Dorset’s U18 boys team of Chris Helliar, Tom Gutteridge, Tom Gill, Tim Prossor, Stefan Burnett, Adam Watson and Piers Herfet-Jones travelled to Scotstoun Tennis Centre in Glasgow to compete in group 4a with Northumberland, East of Scotland and North of Scotland.

The team captained by James Pankhurst and Richard Irwin travelled via minibus on Thursday 18th February 2010 and began their first match against East of Scotland on the opening day of three, Friday 19th February. Resounding victories from Adam Watson, Stefan Burnett, Tim Prossor and Tom Gill put Dorset into a quick 4-0 lead in the best of 9 rubbers match. And with the remaining two singles resulting in a defeat for the teams No. 1 player Chris Helliar (in his first match following a broken wrist he sustained while competing in india) and a hard fought three hour victory in the third set tie-break in the number two singles for Tom Gutteridge Dorset were in an unassailable 5-1 lead after the singles. The remaining three doubles resulted in one defeat and two wins to leave Dorset victorious by a 7-2 margin.

The second day saw the team line up against North of Scotland. A match that resulted in an 8-1 victory. All six of the team won their singles matches and it was noticeable to see the improvement in Chris Helliar’s play having had a singles match to get the rustiness out of his system on the first day. The 8-1 victory set up a promotion match on the last day against Northumberland who has also won both their matches on the first two days.

With Chris Helliar unable to play on the last day as a result of travelling to lithunia for a tournament The Dorset team’s strength in depth was illustrated by their wins in all four of the first four singles matches with Tim Prossor playing very solidly to win at number three. However defeat in the top two singles matches for tom gill and tom gutteridge with tom gutteridge having to pull out of the singles at number one and therefore unable to play doubles meant Dorset had a 4-3 lead with two doubles matches on court. Stefan Burnett and Adam Watson won the final match to give us a winning 5-3 margin and make the long drive back to Bournemouth a happy one.