Easter is approaching and it must soon be time for the ICT, that annual pilgrimage to Nottingham University in search of the elusive trophy that our area has only won once, back in 1987.  We had no realistic hopes of such success again this year but the team headed down there to build on all the work done at the Performance Centre – and to have a good end-of-season experience. Continue reading →

After three successive 4-6 losses, any one of which could have given us a close win, our ICT team came up trumps against neighbours Cumbria in their final second round match.  A resounding 10-0 result meant that the team now move into a group playing off for positions 25 to 28, which is pretty much what we would have expected for our young and relatively inexperienced team. 

Apart from the win over Cumbria, the highlight so far has to be the imperious form of Tim Bodani, who always seems to have time on his side.  Six straight wins, and a record of eight victories from 11 matches, is as good as anything from our players in recent years.  Supporting him, senior players Sarah Bambrick and Melvin Cherian have each contributed six good wins and every one of the team has chalked up a victory which, before the end of Day Two, is a strong record.

Day 3 saw the team build on the Cumbria result with another good win over the Isle of Man by 7 matches to 3.  We knew that the second tie would be tight and so it proved – 5 all on matches, 11 all on games won, losing only by a measly 5 points.  The day finished with a night out at the Ten Pin alley (where the Manager amazed everyone with his expertise) and was topped off with pizza.

And so, onto the last day when we had to play Herefordshire.  A win would see us top the group to finish 25th and that was just what we did, with an excellent 6-4 victory rounding off yet another memorable four days at Nottingham. 

A fuller report will come later.

The last Shires League match of the season, this one for Under 18s, was held at TBC on Saturday.  Facing Yorkshire 1, we knew it would be tough and the score of 16-4 to Yorkshire indicated that was the case.  However, the fact that there were 8 three-enders, of which we won three, together with plenty of scores in the high teens, also showed that Northumberland had been quite competitive – which was great to see.

The team, most of whom are off the ICT just before Easter, was –
Anna Kroon (guesting for us from Durham), Ellen Davison, Natalie Ho & Sarah Bambrick
Finlay Smith, Melvin Cherian, Tim Bodani & Vikram Nayyar

We got off to a poor start in the mixed, losing all four matches but Tim & Ellen and Vikram & Natalie pushed their matches to close deciding ends.  The first three girls’ singles also went to Yorkshire but Natalie fought back strongly after losing her first end to win her match in three.  Melvin got a flying start in the top singles, taking the first end to 19 but went down in three ends.  Finlay and Vikram both played well but lost in two before Tim scored a good three-end win.  So it was already 10-2 to Yorkshire at this stage.

Unfortunately Ellen had tweaked a muscle in her singles and it was decided to play it safe and to concede her two doubles but Sarah & Natalie took a win in their match.  The boys’ doubles produced some excellent games, three of which went the distance, Vikram & Finlay taking a really good win.

The Under 20 round of our Anglo-Scottish Team Tournaments (for 2000 births and later) was played last weekend at the Tyneside Badminton Centre.  The team managed by Karen Davison was: Anna Railton; Sarah Bambrick; Lexie Howard; Abby Grogan; Charlotte Graham; Ellen Davison; Jamie Tinnion; George Moran; Melvin Cherian; Alex Jay; Arif Alam; Jack Thorpe; and Neil Shi. 

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A fuller report will follow in due course but very well done to our Under 20 team who came runners-up to the strong Lothian team, after really good wins over Cumbria (10-5) and Lanarkshire (13-2).

With only the four teams playing, following the unfortunately late withdrawal of Yorkshire, the full team event was played on the Saturday.  This left the organiser, Julie Brown, with Sunday’s courts to fill and she put together an excellent level doubles competition.  Northumberland’s players performed strongly again here, with Anna Railton and Lexie Howard finishing as runners-up in the girls’ event and Jamie Tinnion and George Moran matching them in the boys’ doubles.

Many thanks to Julie for an excellent weekend, to Karen Davison for managing the team and to all the players.

The last Shires match of the season for this U16 team saw them play against a very strong Lancashire at TBC on 24th March. Continue reading →