Yorkshire 3 v Cumbria 1

Cumbria 1 travelled to York on 22/03/08 to play their lst match of the season against Yorkshire 3.

Cumbria shared the spoils in the singles with Tim Kemp, standing in for Dave Poniznik, gained a very good win 22-20, 21-14 and Lauren Smith won 21-18, 21-14 in the ladies.

In the first round of the doubles there were three three set games but Cumbria managed to win one through Kevin Andrews and Tim, when they won 14-21, 21-16, 21-19. In the cross over games again their were three three set games, and this time Cumbria won 2 of them, when John Parkinson and Ben Davidson won 21-14, 15-21, 21-19 in the mens and Nicola Highmore and Lauren won another tough one 21-15, 20-22, 21-13. At this point the score was 7-5 to Yorkshire and Cumbria were still in with a change of a shock victory if things went there way in the mixed. Although the three gave their all in all three games, it was not to be. Tim and Nicola lost 14-21, 20-22. Ben and Barbara after a hard battle, went down 22-20, 15-21, 17-21. John and Lauren after another hard three setter kept their nerve to win 21-15, 19-21, 21-12, to make the final score 9-6 to Yorkshire, but at least we got a point in our battle to avoid relegation.

Cumbria 1 v Durham 1

Cumbria 1 entertained Durham 1 on 17/02/08, at Appleby Sports Centre. This was a vital match for both teams in their effort to climb away from the relegation zone. Cumbria had three regular players missing from their line up.

In the singles the spoils were shared two each, with victories going to the ladies. Lauren Smith winning comfortably 21-12, 21-10 and Emma Gillespie coming through esily 21-8, 21-16. Dave Poniznik had a tough three setter going down 15-21, 21-17, 10-21.

In the first round of the doubles Cumbria went down 3-1. The only victory went to Barbara Davidson with Louise Jackson in he ladies winning 21-19, 21-15. In the cross over games, things did not get any better as we went down once again 3-1 with two other games going to three sets. The win was once again by the ladies pair of Lauren and Emma 21-17, 21-13. Barbara and Louise after edging infront in the first set lost it 20-22, fought back to take the second 21-17, but then went down 8-21 in the third. In the mens Dave and Tim Kemp lost a close first set 20-22, come back to take the second 21-17, but lost the third 12-21. This meant the match was now out of reach of the home side at 8-4, but if they could get two of the mixed the would at least get a point.

All three games were very close, but we only gained one victory through John Parkinson and Louise winning 14-21, 21-17, 21-19. Both the other games were very exciting, Dave and Lauren losing 15-21, 21-18, 21-23, and Tim and Barbara going down 10-21, 21-18, 19-21.

We Certainly deserved to have got a point but with was not to be.

We have it all to do with only one match left and we will need other results to go our way.

Cumbria 1 v Yorkshire 3

Cumbria 1 played their toughest game so far when they took on group favourite Yorkshire 3 at Ulveston.

The match started with the four singles and Cumbria did very well, sharing the spoils with wo very hard fought victories, Lauren Smith not at her best, come through 17-21, 21-16, 21-12 in the ladies, and Ben Davidson, in the mens, also won in three sets, 21-18, 19-21, 21-14.

In the first round of the doubles matches, Cumbria again shared the spoils with the ladies pairs coming out on top, L Smith and Jackie Sewell winning a tought three setter 21-18, 14-21, 21-18, and Nicola Highmore and Louise Jackson had a conmfortable win 21-10, 21-17. In the cross over games Cumbria had only one success through N Highmore and L Jackson winning a hard fought 3 setter 19-21, 21-19, 21-11. This left the match at 7-5 to the visitors with the three mixed games to go.

All the games started togetgher, and first off was John Parkinson and L Jackson winning 21-18, 21-16 to close the gap. Next off was Tim Kemp and N Highmore winning a close encounter 21-16, 16-21, 21-19 to level the match at 7-7 leaving Steve Chappell and L Smith with the result of the match on their shoulders. Either of them had been at their best all the afternoon but they battled on and after 3 sets they went down 21-19, 18-21, 17-21 to leave Yorkshire 3 winners, 8-7.

It was a very close match, and during it, Ben Davidson was presented with his First Team Colours, so congratulations to him.

Cumbria 1 v Leinster

Cumbria had a double fixture when the played Leinster over a saturday/sunday weekend at Penrith.

For both games, Cumbria were below strength, but never the less gave a very good account of temselves.

In Saturdays match, after a lot of good hard games, we went down 9-6 but at least we got a deserved point. Cumbria's victories come through N Highmore who had to play singles and won a very hard game 21-13, 15-21, 21-10. This was followed by victories from the ladies doubles with N Highmore and L Jackson winnging 2 of them 21-15, 21-13 and 16-21, 21-10, 21-16, and this ws followed by a hard fought victory for reserve pairing of Barbara Davidson and Rhonwen Bryce 16-21, 23-21, 21-10. In the mens doubles, only one victory was achieved through Ben Davidson and John Parkinson winning a hard fought 3 setter, 18-21, 21-13, 21-18.

The final victory come in the mixed doubles, from J Parkinson and Louise Jackson, winning 21-13, 22-20.

On the Sunday it was another good match, with 7 three set games, but Cumbria only won 2 of them. The team deserved to get a point but luck deserted them, and we went down 10-5.

The victories come through three more ladies doubles with N Highmore and L Jackson keeping their unbeaten record winning two 21-16, 21-16 and 21-17, 22-24, 21-16, with Barbara Davidson and Jackie Sewell won the other 22-20, 12-21, 21-14.

The other two victories came in the mixed doubles with J Parkinson and L Jackson winning again 21-19, 21-15 and then Mother and Son pairing of Ben and Barbara Davidson winning 21-19, 22-20.


Durham 1 v Cumbria 1

Cumbria 1st team travelled to Durham to play the counties 1st team.

Play began with the four singles and Cumbria shared the spoils when they took both ladies singles, through Lauren Smith winning 21-13, 23-21 and Jackie Sewell, back after 12 months out, winning 8-21, 21-18, 21-11.

In the first round of the doubles again the spoils were shared, with Cumbria winning both ladies doubles through L Sewell and L Smith winning a hard 3 set match, 21-14, 14-21, 21-15, and Nicola Highmore and L Jackson having an easy victory 21-18, 21-11. The mens pairing of Ben Davidson and John Parkinson lost a hard fought 3 set match 13-21, 21-19, 15-21. In the cross over games, Cumbria took them 3 to 1, to edge in front in the match, 5-7. Once again, both ladies parings were triumphant, with L Smith and L Sewell winning 21-14, 18-21, 21-11 and N Highmore and L Jackson winning 21-9, 12-21, 21-17. A vital victory came in the mens game, after another hard fought game when Tim Kemp and Dave Poniznik won 14-21, 21-14, 21-17.

In the mixed, Cumbria took two out of the three games, through T Kemp and N Highmore winning 21-17, 21-12, and J Parkinson and L Jackson winning 21-17, 21-19. This gave Cumbria 1 a hard fought and well deserved victory 6-9.


Cheshire 2 v Cumbria 1

Cumbria 1 began this season's campaign with a match against Cheshire 2 at Chester. Due to injury we have lost John Graham this season. Steve Chappell and Leanne Sewell have retired from the county scene. This meant new partnerships had to be formed and even these had to be altered because of unavailability of players and the delay in two players arriving.

The match started with the two mens singles and the spoils were shared with Cumbria's victory coming through Daniel Woodhouse, making his debut and winning 21-18, 23-21.

In the first round of doubles matches we did not win a match although two of the games went to three ends. In the cross over matches all three games went to three ends but again luck was against us as we only managed one victory through John Parkinson and Dave Poniznik winning 22-20, 13-21, 21-17. At this point the two delayed players arrived so we played the three mixed matches and again they all went to three ends and we took two of them through Dave P and Lauren winning 21-19, 16-21, 21-14 and John P with Barbara Davidon winning 16-21, 21-15, 21-18.

We then played the ladies singles and shared the spoils when Lauren had an easy victory 21-15, 21-9.

At this point time was starting to run out buit if we could maange to play one of the ladies doubles we had a chance of gaining a point but because of the delay starting we could not maange at although we had taken the first set 21-18 and were 6-7 down when time was called which meant we lost the match 10-5.