Bay save best for last to avoid winless return Tennis

It took until the final match of the Division 3B campaign for Herne Bay Lawn Tennis Club’s men’s first team to register their first win of the season. The pairing of Ben Keighley and Alex Kazakeos opened proceedings in positive fashion at Maidstone, claiming a tight first set 7-5 before asserting their dominance with a 6-2 win in the second. Graham Miles and Matt Newman endured a difficult start to their contest, losing their opening set 7-5 amid unpleasant conditions. The duo responded well to level the score with a 6-3 win in the second, but later lost out in a decisive third set championship tie-break. Keighley and Zazakeos maintained Herne Bay’s advantage by winning two unanswered sets in the second round, compensating for a straight sets defeat for Miles and Newman, to earn a 5-4 victory by overall sets. Bay’s Men’s over-60s, meanwhile, won twice inside six days in Division 2. Firstly, a 4-4 tie in sets against Gravesham was decided by a margin of 34-32 in games. Mark Townsend and Ian Cooke boasted successive straight sets wins, while Bob Toye and Tony Blackhall found themselves on the receiving end. The former flexed their superiority against Crescent at Beacon Road next time out as they dropped just one game across both rounds. Blackhall and Mark Roe, filling in for the absent Toye, helped seal a 3-1 win for Bay with a vital second rubber triumph. On Vets duties in Division 2A, Peter Elsden and Ian Cooke conceded just three games across both rounds against Blackheath, while Graham Miles and Gary Smith edged a tie-break and won in straight sets to settle the tie at 3-1 in Bay’s favour. Herne Bay’s Mixed 3 also came away as winners against Brenchley and Matfield’s Mixed 2 in Division 7B, predominantly thanks to the work of respective pairings Sue Toye and Newman and Debbie Holden and Townsend. The Mixed 4 side finished their Division 8A season on a high, starting with Colin Thompson and Helen Lipyeat soaring to straight sets in both rubbers against St John’s Mixed 2 and the Roger Thomas/lesley O’connell double prevailing in successive three-set rubbers. This was followed up by a 4-0 victory away to Gravesham Mixed 3 to confirm a runners-up finish. An inter-club occasion in the Deal Indoor League saw Bay’s Men’s second team brush aside the men’s third team with a convincing 7-1 win in sets.

of Kent’s 14 championship matches as they won promotion to Division 1 last season, taking 24 wickets at an average of 26.25.

That return included careerbest match figures of 9-126 against Leicestershire at Grace Road in August.

He also played four Vitality Blast T20 games.

The county showed their faith in his ability by awarding him a two-year contract extension in November, taking him through to 2020, by which time it will have been eight years since his Kent debut.

Walker says the county won’t rush him back, adding: “Last season was a significant one for Ivan, he got into the team and never looked back.

“It would have been great for him to have followed that up this year but I’ve no doubts he’s going to come back better for this.

“We’ve rolled him on another year which shows we believe in him, and this way there’s no pressure on him.”