Cumbria 1st Team Match Reports
Cumbria 1 travelled to Tyneside Badminton Centre to get this season’s senior county championship campaign underway.
First opponents of the day were Derbyshire 2 and our 2 open singles players got us off to a flying start, Luke Parkinson disposing of his opponent in 2 comfortable sets and Dylan Holmes, having a more competitive game but still winning in 2 sets.
Ladies’ singles next on court, Jackie McEwan just falling short with a scoreline of 19 – 21 in the 3rd set of an epic game and Emma Metcalf losing out in a very tense game, 20 – 22, 19 – 21.
With a scoreline of 2 – 2, the next games on court were the open doubles, Luke partnering Ben Davidson and Dylan partnering Max Statter. Both pairs stepped up to the mark securing victories in 2 sets in their respective games.
Ladies’ double’s up next with Jackie partnering Leanne Sewell, once again Jackie was on the wrong end of another epic battle, this time losing 18 – 21 in the 3rd set. The other ladies’ doubles partnership, Emma and Laura Todd were on the wrong end of a 2 set scoreline.
The score was 4 – 4 with 3 mixed doubles to play, quickly disposing of their opponents in 2 comfortable sets was our 2nd mixed pair of Jackie and Luke. 5 – 4 up with the other 2 mixed doubles still on court and of course, they both had to go to 3 sets. Our 1st mixed pair of Leanne and Ben were first finished and just fell short, losing out 19 – 21 so with a match scoreline of 5 – 5, all eyes turned to our 3rd mixed pair of Laura and Max and finally we managed to get on the right side of a 3 ender with Laura and Max holding their nerve and closing out that 3rd set 22 – 20 and with that, we secured a 6 – 5 victory.
Click here for the BE Tournament Software - Match Scoresheet
Isle of Man 2 were the opponents for our second match of the day and the only change to the team format from the first match was Ben replacing Luke at open singles 1.
Ben was on the wrong end of a 3 set scoreline, but Dylan levelled the match up with a comfortable victory in 2 sets at open singles 2.
Ladies’ singles next on court and both Jackie and Emma secured comfortable 2 set victories, giving a match scoreline of 3 – 1.
The open doubles were halved, Ben and Luke losing in 2 sets at open doubles 1, Dylan and Max winning in 2 sets at open doubles 2.
In the ladies’ doubles both partnerships of Jackie and Leanne, Emma and Laura had comfortable victories in 2 sets which gave us a match score line of 6 – 2.
With a 6 – 2 scoreline, we had won the match but with the scoring system of 1 point for each event won, we could not rest on our laurels and needed to push through and win as many of the mixed doubles as possible.
It wasn’t to be for our 1st mixed of Leanne and Ben, losing in 2 ends but Jackie and Luke proved too strong for their opponents at 2nd mixed, winning in 2 ends. At 3rd mixed Laura and Max went to 3 ends, winning comfortably to 8 in the third and securing us an 8 – 3 victory.
Along way to go in the season but a very satisfactory start and the 14 points we have accumulated puts us in second position in the league table.
Click here for the BE Tournament Software - Match Scoresheet
On the road again to Tyneside Badminton Centre for matches 3 and 4 in this season’s campaign.
First opponents of the day were Lancashire 4 and our 2 open singles players, Luke Parkinson and Dylan Holmes were first on court with both players going to 3 sets, Luke winning his 3rd set 21 – 16 but Dylan just falling short, losing his 3rd set 18 – 21.
Ladies singles next on court and big shout out for Jess Wallace, making her debut at number 1 ladies singles and she marked that debut with an excellent 24 – 22, 22 – 20, 2 set victory, while Jackie McEwan at 2nd ladies singles was pushed hard all the way but secured a 21 – 17, 3rd set win.
With a scoreline of 3 – 1 in our favour, the next games on court were the open doubles, Luke and Ben Davidson secured a win in another 3 set game, 21 – 16 in the 3rd, while Dylan and Max Statter found the going tough losing in 2 sets.
Ladies doubles up next with Jackie partnering Natalie Troughear who has come into the team for the remainder of the season to replace Leanne Sewell who unfortunately has had her season cut short due to injury but it wasn’t to be for Jackie and Natalie losing 16 – 21 in the 3rd set. The other ladies doubles partnership of Jess and mum to be, Laura Todd also went to 3 sets, I’m sure this wasn’t in Laura’s game plan but nevertheless Laura stayed the distance and they came away with an excellent 21 – 17, 3rd set victory.
Leading 5 – 3 with 3 mixed doubles to play and Natalie and Ben were first off court on the wrong end of a 2 set defeat, while Luke and Jackie were both going into their 3rd, 3rd set of the day and sealing the match victory for the team with a score of 21 – 12 and with Laura and Max losing in 2 sets the match result ended 6 – 5.
Click here for the BE Tournament Software - Match Scoresheet
Northumberland 2 were the opponents for our second match of the day and our 2 open singles players, Luke and Dylan got us off to a great start, both players winning their respective games in 2 ends.
Mixed fortunes in the ladies singles with Jess losing in 2 sets but Jackie kept our noses in front winning in 2 sets.
Ben and Luke put us further ahead with a 2 set victory in their open doubles but then the fight back from Northumberland started. Dylan and Max, Jackie and Natalie, Laura and Jess all losing their respective doubles games in 3 sets.
4 – 4 going into the mixed and all the momentum was with our opponents and suddenly we were 4 – 6 down with Jackie and Luke, Natalie and Ben both losing in 2 sets and then a hugh effort from Laura and Max to stop this momentum, just falling short losing 20 – 22 in the 3rd set.
So after looking in a good position, leading 4 – 1 we ended up losing 4 – 7.
We are sitting 3rd in the division, 7 points behind joint leaders, Lincolnshire 1 and Northumberland 2 and there is only 4 points separating us from the county in 6 place so all to play for when we are back at Tyneside for the weekender on 21st – 22nd March.
Click here for the BE Tournament Software - Match Scoresheet