Northants Men’s O55 Team Report

This was our third highly successful year in a row. After the disappointment of not being promoted to Group 1 last year when the rules were changed to allow only one team to be promoted, we were determined put this behind us and achieve promotion this year.

The teams in our Group were Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Durham and Cleveland and Derbyshire. The players who represented the County this season were Neil Shorrock, Philip Watson, Ian Masters, Jeff Servant, Richard Smith and Brian Perry.

The first match was against Lincolnshire, this was a very close match with the deciding rubber being won 11-9 in the Champions tiebreak for a 3-2 victory. The next match was a more comfortable 4-1 win against Cheshire. We then entertained Shropshire, who had come down from Group 1 last year, and came away with a hard-fought victory 3-2. The next match was against Durham and Cleveland after a long drive to Sunderland, they were the only other unbeaten team and a victory was needed to ensure promotion, we were 2-1 up after the first round and needed to win one of the doubles, this was gained by Ian and Jeff to give us a 3-2 victory, a very long and tiring day. The final match was away to Derbyshire and we managed to come through 4-1. We hope five wins will ensure promotion to Group 1 next year to play the strongest teams in the country which will be a great challenge.

Statistics at the end of the season saw Phil win 8 out of 10, Neil win 7 out of 10, Ian win 5 out of 10, Jeff 4 out of 6, and Richard 1 out of 2. Brian who helped me out at the last minute and usually represents the 70’s team took both matches he played to Champions tiebreaks, a commendable team effort.

Neil Shorrock Over 55 Captain