The annual Men’s Over35 Inter-County Cup took place once again this year at Devonshire Park and for the first time in a few years the event was fortunate to enjoy uninterrupted sunshine and play.

Following our promotion to Division 2 last year, our initial goal was to consolidate last year’s success and make sure that at a minimum we stayed up this year.  On paper this looked quite challenging, given the overall strength of the group (Surrey, Dorset, Hampshire, Lincolnshire).  We knew the first day’s result would most likely be critical and our 4-1 win over Lincolnshire (including 3 deciding champions tie-break wins) gave us great confidence and laid the foundations for the rest of the weekend.

Next up were Dorset, who had beaten Hampshire 5-0 the previous day and were looking like the team to beat.  And so it proved as we went 2-0 down after the singles.  However, we clawed our way back into the tie with a gutsy 3-set win in the first doubles.  We then repeated this in the second doubles with another deciding set champions tie-break win.  The tie was 2-2 and for the first time the Dorset team looked a little nervous!  Andrew Ambrose and Simon Targett (who had launched the recovery in the first doubles) came on for the last match against Dorset’s no.1 pair and pulled off another fantastic win (once again involving a deciding set champions tie-break!) sparking wild celebrations amongst our team and supporters!  From 2-0 down, against all odds we had come back to win the overall match 3-2.

We were now within touching distance of winning Division 2, and with the momentum from the previous two days firmly behind us we beat Hampshire 5-0.  Surrey were champions and crucially we had secured promotion back to Division 1 for next year!

It was an extremely enjoyable weekend with great team spirit and some incredible results.  Many thanks and congratulations to everyone involved.

Stephen Morris (Captain)