a good night of socialising and rest, Cheshire faced Hampshire on Sunday morning, another team who felt that they should not be playing for these positions. This match proved to be the closest yet as all but the girl’s doubles went to 3 ends. Nikki Rowarth and Rachel Marsh did the business there. Another win in the men’s singles for Adam Dolman put Cheshire ahead, but Rachel Vickers, battling an injury fought as hard as she could, but just missed out 21-19 in the 3rd in a tense game for all to watch! Matt Riley and Richard Bergh lost out in the men’s doubles, again to mean that it was 2-2 going into the mixed. Both teams took 1 each of these, but after the victory in 2 games in the girl’s doubles, the victory would go to Cheshire.
Next up was Surrey. Rachel Marsh volunteered to play the singles in place of the suffering Rachel Vickers but after a hard fought game, narrowly missed out on the win. This though, was going be Cheshire’s only loss in this game as the team stormed through the remaining games to take the tie 5-1. It was a convincing victory, well deserved after some great performances again.
This meant that Cheshire moved into the final game of the weekend playing for positions nine and ten. It would be Bedfordshire who stood in their way. Another marathon match lay ahead for Adam Dolman, losing the first game 30-29 but as fitness prevailed, Adam took the next to games 21-16, 21-5. Rachel Vickers stepped back into the singles and another great performance from her saw Cheshire take a 2-0 lead moving into the doubles. The only game going to 3 here was the men’s doubles in which Matt Riley and Mike Phillips narrowly missed out 21-18 in the third. Nikki Rowarth and Rachel Marsh played well again to take their game 21-15, 21-16 moving Cheshire into a 3-1 lead going into the mixed. Mike Phillips and Alex Chambers played first and again, just missed out 21-19, 21-15 to mean at 3-2 up, Cheshire needed to win their last match for 9th place. In one of the best and most tense matches of the weekend, Richard Bergh and Rachel Vickers came out on top with a brilliant 21-19, 21-18 win.
Cheshire finished 9th. The players had a great day on Sunday, but were left thinking of what might have been, had they managed to beat Wiltshire in the group, who eventually finished equal 7th overall. A great weekend was had by all and team manager Matt Bergh said, “it was great to see the closeness and spirit of the team as they all cheered each other on and really came together when it mattered. I wouldn’t like to give a performance of the weekend as everyone did their bit and put 100% effort in on every single point. To finish 8th is a good result, but it is certainly a case of what could have been, if we had just got that little bit of luck against Wiltshire”.
Matt Bergh
ICC Team Manager
