The nominated Team was:
Arthur Attrill, Jack Curtis, Hayden Cummings, Aaron Dawson, George Day, Ryan Golesworthy, Liam Hignett, George Houghton, Mike Johnson, Paul Scullard
This year we were in a very strong group of established ex-group one counties with international players, so it was going to be a tough week.
Day 1 v Nottinghamshire
The team was: 1 – Hignett + Curtis, 2 – Golesworthy + Day, 3 – Dawson + Attrill
Subs: Johnson + Scullard
They got off to a fast start and kept going. We just really couldn’t keep up with their three experienced pairs and lost 7 – 2. The only saving grace was Jack and Liam won two rubbers.
Day 2 v Lancashire
The team was: 1 – Hignett + Curtis, 2 – Golesworthy + Day, 3 – Dawson + Attrill
Subs: Johnson + Scullard
Lancashire were one of the top teams in the group on paper with the inclusion of Liam Broady, so it was going to be another tough battle to get anything out of the match. We kept the same team – the only problem was it was the same result! We lost 7 – 2 again and the only saving grace was Liam and Jack winning two rubbers again.
This was not looking good.
Day 3 v Suffolk
The team was: 1 – Golesworthy + Curtis, 2 – Hignett + Day, 3 – Attrill + Johnson
Subs: Dawson + Scullard
We were playing Suffolk who we thought were the best team in the group so any sort of result, even a good loss, would be perfectly acceptable. Because of the rain, it was turned to Fast4. We did okay first round going down 1 – 2, but in the second round the Hampshire & IOW miracle occurred, we won all three with Mike and Arthur getting the result of the week besting their second pair and giving us a 4 – 2 lead. We rode the wave and finished with a 6 – 3 win. Three wins from Ryan and Jack, two wins from Liam and George and the amazing win from Mike and Arthur. Now there was a possibility to stay, but the rubber count was against us.
Day 4 v Yorkshire
The team was: 1 – Golesworthy + Curtis, 2 – Hignett + Day, 3 – Attrill + Johnson
Subs: Dawson + Scullard
We kept this team the same, obviously. We were playing the team that had not won a match yet so a good chance to get to 2 wins.
Yorkshire came out swinging. Just because they hadn’t won a match didn’t mean they weren’t a quality side who had the ability to play far better than us. We nearly went 3 – 0 down but luckily just saved it with a 1 – 2 finish to the first round. We clawed our way back in it to finish the second round 3 – 3, but they kept swinging and we could not stop a 5 – 4 loss happening.
Fortunately by the end of the day after the other results, the loss didn’t matter as Friday, against Derbyshire, was now going to become a shootout with the losers going down and the winners staying.
All on the last day.
Day 5 v Derbyshire
The team was: 1 – Golesworthy + Curtis, 2 – Hignett + Day, 3 – Attrill + Johnson
Subs: Dawson + Scullard
We kept the same team. It worked, as we got off to a blistering start going 3 – 0 up after the first round. Again a huge win from Mike and Arthur at 3rd pair. The second round wasn’t quite as easy as the experienced Derbyshire team started to find ways back in and we ended 4 – 2 up with a great win from Ryan and Jack against their number one pair. This was going down to the wire as Derbyshire had the impetus. All three matches did not look good for us and we got into the first set. I could feel the last two years of luck we had was coming back to bite us! But Jack and Ryan held their nerve and got the job done and we won 5 – 4.
We stayed!
I can tell you that is as good a result as I could have ever hoped for.
This is the youngest team that I can ever remember in Hampshire & IOW’s history. So doing what they did and with the years ahead of them is a very positive sign. Credit to all of them this week as they all had a part to play in this team’s achievement.
We await next year…
Julian Godfrey – Men’s County Captain
