CI men relegated in unlucky fashion
THE Channel Islands men's team have suffered relegation in the annual Winter County Cup.
THE Channel Islands men's team have suffered relegation in the annual Winter County Cup. Having won promotion to Division Five last season, the same team were determined to do well, but luck was not on their side as they finished bottom of a group featuring Somerset, Bedfordshire and Northampton.
And it was not until the final day and the last game of the last rubber of the last set when it was determined who was promoted and who was relegated.
Team member Chris Hickling rued their ill luck.
'We were a bit unlucky. We won one of our matches and that usually means that you're safe, but the team we beat caused an upset in one of their other matches to relegate us on a one game difference.'
Somerset topped the group and beat the Channel Islands team 7-2 in the first match.
'We struggled on the first day against Somerset, but after that we all played very well, so it's a little upsetting after that to end up going down, but with a full team again next year we could potentially win Division Six again,' added Hickling.
Joining Hickling in the side were Guernsey players Dominic McLuskey, Patrick Ogier, Rob West and captain Pieter Theron.
All four rendezvoused with the team from around the world to meet in Gloucester while the rest of the team, Matt Harris, Gareth Robert and Hickling, all took the normal route of Jersey to Birmingham.
The disappointing 7-2 defeat against Somerset in match one did have some positives as it saw a good win for Theron in the singles and a fantastic win by Harris and Ogier in the doubles against Somerset's number ones.
But the matches lost to Somerset in three sets were to cost the side dear in the final outcome.
However, the CI team responded well to this defeat In their second match against Northants they came back from 3-1 down to win the rubber 5-4.
Again Theron won his singles, along with wins for Ogier and Roberts.
The CI victory was clinched with two doubles victories by Theron and Ogier and McLuskey with Roberts.
Going into the final day each team had won one rubber each and despite the team putting up an excellent display of tennis with wins for Hickling and McLuskey in the singles and Ogier and Theron in the doubles, the CI went down 6-3 to Bedfordshire.
This result coupled with Somerset's 6-3 victory over Northants meant the CI team were relegated by a one game difference.
The women's team finished third in their group and maintained their place in Division 6A.
The team that faced Lincolnshire, Shropshire and Cumbria comprised of Jo Robinson, Francesca Dubras, Tracey Hubert, Chantelle de la Mare, Claire Randell, Sarah Jones and Katie Gouyette.
The CI team consisted of youth and experience and the results during the weekend showed that the young assembly line is producing some very good players.
Excellent wins for Jones and Hubert could not stop the side losing 7-2 to Shropshire in their first match and despite preparing themselves for Saturday against the favourites Lincolnshire they could not prevent a 9-0 whitewash.
However, the CI women hit back with a superb whitewash of their own in the final day rubber win against Cumbria and with three of the team only being 16, CI county development officer Hugh Raymond, believes the future at senior level looks very promising.
'It is pleasing to see the results against large counties who have many more players than us. It can only be a plus for the work being undertaken by our coaches in the islands.'