Norfolk 2 vs Oxfordshire 2 Home 20th October

Norfolk second team had their first match of the season, in the Badminton England’s 4th division, against Oxfordshire 2 at Framingham Earl High School.

In the men's singles Oxfordshire came out strong, Ryan Leung lost his first set, but fought hard in his second, but Oxfordshire’s Matt Harris was too strong, with Leung narrowly missing out on the second set 21-19. The second men’s singles was a close fought battle between Chris Piff and his opponent, with Piff taking his opponent to 3 sets, but was unlucky, losing the third set 21-15.

The women’s singles showed promise with Serena Verney picking up her singles in straight sets 21-16, 21-18. Lucy Curran had a tough match but lost in two sets, leaving Oxfordshire 3-1 up after the singles.

In the men’s doubles, Oxfordshire showed their strength again, winning three out of the four men’s doubles. James Ruthen and Leung had a tough three-setter against Oxfordshire’s first pair, narrowly missing out on the first set 21-17, they managed to win their second set equally. The third set was just as tight with Ruthen and Leung narrowly missing out 21-19.

The Oxfordshire second pair proved a very tough game with both Norfolk pairs enable to pick up a set. Norfolk’s second pair, Matt Howes and Simon Debney, then fought well against Oxfordshire’s first pair, managing to take the game in straight sets, 21-15 in both.

The ladies doubles was halved, with both Norfolk pairs taking their games against the opposition’s second pair. Curran and Verney had to take the pair to three to get the win but they battles through a tense third set to take it 26-24.

Katie Ruthen and Michelle Dungar took their game in straight sets, 21-19 in both. Ruthen and Dungar then narrowly missed out on a second win, against Oxfordshire’s first pair, after winning the first set 21-19. Unfortunately the Oxfordshire pair were able to step up to take the next two sets, 21-15 and 21-13.

With just the mixed to go, Norfolk were already down 8-4. The Norfolk side were hoping to prevent the Oxfordshire side taking two points by winning two out of the three mixed.

Norfolk’s first pair, Piff and Verney had a hard fought game, losing in two sets 21-17, 21-18. Ruthen and Dungar lost their first set but fought hard in the second, closely losing out 24-22. At third mixed, scratch pair Leung and Ruthen did well to take their mixed comfortably, 21-18 and 21-9 to bring the final score to 10-5.