Norfolk girls book place in finals

Norfolk's 10-and-under girls booked their place in the national finals of the County Cup after an excellent performance at EastAnglia Squash and Tennis Club.

The team of Georgia Moyes, Klara Moolman, Maddie Brooks and Becky Woodrow made full use of home advantage to see off their regional rivals in impressive style.

Drawn in the same group were Essex, Bedford, Northamptonshire and Suffolk, with the girls' first match coming against Essex.

Norfolk came out of the blocks a little slowly, with Becky and Georgia losing out in their matches, which both felt they could have won. Fortunately Klara was able to beat her opponent and left the match at 2-1 to Essex, with the doubles match in the afternoon as the deciding rubber.

Next up were Bedford and all three nominated players (Georgia, Klara and Maddie) won their singles, displaying confidence throughout and making the doubles in the afternoon a 'dead' rubber.

This did not stop the girls wanting to finish off Bedford, and this is what Maddie and Becky did to make the final score 5-0. Georgia and Klara followed suit and comfortably beat the Essex pair to win that match 3-2 and put the girls in a strong position for day two.

An earlier start on the second day did not affect the Norfolk girls who progressed through to the final eight counties in the country in style. All three nominated players for the morning (Georgia, Maddie and Becky) won their matches against Suffolk comfortably. Klara then replaced Becky for the match against Northants which was the first/second play-off and they quickly dispatched the three singles opponents and thus confirmed top place. The girls did not stop there and finished off winning all the doubles against very able opponents.

Team captain and coach Chris Stocker was impressed with the girls' professional attitude over the weekend and is looking forward to the finals, which will be held in Bolton on June 23 and 24.

The boys' under-10 team of Johnnie Carmichael-Plester, Jack Long-Martinez, Joe Evans and Tom Watkinson travelled with David Weeds (team coach and captain) and Josh Weeds (assistant captain) to Northampton to compete against teams from Essex, Suffolk, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire in the first round of their county competition.

Each match consisted of four rubbers (three singles and one doubles). The first match put the boys up against Essex, which proved difficult, with only Jack closing out a singles match against Oliver Power 5-3, 4-1. Joe ran Ellis Temple close (2-4, 3-5) while Johnnie lost 1-4 2-4 against George Styles, their hard-hitting no. 1 player. This was followed by a 3-0 start in the singles against Bedfordshire, with Johnnie winning 4-0, 4-0, Jack 4-1, 5-3 and Tom 4-0, 4-0. Then Joe and Tom went on to complete the 5-0 scoreline by winning the doubles.

This left a tight doubles match against Essex, which Johnnie and Jack lost 1-4, 2-4 to Styles/Temple.

The second day saw a tough match against Suffolk, with Jack again starring playing an excellent match to beat Sam Lyall 3-5, 4-1 (15-13 in the tie-break third set) to give Norfolk the chance to clinch the tie in the doubles.

Jack and Johnnie however could not quite gel and went down 1-4, 1-4. The final match against Northants saw another 3-0 lead after the singles, with Johnnie, Jack and Joe all performing well. Joe and Tom lost the doubles rubber 2-4, 1-4 but Norfolk will won 3-2.

At the end of the weekend, Norfolk's final position was third, with Suffolk qualifying for the second leg finals in Bolton. Essex were second and Northants fourth.

David Weeds said this was a good performance from the boys, with Jack Long-Martinez having a great weekend, with four singles wins. More success on the doubles court could have seen the boys on their way to Bolton with the victorious girls team.