*Devon teams take two titles and a runner's up spot out of four possible events at the Intercounty Racketball weekend in Nottingham!*
We had a fantastic weekend of matches at NSRC in Nottingham with over 100 players and 22 teams taking part in the 2023 Intercounty Racketball team Championships. There were four different categories up for grabs - A Grade, B Grade, Over 50's and Ladies, and we had a wide spread of counties across all the draws. This year was the first time we have been able to run a Ladies Racketball ICC, and while it was a small draw there were some great matches. The format was 3 players per team, everyone plays singles, then one doubles match too. Match of the event was between Natalie Lawrence (Devon A) vs Katie Wells (Lincolnshire), where both players used all four corners of the court with great skill and variety of hitting throughout. Katie coming through a 3/0 winner but the game score not reflecting the tightness of the match. In the end though Devon A's strength through their order and their Doubles experience shone through and they took the inaugral Ladies Intercounty Racketball title 3/1 over Lincolnshire. In the Over 50's event, pre tournament top seeds Shropshire managed to come through pretty unscathed throughout the weekend, dropping only one tie (the doubles) out of all their matches. They took down Devon in the final 4/0, with some entertaining games but with the Numbers 1 & 2 ranked Over 50 players in the country at the top of their order it was always going to be a hard task for the Devon guys. There were some brutal fixtures in the Devon/Essex/Warwickshire group with all matches going down to either a games or points countback! (Essex coming out the wrong end of two points countbacks then finally winning one in their 5/6th playoff vs Northants!) The format for this category was 3 players play singles fixtures, then one extra pair compete in doubles. This year was also the first time we have run a B Grade event, and it was really well subscribed, with some really great depth across all the teams, showcasing some top Racketball, even on a slightly ropey Sunday morning... (Mentioning no names...) The format here was the same as the Over 50's, with 3 singles and then one doubles partnership per side. The final was of exceptionally high quality that all went down to the final match. In the end a very strong Surrey side managed to see off Shropshire on games countback, with the Number 1s battle between Craig Chappell (Shrops) and Rob Gale (Surrey) going the distance with Chappell winning 11/9 in the 5th after a good 75+ minutes! Finally, the A Grade event featured some of the regular ICC top teams, with the like of Yorkshire, Devon, Dorset and current holders Warwickshire joining Lincolnshire and Cheshire in the draws. The format here was a simple 5 players all play singles matches. With pretty much all the sides missing one or two players from their line ups it was very difficult to predict who would come out on top. In the group stages Devon vs Dorset and Yorkshire vs Cheshire both proved to be incredibly tight, with it all going down to the final ties in the fixtures. In the end though it came down to a repeat of last year's final with Devon vs Warwickshire the tie. Devon managed to reverse their fortunes from last year, winning 5/0 despite their being some very close matches at 3rd & 5th string (both going to 5 games, match of the final being Ash Knight beating Ben Maudrell 11/8 in the 5th with both looking absolutely broken afterwards!) It was a really brilliant weekend of matches with a top atmosphere and a fun Saturday night social too. You can find all the pictures and videos from the event HERE Full results attached below. Can't wait for next year, plans being made already! Congratulations to all our winners and runners up, see you all soon.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
OUR 2024 UK RACKETBALL SPONSORS
October 2024
Follow us on Twitter for the latest information and updates |