CORNWALL 2ND TEAM REPORT – SEASON 12/13

PLAYED 8 - WON 6, LOST 2

Unusually, the Kernow 2nds did not get off to the best of starts this season with a narrow defeat (7-8) to Somerset III. This was quickly put into the dim and distant past, and with Seb (the flying Frenchman) and Kris (our singles specialist) swelling the ranks, the black and golds were going to be a team to be reckoned with.

The next 3 fixtures saw our guys and gals victorious against the IOW, Wiltshire, and much to the Managers’ gratification,….Devon. After Xmas, we carried on in the same winning vein by reversing our fortunes against Somerset III and winning 8-7. February saw a comfortable victory against Wiltshire where maximum points were secured. With 2 matches left, we were beginning to wonder, again, whether this year would be the year that the 2nds would achieve their much deserved promotion.

The penultimate match against Devon was hard fought, but not the result that we wanted, - losing it 6-9. This now meant that there were 2 other teams as well as ourselves in the battle for promotion.

As in the best sporting traditions, events came down to the last match of the season. The Cornish team travelled to the IOW and the match started well with victories in 3 of the 4 singles disciplines, with our ladies doubles teams carrying on the winning theme, but alas, DISASTER struck when Sebastien sustained a serious knee injury in his first game of mens doubles and had to withdraw from the rest of the match. Remarkably, even though we had to concede 2 rubbers to the Islanders, everyone dug in deep and we managed to secure a narrow win 8-7. Unfortunately this was a hollow victory as we were aware that this may not be enough to secure promotion for us and our fortunes were dependent on the results from the fixture between Devon and Wiltshire which was being played at the same time. The Players and Manager alike had an agonising wait until well into the evening until the news broke that Devon had won their match, and with it the necessary 3 points needed for their promotion. We were all absolutely gutted! Once again, so close.

However, time is a healer, and given this season’s exemplary and gritty performances by everyone who has played for the 2nds, I know that promotion will be just around the corner.

Squad for season 2012/13

Jan Santillo, Lynda Beer, Laura Harper, Emily James, Hester Luke, Daphne Luke, Kath Wotton

Dave Harrington, Kahoo Tse, Seb Emery, Jack Dyer, Sam Spencer, Kris Jasper, Tom Lyle, Chris Cooper

Team Manager – Lorna Riggs