Wilts First Team Tough Debut in Div 1
 Date Wednesday November 13th 2019
 Assocation Wiltshire County
Wiltshire Captain Report Apr 2019

The first team travelled to Hatfield to make their debut in division one. And what a baptism it was.
We guessed the higher division would take some getting used to and we will to raise our game to the higher standard quickly to convert some more close games into wins. Every point will be needed...
Jon McDonald took the responsibility for getting the team together and running the show on the day. Unusually Brian was not at the first team venue so well done Jon. And thank you

The team had a bit of a mixed bag in terms of results. We had a 7-4 loss to Surrey 2 (who had some very good players in their team), and a 9-2 loss to Devon (which was very frustrating).

In the Surrey 2 match, Jon managed to pull out a very good singles performance win. Henry and Andy both had tough matches which could have gone either way regardless of the scores. Ella struggled a bit with the step up to 1st singles, but Riya seemed okay. She had lots of long rallies, just couldn’t convert them.
Doubles. The mens pairs looked good with Henry and Andy playing really well. In the ladies, Ella and Stevie played really well together again. But the pace was a bit much for our second pair, Caroline making her debut at short notice. 1st mixed was tough, but 2nd mixed was a good win.

In the Devon match, all of the men singles could have gone either way. Jon lacked energy after his efforts in earlier in the day, and both Henry and Andy lost agonisingly close... Could have picked up 3 extra points here. Men doubles pairs again looked good, Henry and Andy playing really well. Ladies found it hard against strong opposition. Mixed was tough again, Riya and Jon played well in the mixed, and should have taken the 2nd set, but a promising new pairing for the rest of the season.

So with 2 ladies making debut - Caroline and Riya – both of whom played well and can only get even better – and Laura waiting in the wings, we should be positive about the weekend. We definitely had 2 of the stronger teams. It could be us competing with Avon 2 and Suffolk to see who stays up.

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