Cambs Squash

County U-15 boys step up to second stage matches.

Is there really a Cambridgeshire under-15 inter-county team?
Well the U-15 team may not be as well-known as are the Cambridgeshire elite but they are not Cambridgeshire lite: they have trained hard together and will fight for every point no matter how strong the opposition.

Last November in the first stage matches against Suffolk, Norfolk, and Leicestershire we ended up beating Suffolk on points and finishing second overall. This was down to only a handful of extra games won, despite narrowly losing our actual match against Suffolk.
On February 8th we hosted the second stage matches in Cambridge Squash Club against Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Suffolk - with Suffolk looking to push past with a beefed up team.

Before cutting to the chase with the result of that re-match, all our lads stepped up really bravely to their Oxfordshire and Bucks games - whatever else can be said about PAR it really gives a better record of rallies fought. So it was good to see everyone coming away with points to show for their efforts. And in the case of our plucky number five, Sam Bradshaw, we came away with actual games won - our only ones in fact against the top two counties.

In the first stage Sam had also given us our only outright win against Suffolk. This time he faced a much bigger lad and was pushed to four games before his speed and determination settled the fifth string in our favour.

Tiaki Loza at third string faced the same opponent that he lost to 2:3 in Stage 1 but on the Cambridge courts he turned it around to give a convincing 3:0 win. Will Collett also faced his previous opponent but, partly limited by a recent injury, had to be content with a re-run of his previous 1:3 defeat.

Then there was a typically gutsy performance from Tom Blair facing the Suffolk number one from Stage 1: George Waller. George started a bit slow after having putting everything into the best Suffolk performance against Oxfordshire but then he dug in and took it to five games with a fifth that Tom just could not turn around - but it was a brave effort.
At number one position, Tom Symmons was up against Marcus Baird who had class written all over him. Two games down Tom managed to take Marcus to a tie break in the third but was not able to capitalize on it - and ended up losing 0:3.

So ok maybe we did come last this time. But the games with Suffolk shows how much the lads are improving. It should also be mentioned that Will Harris who turned out as our number six team member and played against reserves from Oxfordshire and Bucks: winning one and losing the other.

Meanwhile on an adjacent court Oxfordshire managed to squeeze past Bucks to win the Stage 2 league on points overall. Our special thanks to the host club Cambridge Squash and also for help and support from Olly Thorne and Andy D'Alessandro.

With all our squad and developing benefitting from team training over the season, we can look forward to a strong showing in the forthcoming tri-county firendly tournament in July - which includes a further shot at Suffolk!

Martyn Symmons and Mike Macnamee U-15 county coaches.