County Badminton Report

Norfolk III v Northants II – Sunday 2nd December 2012 @ Framingham SC

Norfolk III played host to Northampton II for their return fixture at Framingham Sports Centre on Sunday.

Having won the first leg earlier in the season, Norfolk were looking to seal a second victory on home turf however Northants had other ideas as the singles got underway!

Fielding a stronger team than before Northants strength came out in the singles with the visitors taking 3 out of the 4 matches. Sam Dismore was
Norfolk’s only player who, after losing the first set, fought hard to turn the game around and achieved a well deserved win.

Starting the doubles 1 - 3 down, Norfolk needed to up their game if they were in with any sort of a chance of turning the match around. Norfolk’s
first mens pair Paul Savage and Craig Thomas went out all guns blazing winning both ties, the first going to 3 sets but the second a convincing victory in two. Second pair Nico Schilling and Sam Dismore also came through a tight first match winning in the third set but unfortunately in their second game, were unable to capitalise against Northants no 1 pair who were too strong on the day bringing the overall score back to 4 – 4.

Norfolk ladies were without their two younger players Kathryn Adamson and Georgia Moyes who had been called up for U17 county duty elsewhere. However Norfolk were joined by Senior county players Ann Jenkins and Helen Newstead who with their wealth of experience played two superb matches which meant that Norfolk edged ahead 6 - 4 overall. Second pair Emma Piper and Amy Sharman were less fortunate against their opponents and were unable to keep up the momentum again finding the Northants opposition too strong.

With the score 6 – 6 going into the remaining mixed matches, Norfolk had all to play for and thanks to the experience of their first and second pairings of Paul Savage and Helen Newstead and Craig Thomas and Ann Jenkins, Norfolk notched up two more wins to seal overall victory. With the match already in the bag 8 – 6 it just left Norfolk’s 3rd pair of Tom Hinks and Amy Sharman to close out the game but despite some really close rallies and tight scoreline they were unable to overcome the opposition making the final overall score 8 – 7 to Norfolk.

A good overall performance by all concerned.

Norfolk III Team comprised (Men) Tom Hinks, Sam Dismore, Paul Savage, Craig Thomas and (Ladies) Emma Piper, Amy Sharman, Ann Jenkins, Helen
Newstead