Dorset Tennis
men's county week 2021

Dorset men triumph at County Cup

The Dorset men returned triumphant after a hugely successful week at County Cup held at Canoe Lake in Southsea.  A fantastic turn out for the team proved far too strong for the competition and promotion was guaranteed by Thursday while a professional performance from the squad guaranteed the title by the end of Friday’s play.
A tough battle vs Lancashire set the scene for the week but with 3 very strong pairs, Dorset pulled through as 7-2 winners.  3 wins out of 3 for the tremendous Toby Samuel who paired up with the Captain Richard Irwin got Dorset off to a great start whilst the other pairings of James Whike/Adam Glynn and the younger pair of Sam Bossem/Alex Knox Jones, took 2 matches each to see off the opposition.
The form continued throughout the remainder of the week and these 3 pairs showed their brilliance with Samuel/Irwin only losing 1 and Whike/Glynn only losing 2, while Bossem/Knox Jones showed the class they possess by battling through on countless occasions on their first/second respective county weeks.  With this the victories came flooding in over Oxfordshire (7-2), Devon (6-3), Durham and Cleveland (7-2) and Leicestershire (5-1) to complete the unbeaten week.
The squad also consisted of debuts for James Sclater and Jack Oswald who both played their part as fantastic members of the team and coming in to the team to claim key wins, whilst Matt Coombes still showed his class winning 2/3 of his matches and being the oldest player at the event.
A bonus addition for the week was the attendance of part of the Dorset Men’s Team alumni in the form of Derek Waldron (Captain in the 70’s).  Derek came 4/5 days travelling over from the Isle of Wight and brought his memorabilia which consisted of scorecards from his days as Captain (when there were no tie-breaks!) as well as photos of the old Dorset team (John Feaver included).  Very special to have him there and we honoured him by awarding him with the 10th Trophy to take home.
A superb week of tennis from the Dorset Dogs and a team blended of experience and youth which proved to be a successful mix and one in which if they can be available in future years, will hopefully see Dorset rise back up the divisions to compete with the very best in the country.

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