Leck plays key role in dramatic promotion for Leicestershire
LOUGHBOROUGH’S Rob Leck has helped Leicestershire men’s tennis team earn promotion to National Division 4 over three dramatic days in Grantham.
Despite the unavailability of four or five players who would probably been selected, a squad without a great deal of senior County level experience performed superbly under new captain Matt Richmond.
The first day saw a close battle with Oxfordshire - debutant Angus Osborne battled his way to a straight sets victory at number 5, but Leicestershire were soon 3-1 down. Number two Chris Starkey produced a workmanlike victory at 2, and number 1 Rob Leck was able to comfortably dominate the dogged Cameron Price to level things up at 3-3. Richmond and Starkey lost their doubles in two close sets, but Osborne and Ryan Parmar crucially won their match in a deciding tie-break.
This left Leck and Ben Minski to clinch the match with a decisive victory in the final doubles.
On day 2, Shropshire were the opposition and Leicestershire found themselves 4-1 down and on the brink of defeat.
Loughborough’s Rob Leck was always in control against the powerful Luke Henley to bring it back to 2-4, but they still needed to win all three doubles.
Tense victories in the first two matches tied the score at 4-4 and then Leck and Richmond combined to win the decider and clinch a 5-4 win that had looked unlikely for much of the day.
On the final day, Leicestershire knew that provided that Shropshire beat Oxfordshire in the other match, even a 5-4 loss against Northamptonshire would be enough to earn promotion.
In the end Leicestershire didn’t need Shropshire’s help, winning 6-3 win to secure promotion.