It was a mixed bag of results at the recent First Stage of the Junior Inter-County Championships.
The Boys U13 team, made up of Toby Rider, Thomas Ansell-Hawes, Duncan Ashby and Jack Carr lost both of their tough fixtures against Warwickshire and Lincolnshire respectively, their sole victory coming courtesy of Number One String Toby Rider in the 1-4 reverse against Lincs.
Pictured left to right: Toby Rider, Thomas Ansell-Hawes, Jack Carr, Duncan Ashby
The Girls U13’s, Maja Kwiecinska, Tilly Rider & Izzy Coles fared much better, however. The trio of youngsters suffered a 3-0 reverse in their opener against Warwickshire but in the afternoon, wins from both Maja Kwiecinski and Izzy Coles ensured a narrow success over Lincolnshire and they now advance to the Plate Finals in the New Year.
Maja Kwiecinska, Tilly Rider & Izzy Coles
The highlights of the day though, were surely provided by the Boys U17 squad, made up of, Kacper Kwiecinski, Callum Alderman, Oscar Price, Yaroslav Cherviakov, Myles Glover & Charlie Knight. Early on the Saturday morning, they made sure that Warwickshire would not complete the clean sweep against our representative teams in overwhelming them 4-1. They then followed this up a couple of hours later with a 5-0 whitewash of Leicestershire. Mid afternoon and the domination of their group continued with Worcestershire now falling prey also by a margin of 4 -1. Particular praise should go to Maja’s older brother Kacper (playing at One) and to Oscar Price (at Three) who both managed to win all three of their ties. The boys now advance to Finals Day in early 2025.
Callum Alderman, Charlie Knight, Kacper Kwiecinski, Oscar Price, Myles Glover & Yaroslav Cherviakov
It proved an especially tough day for our Girls Under 17’s. The selected trio was reduced to just 2 late on, so were a String down going into all 3 of their matches, but Holly Ranson and Sophie Coles were keen to play. Warwickshire again proved to be the ‘bête noire’ only this time both their A and B outfits doled out defeats to our plucky teenagers. These setbacks were either side of a 0 -3 loss to Lincolnshire. Holly Ranson should count herself unlucky though in going down 8-11 in the fifth against the Warks B No 1.
Holly Ranson & Sophie Coles
Finally, the Boys U19’s, Alex Glover, Will Simpson, Luke Remmington & Alex Bozon tried manfully but came up short against those darn irritating kids from Warwickshire and Lincolnshire! They lost all 3 ties 3-0 with Luke Remmington coming closest to a win with a narrow 5 set loss.
