Hard work pays off for CI teams

HARD work on the training court paid off as the Channel Islands produced some encouraging results in their latest County Cup matches. The men finished runners-up in their pool in the Winter County Competition at the Indoor Tennis Centre in Wrexham.

It was a tough three days for Sarnians Patrick Ogier, Rob West and Chris Hickling, who joined captain Ian Morgan, Peter Theron, Matt Harris and Richard Brugrabber in the CI squad.

The men beat Isle of Man 5-4 on day one, were comprehensively beaten 1-8 by Somerset, but bounced back to seal a 6-3 win over Shropshire.

'Those were great results; there were a lot of tense matches,' said CI county development officer Hugh Raymond.

The women did not enjoy the results of their counterparts, but showed a pleasing improvement.

In their three matches on consecutive days at Hills Road Tennis Centre in Cambridge, the CI were beaten 3-6, 2-7 and 4-5 by Shropshire, Suffolk and Cumbria respectively.

Guernsey's Jo Robinson and Claire Randell joined Jersey's Sue Thorburn, Ann Ledwidge, Catherine Francescon, Sarah Milling and Jennie Carnegie in the CI colours.

'Again there were a lot of close matches; these were much better results than last year,' said Raymond.