County Badminton Report

Sunday saw the start of the Senior Inter-County competitions with Norfolk 2nds playing Bedfordshire 1st team.   Expecting a difficult match, Norfolk started well with Serena Verney winning her singles in two straight games.  Unfortunately, Bedfordshire then started to pick up the pace and went on an unanswered 10 game winning streak to give them a comfortable winning lead into the Mixed doubles.  Katie Ruthen and Verney took a consolidation rubber in their last doubles.  With only pride to play for, Norfolk had a mini revival in the Mixed doubles, winning two of the three remaining games, this left the end result 11-4 to the visitors.  Despite the score, there were still many close games, many in three sets which gives Norfolk hope to pick up some points on the return match next year.  Special mention should go to Amy Sharman, Dainiel Leers and Craig Thomas, all who made encouraging starts on their senior county debuts.  The team comprised of: Serena Verney, Lucy Curran, Katie Ruthen, Amy Sharman, Daniel Leers, James Ruthen, Craig Thomas and Alex Wyett (Captain).
However, the previous week saw Norfolk Junior U13s take on Lincolnshire at Market Rasen and, with many new names to the team, they came away victorious, taking 16 games to 4.   This was an excellent start to the season with a number of games closely contested.   Norfolk won all of the Boys and Girls Doubles, halved the Girls singles and won 3 out of 4 of the Boys Singles and Mixed Doubles events.  The team comprised:  Callum Cox, George Underwood, Joe Rolfe, Bradley Smith, Rachel Copley,  Abi Davies, Tomasin Ainsworth-Harrold and Caitlin Parfitt.
This win was the result of  great teamwork from all the players and also great support from all the parents who travelled with them.